You know you’re in a small Texas ranch town when the only place to get breakfast is a taquito stand with two people working. One at the drive trough and one at the walkup window. Totally worth the 45 minutes it took to order and destroy three of “The Works” taquitos! We chatted with the locals trying to learn as much as possible about what the road ahead would have in store for us.

The truth is there just aren’t any stores between Olney and Seymour. We rode 35 miles before finally seeing a gas station. They directed us to the Rocket Inn Cafe where we ate lunch and weighed our options for each path we could take after Seymour. Do we ride a straight route 30 miles towards Benjamin where there is one convenience store and no place to sleep or do we head south of that adding 5 extra miles to Knox City where we heard there was a hotel or do we get wild and push towards Dickens and make it a 110 mile day?

Keeping in mind the hot and windy conditions we already experienced before lunch we knew that all we had left in the tank was another 35 miles to Knox City. We chose this path meaning the next day would have to be a 90 mile day if we wanted to find a destination with a hotel for Thursday night and if we want to stay on pace to cross the New Mexico State line by Saturday!

We rode about 22 miles to the next town after Seymour called Munday. I’m glad we chose this path towards Knox City because I stumbled upon a mural that made me think about my plans for Bike Cruisade when I return to NYC. Its writing “Do small things with great love” stuck in my head for the next 10 miles to our final destination. It reminded me of how we used to walk around the streets of downtown Little Rock with PB&J sandwiches and waters handing them out to people in need living on the streets. I see people sitting in dark alleys come to tears because of the love they felt from these random acts of kindness when we would surprise them at their darkest hour with some food and a listening ear. They would share their story and we would part ways. I couldn’t tell you where they are now but I hope it gave them a glimpse of hope to keep going.

There are so many people in need in NYC that I want to turn Bike Cruisade into a cycling club with the mission of loading up our bikes to seek out people on the streets and give them ziplock bags with some essentials and info on services that are available to them. We could give out food and clothes while taking a night cruise around Manhattan. Maybe we could even start partnering with a few grocery stores to pick up their leftovers at the end of the night.

I did one of these Night Cruisades by myself before leaving on our cross country journey and I met a neat artist at union square park. I gave him a bunch of my clothes and listened to his story. I saw him a week later and all of his art supplies were stolen and most of his clothes. It was on his birthday so he was super down about it but he told me he was proud to let me know he didn’t relapse. He decided to finally call up his mom and see If she would let him move home for a while and get off the streets while he gets back on his feet.

It’s just an idea and I’m not sure if these Night Cruisade small acts of kindness will turn in to anything but I’m learning it’s better to do more than wonder what life could be like. So follow your heart and see where the path takes you. That’s how Street Soocer USA was founded and why AOL featured our founder Lawrence Cann on their State Farm Small Acts of Kindness campaign. Watch the video and see our NYC youth and adult programs in action!

If you have any ideas or want to team up email me at caleb@streetsoccerusa.org or bikecruisade@gmail.com to join me on the next ride! There no bad ideas well except for that tasty ghost pepper burger I ate last night at the Turnrow Grill. It’s going to be a long 90 mile day to Crosbyton, TX.