Wake up, get my free breakfast at the hotel and get away by 8:30am. Not perfect, but getting there, baby steps. Another tail wind, someone is on my side so far. Dodge more trucks, but as i venture out further from beijing, trucks are getting more scarce. Needless to say, i have managed to get in some sweet slips streams behind some slow moving trucks (bless their souls), i guess they have they're uses... Stop for 30 min break at a petrol station and start up conversion the station owner and his wife, lovely couple, they give me detailed directions how to travel the next 100km. Understand half of it, but should be good. Lunch time comes up and i pass a little pig farming village. Can't  see much going on but, at the far end of the village pull into a small restaurant/hotel run by some ridiculously friendly people. 3 course meal, 2 bottles of water, a pot of tea, and 2 hours of internet time, here i sit with a gastly bill RMB10. thats right. These guys deserve a special mention. 

I pull out of the very friendly, very cheap pig farming town restaurant and continue on my way with a bit of a tail wind behind me. Up ahead a storm is brewing so I ride of another hour and a bit and stop by the side of the road to ask for directions to the closest hotel. The group of 5 advisers kindly instruct me to backtrack 30km to a town to find the only accommodation around. "No frikken way" I respond in a mumble, and reflect my situation to them. They understand and mention there is a small 'fandian' (cheap hotel/restaurant) 5km ahead. "Whew". Take off and eventually find it. RMB10 a night for a bed. Awesome! thunder rumbles outside. Sleep like a baby on the hardest bed ever.