My exact route

This shows the route I took through the 48 states. I started just outside of Mullan, Idaho.

http://trackmytour.com/5XGf7

Why did I go on this trip?

Why did I go on this trip?
There were many, many reasons. I'd say the main reason is simply that I have always wanted to do something like this. I love to calculate things out to see if they are possible- I had my eye on running across the United States for a while. Around March 2014 I saw that graduation was fast approaching. I still didn't really know what I wanted to do career wise. I find it so intimidating that the major you choose in college pretty much defines what you will be doing for the rest of your life. Who could possibly know what job would be a good fit for them when they have zero working experience? Regardless, I figured this could potentially be the only chance I have to leave everything behind and not have to worry about getting back. I originally planned on doing the Southern Tier, a 3100 miles bike route going coast to coast. However, the timing would have been awful. I'd be battling 100+ degree weather for much of the time. Sure, I could have waited and done it in the fall or winter, but I was set on doing it within days of graduation. So I started looking for other routes. The Northern Tier would have been less blazing hot, but it was over 1000 miles more. It just didn't seem worth it. While I was figuring this out, I knew my parents wanted to take me on a week long vacation right after graduation. I was thinking Mexico, but my sister suggested Hawaii. That got me thinking. I wonder what the shortest route through every state is. 6850 miles. More than double what I was originally planning to do. Finding roads that I could actually bike on along that route will likely make the miles add up even more. At first I totally wrote it off, figuring it was simply too long and complicated. A huge benefit of choosing one of the tiers is the fact that many bikers follow it every year. I would surly meet up with other bikers who had a wealth of touring knowledge. If anything went wrong, help would likely be nearby. The infrastructure is better, there are useful maps. This is all great, but I got stuck on the idea that I could visit every state in one summer. I started looking to see if others had done it. There were several, but their routes were virtually always a big circle. In other words, way more that 7000 miles. And it always took them more than 6 months. Hundreds, if not thousands, bike across the country every year. Going through every state would mean I'd be the first at something. Either I'd have the fastest time or the shortest distance for self supported cyclist, or I'd be the most amateur to do it, or I'd be the first person in 2014 to do it. These potentials are what sold me. I know it wasn't a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it felt like it. I would be in Hawaii before the trip, and I'd fly back to Alaska once I was done. The starting point was in Montana, less than 100 miles from my apartment, so I could buy all my gear beforehand. For the first week, I'd be within driving distance of friends and family if anything went wrong.
When I told people about the trip I was planning, their main concern was that I wasn't traveling with anyone. So I started asking. The answers were almost unanimous. The guys always said they wish they could but they were too busy this summer. The gals always said, "No way, I could never do that!" I'm exaggerating a bit here, but there certainly was an interesting trend. I had earned a women's studies minor, and here was clear evidence of what I learned in those classes- that women and men do not have the same opportunities. This helped form a new goal for the trip: prove that girls can be bicycle tourists too. I was obviously a bit late on that. There are many female cyclists on the road. I met one on my trip who had been cycling all parts of the world for seven years. However, I hope that I have at least inspired a few of the ladies in my life to take a leap of faith and try something new and out of the ordinary.
I'll make this the last reason so that I don't write a whole book. I've always been impressed and a bit envious of people who would come back to school after summer break having grown 6 inches taller. Or the people who came back after college with 80 more pounds of muscle. Basically going away and coming back as a changed person. I've been dreaming about this ever since I can remember. I planned on heading out to our remote cabin to read a bunch of textbooks, or to learn a new language, or to learn how to play the piano. I didn't gain much academic knowledge from this trip, but I grew as a person. I know now more than ever who I am and who I want to be. I guessed before the trip that I would feel the same as always, and that only other people who knew what I did would treat me differently. I'm sure I didn't get that quite right. I'm confident people will see me as the same old Tyler, just with a bit more determination and confidence. And I feel different- I've learned so much about the world in the past few months. I hope I can contribute with my knowledge and eye for improving everything in order to help change the world.

Day 112- Perfect

I woke up around 7. It was warm out again. I hope it stays that way. I packed up and was on the road by 8. My route was 48 miles, but I would get into Maine in about 40. Which means I'd have plenty of time to look for a postcard. I kinda wish I had spent more time in Vermont now, but of course I was also excited about finally getting to the last state. I had some good shoulders, then a long stretch of dirt road. More great shoulders. I got into Rochester and my pulse increased- only a little bit left. I started looking around for the welcome sign. Finally I looked on Google- yep I was past the border. That was it. 48 states and Washington, D.C. About 7400 miles. 110 days, 16 hours, 47 minutes. I know what you're thinking- but this is day 112! Right, but day 1 was technically day 0. And I started at 4:15pm in Washington- a 3 hour time difference. So a new day doesn't lapse until after dark. I kept going and soon found the welcome to Maine sign. I peddled a bit further and found a sign for skydiving. Well that would be a great way of celebrating! I looked them up online, and unfortunately, you have to book a class at least 12 hours in advance. There's no way I could do it. There was a nearby gas station. I wasn't expecting much but sure enough, they had postcards. So much for getting to Maine early! I bought icecream and a postcard, plugged in my battery outside, then filled out the postcard. My last one. Then I was like shoot! I've met some great people along the way. I've been wanting to send them a postcard from Maine, telling them I finished. I went inside and started eating my icecream while I figured out how many postcards I needed to buy. I was able to find 5 addresses. I bought them and filled them out, continuing to eat my icecream. Man it was good. It was interesting to think back to the people who helped me out in California, Oregon, Minnesota, South Dakota. The further the state, the less vivid the memory. The beginning of this trip seems like forever ago. Even the bits in between seem like so long ago. But I'm finally here. The past always seems like it flew by in an instant to me, but the future comes at the same slow, steady pace. I've learned so much about myself on this journey. I'm ready for the next chapter of my life.

Day 111- Not Battleboro

I kept waking up, thinking there was a bear outside my tent. I'm actually pretty sure it's squirrels every time. They are noisy bastards. The stupid slope also did not make for the best sleep. I really wonder how sleeping in my actual bed will be like. I've gotten so used to just a pad. I was really close to Brattleboro, the city I wanted to get a postcard from, so I was obligated to sleep in long enough for the stores to open. On the way in, it was really foggy. The perfect reflection of the fog and the autumn colors was breathtaking.

So was the crazy hill leading up to the town. I checked the local pharmacy and some gas stations. Two people pointed me towards Rite Aid. I haven't had any luck with them in the past, but I might as well check. They had more postcards than I've seen anywhere else! I was so happy. Now Google was telling me to go this crazy long route to get to the next town, but I saw an easier and faster way. I wasn't sure if it was okay for bikes, but I figured I'd take my chances. I wanted to get into Maine as early as possible tomorrow so that I could get a postcard and not have to worry about it the next day. So on I went. The bridge going over into New Hampshire was great- I had a whole bridge to myself (it was for pedestrians, probably a retired car bridge). Then I continued on that highway for most of the day. It was great- I didn't have to worry about turns for the longest time. Only about 30 minutes in, I stopped at a gas station and they had postcards. Yay! One more state, one more postcard. It's so crazy. Even though I had plenty of food, I bought a slice of pizza and powerbars to celebrate. I think it's the powerbar that made me peddle a little faster for the rest of the day- I covered a good amount of miles and my legs got sore. Towards the end of the day, I went through a city and realized finding camp might be difficult. I had my eyes on a spot but a half hour later I knew I couldn't make it. I spent a while trying to figure out where to go when I decided I might as well stop now. It was before 6, but I can't get very far in 30 minutes. The spot here is perfect. It's a wedge of forest between a major road, a creek, and a smaller road. There's no way a bear would be here. I should actually be able to sleep well tonight.

Day 110- Airport

Since I was camped near low bushes, the sun warmed my tent up in the morning and I thought it was finally not going to be a freezing cold morning. I was wrong. It probably wouldn't have been too bad, but since I was practically at the top of a hill, most of the morning was downhill. It wasn't as bad as riding in the cold rain a few days ago, but it was still pretty darn cold. I passed by several no trespassing signs- I guess I picked a good spot. Eventually I made it to a town and I checked for postcards. The pharmacy had a stack. Hooray! I went back to the grocery store nearby because it had a blue post office box outside. I noticed a wall plugin nearby. Perfect! It was looking like I would be about 1 day short with my power supply. I plugged in a battery, wrote out my postcard, then went inside and bought food. Then I came back out and plugged in my phone and ate a sandwich. Here's some insight into how I think- I realized that writing the postcard before buying food was dumb because if I had done it the other way around, I could have charged my phone for longer (I didn't want to leave my phone charging when I wasn't right there watching it). Anyways, when I finished my sandwich, I still needed more charge, so I pretty much just sat there and thought. Which was weird, because I haven't really had a whole lot of time to do that during this trip, in the middle of the day anyways. I messed around with how my gear was packed up, then adjusted my brakes- that was very needed. Finally I got bored and my phone was at 98%. That should be enough. I can always stop again. Unfortunately this stop was just a bit too long. Vermont and New Hampshire are really close together- I was hoping to get both tonight. But it was going to be too far. I wasn't too upset though. Since Delaware, if I'm not mistaken, I've gotten a state every day. And I've camped in almost every state this whole trip. I'll just camp in Vermont and call it good. And Brattleboro will be on the way in the morning. I peddled upslope for a while through a national forest, then I zoomed down the other side for a while more. I made it into the town of Orange, one of the best town names ever. This is where I had to make my decision. There was no way I would be able to make it to Vermont by going up New Hampshire and crossing the bridge, and vice versa. I could pop up to New Hampshire and then come back down and over to Vermont, but it ended up being just a bit too far- I wanted to make it to a good place to camp and the extra miles, in the end, would kinda be just a waste. So I put off the ability to say that I had just one state left for one more day and headed down and over to Vermont. I knew that zipping down through that national forest would come back to haunt me- some of the steepest hills awaited me. I zoomed down for just a bit and hit a dirt road. Just a bit further and I was in Vermont. Two left! I quickly got back on pavement and started worrying about if I would get to the place I wanted to camp at. It was close to dark when I turned onto Tyler Hill Road. Awesome name and not awesome name. I wanted to go about 3 more miles, but even without hills, I wouldn't make it before dark. I looked at my phone and realized if I didn't turn here, there was plenty of land up ahead. And it was a shorter route to Brattleboro. Darn Google. I turned around and before turning back on the previous road, a cop pulled up right beside me. And then promptly turned and went the other way. Phew. I continued on. I quickly discovered that this wasn't exactly ideal. To the right was a river or canal and a slope. To the left was another steep slope. I found a picnicking area where I'm sure I could have found a spot in the nearby woods, but it specifically said no camping. I kept going. Eventually I made it to a sign that said blind drives ahead. Time to turn around. I found a spot that looked as good as any and started pushing my bike up the hill. Of course I picked the one spot with a weird tree that forced me to go around it. I felt like every person passing saw me. Finally I was hidden from view. There weren't a lot of choices, but I picked a spot that looked level enough. I set up my tent in the dim light. Once I climbed inside, I found out that it was very not level. Oh well. I've had worse.

Day 109- Cold

It was really cold last night. I slept in and got up a bit before 9. Once I had everything on my bike, I realized I had been meaning to adjust my front tire. I think the wobble is back. I'm sure it was from when I took it off to try the bigger tube. I took everything off the front and messed around with the tire. Hopefully it helped. Then I realized my back tire finally went completely flat. It had been leaking very slowly for the past few days. I took the tube out and found a hole, but I couldn't find what peirced it in the tire. I thought about patching it but I didn't want to risk it. I just put in a thorn resistant tube. Finally I was ready to go around 10. I guess it'll be a short day. At one point I turned off onto a dirt road that turned onto an overgrown four wheeler trail. I figured I would have to route around it, so I pedaled back to the road. Then I realized that it probably wasn't that way for long- it connected up with another road. I pedaled all the way back and kept going this time. I could actually ride for a ways but then I had to walk it. I passed by what looked like an old train car that I wanted to check out but didn't just in case someone lived in it. Soon I was back on pavement. I'm getting back into hill territory. It's not as bad as Tennessee, but it still makes me miss the rail trails. Eventually I got into Massachusetts. Three more states. I've been through 45. It still seems so unreal to me. I started looking for postcards right away, even though it was a Sunday. No luck. I'll have all day tomorrow. I swear about half the businesses in Massachusetts are pizzerias. At the end of the day when I was looking for camp, I got to the top of a hill that was cleared off for the nearby airport. It was a nice view. I was planning on going another mile or so to get away from some side roads, but as I was going down the hill, the trees blocked so much light that I wanted to just camp here. The area to my right looked like it had been cleared years ago, but now it was overgrown with bushes. I tried to duck in quickly, because I had been waiting for a break in the stream of cars for too long. It didn't quite work. The two trees I went between were just a bit too close together. I kinda just stood there for a bit, feeling really silly, hoping no one saw me. After some effort, I finally backed up and went in the spot beside it. I was instantly greeted with lovely thorn bushes. I had to set up my tent closer to the road than I would have liked because it was so overgrown, but I'm hidden enough. Once I was inside my tent and writing this, I heard some rustling outside my tent. Probably just the usual possum or raccoon, but it was pretty persistent. I yelled at it a few times but it seemed to keep coming back. I heard a really weird yell- hopefully it got ran over.

State number 45!

Day 108- Lost

I wanted to get up early and get the heck out of here, but like always, something always stops me. It was raining. Since I wasn't actually in a rush, I waited it out. Around 8 it seemed like it stopped, although it still sounded like it was raining all around me. I could hear the wind- it was probably just knocking the drops off the trees. When I finally got out of my tent, I found that maybe it was only lightly raining but I was confident it would get better once I got away from the trees. I went back the way I came. I've stayed in some sketchy places, but this past week definitely deserves an award. Once I was on the road, it was just barely misting, but it slowly increased. I was probably riding right into it. I couldn't use my phone much, but the path was straightforward enough- I could probably take highway 1 the whole way. It's kinda funny. Today would have been a great day to stop and eat somewhere to get out of the rain and possibly get my phone charged, but I had enough food and water to last me all day. I decided not to stop, mainly because it was so cold. I knew it would be so much worse if I had to start back up again. My hands were so cold that shifting gears was a pain- I usually just stayed in high gear and hoped for the best. Eventually highway 1 merged with the freeway and there was a sign saying that bikes were prohibited. Drats, I guess I do have to use my phone. I was confused at first because it said to cross under the freeway, do a bunch of turns and then get on the freeway going against traffic. Are you crazy? But then I looked more closely on Google and it looked like there might be a pedestrian walk on that side. Yep. After that, more highway 1, then I had to get over to the pedestrian walk to cross another bridge. The past few days I've been surrounded by civilization- it's drastically different from, well, pretty much the entire rest of the trip. Finally there were some patches of woods as I got closer to the edge of Connecticut. At the same time, the rain finally cleared. I was feeling much better as my feet and hands slowly thawed out. Somehow my pants dried almost instantly. It was looking like I would only get into Rhode Island after 5. I'm planning on spending most of tomorrow going up through it, but it'll be a Sunday, so my chances of finding a postcard are slim. It'd be best if I could find one today, but I only had maybe an hour or so. I finally crossed over just after 4:30 and set to work. The first stop was at a grocery store- not what I usually check, but success! I quickly wrote it, put it in the post office box in front of the store, and tried to figure out where a good place would be to camp. It looked like there were several patches on the way, so I just started going. I was almost tempted when I found some decent spots, but I kept going. Once it was a bit after 6, I gave in. I'd rather quit early and know for sure it was a good spot than have another night like the past few. I headed into the woods. I could still see the cars, but I felt no one would be able to spot me while they were driving by, especially once it got dark. While I was in my tent, I started to hear the weirdest sound. I'm thinking it must have been fireworks, although I don't know why anyone would be doing that. I thought it would just people shooting but it was different. I noticed a light on my tent that suddenly went off. I had seen a street lamp when I was setting up my tent. Still, I sat there nervously for a bit until I finally checked. Yep, just the street lamp. I heard people talking briefly and a dog barking. I guess I'm not as far away from everything as I thought.

Day 107- Swamp

It was so cold. I wanted to get a move on because I thought I might be visible from the nearby house's driveway, but the cold kept me inside. Plus, I knew I was pretty much golden by now: I only need to average 60 miles a day. Finally I got up and got on the road just before 9. It didn't take long before I was in Connecticut. I got into a big town and checked around for postcards- no luck. No worries, I have plenty of state to go through. I spent a long time on sidewalks. I was so close to the water that there were never any breaks between the cities. This ride had views that reminded me the most of home. I could see land across the water. I got into a small town and checked a pharmacy. They had the usual greeting cards, but I didn't see any postcards among them. I almost left but I figured I should ask. Just before I was going to, I spotted the postcard rack at the front counter. Lucky me! I told the owner about my trip. He charged me a dollar, but then gave me a free water. He came out to check out my bike, and then offered me some snacks for the road. I'm so happy to know that there are such kind folks out there. Oh yeah, and there was a parrot outside. I hope the cold doesn't bother him too much. Finally I got to a point where I couldn't see the land across the water anymore and I assumed I must be seeing the Atlantic Ocean. It felt pretty great to have another milestone marked off. I found out later that it was still part of the inlet. Apparently a lot of the land on the other side can't be seen from this side. Meh. Some other day, probably soon. I was nervous about finding camp, but I had my eye on a spot that had a trail going through it. I passed by some woods on the way and was about to call it quits for the day when I heard people talking. I stood there for a while. Finally I heard them again and saw them. They must have been hunting or exploring or something. I could have waited, but if they were in the woods, who else could be? I kept going, and quickly found the next park of the journey was a trail. When I passed by the narrow path between cement blocks that prevent motor vehicles from getting onto the trail, something caught on my water and it started spilling. Some people walked by and then back the other way. Great, I'd have to pass them again. I had to put the water bag in my basket so that the pressure of my bag wouldn't keep making it leak. There were some neat bridges I got to cross but I couldn't really appreciate the views because I was stressed about my water and stressed about needing to find camp. I found some potential spots, but with people on this trail, it would be too risky to set up my tent here. Finally I got back on a road and headed to the trail in the woods that I had spotted earlier on Google. The road turned into a one lane and the one lane turned into a dirt path. Nothing was blocking the path from motorists, so it was different from the ones I was used to. It didn't take long before the trail really wasn't there anymore. I tried following Google, but I was kinda freaking out a bit by now. I wanted to continue on to be closer to the train tracks and ideally further away from houses, but if there was no trail, then I was possibly just some guy messing around in someone's backyard. So I decided to just try to head away from the houses. I set up my tent among some small trees in the hopes that I would be more hidden, but I found out I was pretty much right next to a different trail. Oh well, it's too late now. I climbed inside, nervous as ever. I pretty much just laid there and listened, hoping no one was hunting tonight.

Day 106- Motorcycle

I kept waking up and checking if it was time to get up yet, but it was always dark and cold. Finally it was almost 7. I looked out of my sleeping bag and my tent seemed to be lit up. I guess it's time to get going. I thought I heard the motorcycle again as I was packing up, but I got back on the trail without seeing anyone. I had some steep hills right off the bat. This was a good thing though. It was pretty chilly out, so the extra work warmed me up. I restocked at a 7-Eleven. Finally I made it to New York. I checked a lot of places for postcards- gas stations, pharmacies, gift shops- no luck. Finally I got directed to a stationary store. I thought that meant like scrapbooking, which I've never had luck with, so I almost skipped it. It ended up being a card shop. They had like over 20 different postcards. Win! I knew I was going through the town of Peekskill, and I really wanted a Peekskill, New York postcard, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. The route all day was straightforward enough. I got off track once, but that was because the roads are über weird here sometimes. Some roads do a 180 but still have the same name, while others continue straight and have different names at random intervals. There was a lot of traffic all day, but I usually had a shoulder. If I didn't, the drivers seemed pretty used to passing bikers. I got excited when I noticed the river and the bridge up ahead. I figured being next to the river meant no more hills- wrong. I had several ups and downs before finally reaching the bridge. I was a bit nervous. The last bridge I wasn't able to go acrross. If that was true here, it could really screw me over by adding miles and miles to my route. Luckily there was a pedestrian path on the side of the bridge- phew. I went slow and took a bunch of pictures. The view was great. The road as soon as I got off the bridge was a blast. Lots of traffic, and no shoulder most of the time. There was a cliff face to the left and a wall keeping cars from driving off the cliff to the right. Good thing the speed limit was reasonable. I felt safe enough. Eventually I got to turn off onto a short walking path, then dirt road, then I was in Peekskill! In my completely unbiased opinion, it's a pretty neat town. It's kinda built in the cliffs, overlooking the water. This perhaps wasn't the best for bikes though. I had some real gnarly hills to climb. The path for the rest of the day was pretty easy. I turned once to get on a bike path- the rest was all the same road. I was hoping to make it to Connecticut today, but by the time 5 rolled around, I realized I needed to make sure I knew I had a spot to camp. There were a few spots just before the border, but after that, the road consistently had houses on either side. It was cloudy, so I knew I needed to find camp before 7. It's so weird. I used to find camp at like 9:30. It was only 6, but I had to quit riding. I waited for the traffic to die down a bit, then I ducked into the forest. It was kinda thin, but I hoped to get far enough in that no one would be able to see me. Then I found the water. I was hoping it wasn't this way for long, so I went forward more than I should have. My tires were almost halfway submerged in the water. I had to backtrack, all the while knowing that anyone going by in their cars would be able to see me. I went around the swamp and started setting up my tent. I could just barely see a house but I knew it was plenty far away. I picked a spot that was more in the vegetation part, but the thorn bushes and whatnot were making it more difficult than I wanted it to be. I moved everything over, even more away from the swamp, to an area under some big trees where nothing else but small ferns grew. I was a tad more visible, but I was out of the thorn bushes. I crawled inside my tent and listened to the cars going by as I planned out the next day.

Seriously, my main form of entertainment during this trip was road signs.

This was a pretty huge bridge.

Day 105- Nature

It was really windy and stormy again last night. It rained hard. I feel so lucky that I haven't had to deal with that during the day in a long while. I woke up early, just before 7. It'd be best if I got out before anyone came down the trail and heard me packing up. I left the nature preserve without seeing anyone- phew. There were lots of busy roads this morning as people were heading off to work. In order to get over into New Jersey, I had to walk my bike across a large bridge. The difference between states is usually not to noticeable, but here it definitely was. The roads were all pretty good in Pensilvania, the houses looked expensive. In New Jersey, everything looked run down. I find it interesting that people living so close by can live such different lives. I had to share the road for a while, but luckily there was plenty of space. Then I turned on a canal trail. I was hoping to make up some time here. I knew where I wanted to end up, and you never know how the rest of the roads are going to be like. Unfortunately, the trail sucked. There were lots of puddles to go through and some gravel patches. Luckily there was a paved road on the other side of the canal. Paved is probably too generous of a word- the road was uneven, bumpy, in desperate need of replacement. I felt like I was destroying my bike at times. But it was faster than the trail, and soon it got better. I was making my way over to a highway when I realized that I was kinda going out of my way. Sometimes it's necessary but in this case, there were plenty of smaller roads that would provide a much shorter route to where I was headed. I just figured that Google knew what it was doing, and that it would take longer to try to come up with my own path. Once I got to the highway however, I discovered that it was impossible to get onto. Basically I'd be merging with a lane, then the highway itself. All with no shoulders. I realized that I haven't used the walking route in Google for a while. It usually gives shorter routes, but occasionally it will try to take you on a hiking trail, with stone steps and stuff- not fun on a bike. I risked it anyways. It gave me a slightly shorter route- yay! Eventually it connected back up with the highway. Hopefully it will be less crazy there. I biked up and over the bridge that crossed the highway and zoomed down the other side. I had to stop often to figure out where to go. The hills were really no fun. Finally I made it to the area that looked campable on Google. It was another nature preserve, I think. It said it was bow hunting season and to stay on the trail. This could be a fun night. I made it really far without seeing anyone. I ducked into the trees only to find that I couldn't go any farther than a few dozen feet because of a fence. I could still probably be seen from the trail- not ideal. I walked around without my bike, looking for a better spot. I found one, but it was across a small stream and kinda far away. I still had light though. I got back to my bike and was debating if it was really worth it to go that far when I heard the jingling of a collar. I ducked down and watched as a guy walking his dog went by on the trail. He totally could have seen or heard me, but hopefully he didn't. Either way, he didn't do anything about it, and neither did his dog. I don't know what kind of person walks his dog through the woods near dark, but whatever. I decided it wasn't worth going further. I'd be too loud and too visible in the process. I moved my bike over to a spot that I hoped would be good enough and then heard a dirt bike. I thought for sure it had to be on a nearby road, but then I clearly heard it just 40 feet or so away. I ducked down again. He turned the motor off. Damn. I didn't know what to think- I just tried not to make any noise. I thought for sure that he saw me. But then he fired up the engine again and took off. Honestly I'm not whether camping or having a dirt bike here is worse- both are not permitted. After waiting a bit, I set up my tent, just hoping that was the last person. I tried to sleep, even though I was expecting a cop to come.

Day 104- Windy

Last night was not the best. I usually have my bike partially under the vestibule of my tent, but there wasn't much room here, so I just laid it down on the other side of my tent. I kept thinking all night that it was going to get stolen, I even had a dream about it. I checked on it in the middle of the night by crawling halfway out of my tent. Of course it was still there. In the morning, I packed up carefully and waited for the traffic to die down a bit. You'd think this was the middle of a big city. Finally I was on the road again. A few turns and there was a gas station. I restocked. I needed to go through Delaware. I was expecting the rest of the trip to only be about 550 miles, and that's what I was prepared for. Unfortunately, New York/this area of the country has many bridges that bikes aren't allowed on. Every time I tried to route with the bicycle option, it included a ferry. I can't use a ferry, that'd be cheating. I figured out a way to route around, and it added about 200 miles. I was planning on biking down Delaware and back up just a bit so that it wasn't just a hit and run, but now I really had no choice. At least the roads were great- I had a big shoulder the whole time. I couldn't figure out where to stop to look for postcards, so my first stop was a library. They suggested Walgreen's. I've been to one before, with no luck. Maybe different states do things differently though. I was going to check a nearby K-Mart, but there were seriously like 10 people chillin outside. There's not much on my bike to steal, but I hate leaving it right next to people, so I skipped it. There was a Walgreen's across the street, but I skipped that too. I'd have to cross several lanes, then make a left turn again- it wasn't fun the first time. So I continued on and eventually found another Walgreen's. I looked around. I didn't see any postcards, but I asked anyways and the guy assured me they did. I went back and sure enough, in the isle next to the cards, was a rack of postcards. They are hard to find in more ways than one- they are hidden sometimes. It seemed to take forever to find a post office box, but finally I found one. I made my way out of Delaware happily. I hadn't seen a place to camp all day. Pennsylvania had my back though. I headed to a walking/biking trail when it was pretty close to dark. People were leaving when I approached the entrance. Shoot, I hope it's not too busy. I passed by a few more people. I found a sign that said trail closed due to construction or something like that, but they were pulled off to the side like they were no longer relevant. I didn't really have a choice. I headed down to the left, where the sign was parallel with the path, and therefore clearly not in use. Maybe that will prevent other people from walking by. I went a ways and then popped into the forest. I found a perfect spot- nice and level. Much better than last night. Unfortunately there was a small trail leading here. There was a tree blocking the rest of the path. Hopefully no one uses it tonight! I waited for quite a bit just in case. The light slowly faded. On Google, it looked like the main path was just across the stream. No one walked by though. Finally I set up my tent and crawled inside.

Risky camp spot.

Day 103

Empty car
It took me a bit to find my way all the way back to the road. I was glad I stopped when I did- it wasn't long before I was on a road that was pretty busy. It would have been sketchy to do at night. After that, there were plenty of places to camp. It really makes me wonder how different this whole experience would be if I just changed one campsite. It would change every campsite after that. Honestly I couldn't write this day the day it happened, so I've forgotten what happened for the middle of it. But the end sucked. I could not find a good place to camp. I finally found a place that seemed good and I ducked into the woods. The traffic was stupidly busy as it always is at night when I need to find camp, so it took me a bit of standing around before I could do it. The exact place I wanted to be ended up being what was likely a river or canal with extremely steep banks at on me point. There was no way I'd make it back up with all my gear. The woods beside it were too thin, and there was a house nearby. I had a mini panic attack until I realized I had to get back out. A skateboarder went by. Another panic attack. Of course the traffic took forever to clear, but I finally made my way back out onto the road. I had found a spot on Google that was away from everyone, but it was a half mile away or so. It was basically already dark. I headed that way anyways. I found a spot on the way that looked promising. I pushed my bike into the woods again. It wasn't the best spot. There was the paved road on one side and a dirt road on the other- possibly a driveway. I couldn't see the house though. I struggled to set up my tent in the cramped space. I should leave really early tomorrow. Somehow, I fell asleep.

Day 102

Empty campground
Before I start at the beginning, I just want to mention that it is currently the end of this day. I was typing away on the previous day when I heard leaves shuffling and whatnot, just like footsteps. I really thought that some random person had stumbled upon my tent when I heard the wining- poribbsly a raccoon. It was right at the edge of my tent. I hissed at it and it ran off. Haha. Gotta love nature.

Since the flashlight people made me stop using my phone, I fell asleep fast and was therefore able to wake up earlier. Unfortunately, it was really freaking cold. It took me a while, but eventually I knew I just had to face it. I put on my long pants along with a long sleeved shirt and of course my rain jacket and packed up. My neighbor was still asleep. I couldn't see a tent, only his loaded touring bike. I would have looked harder but I'm pretty sure I saw him move. Maybe he's not asleep. By the time I left, I saw him stretching. It wasn't long before I got to the next campsite. They had a roaring fire going- I'm glad I got to skip out on that. I'm sure they were up late chattering, which would be hard to sleep through. Wow, I sound like such a grump. I guess I just have my priorities. I was putting off filling up my water again. Last time it was a huge pain, but this one must have been "well" greaced because it didn't take long at all. Eventually it got warm enough to take off my gloves, but j was dumb and so I just set them on the back of my bike and took off, like I have done so many times before. Luckily when I realized it, I only had to go back a couple hundred feet to find them. Apparently they had stayed on for close to a mile and fell off both at once- super duper lucky. I had noticed that my vision seemed a bit off, but now I could really see it. I worried that that well water was making me go blind. I finally decided it must just be my contacts. It's virtually impossible to put them in and take them out on this trip. My hands are clean for about 2 minutes after I wash them. However, I haven't even washed my hands in a few days because I've just been on the trail. I've been using just hand sanitisor. Out of all of the things I want to be on my eyes, hand sanitisor is definitely second to last, right after red hot shards of glass. So I just tried to tear up- a skill all little brothers have- to keep my contacts wet. It helped, but I still had poor vision for a lot of te day. Which was pretty scary once I finally hit the part of the trail that had bucket loads of tourists. It was a real pain to navigate around them. After what seemed like forever, they thinned out. Then the path became paved, hooray! Then a few miles later it promptly ended. I had to navigate the sidewalks of DC, which was interesting. I passed by a table with stuff for sale- ooo, a postcard! I suppose technically this is a separate territory from all of the states, so I might as well add it to the collection. One turn later and I passed by the White House. It's crazy to see something so many times in pictures and whatnot and then to finally see it in person. There were lots of people around, so I didn't stay long. As I passed through the rest of the city, I wanted to take pictures of everything. But I realized I can probably just Google pictures of DC buildings and get a much better look. So I just used my eyes. Tons of cars, tons of people. I had to pee like crazy. There was a McDonalds. Unfortunately you had to buy something first and ask for a token. I was so mad. I mean it makes sense, I'm sure they'd always have a line for the bathroom if they didn't do that but I really had to go. I decided I might as well but something. But there were quite a few people in line. I wasn't about to wait to order, wait for food, and have to ask to use the bathroom. So I just left. I stopped by a gas station- no luck. Finally there was a random porta poty. I swear I must have lost 5 pounds from that pee. I continued on, feeling much better. As I tend to do, I try to find my own way around, only using Google as a guide. So naturally instead of joining up with the route again, I passed under it. Just like my shortcut from a few days before. I rerouted. Finally I made it to a bike path. Trees! This was the part where I relaxed a bit. It would suck to get caught at night in a place like DC. At least I know there are places to camp. I passed by lots of places like this. I decided earlier in te day that 6 would be a fine time to set up camp if I had to, even though I can technically do that after 7. But I'd rather be safe that sorry, especially when I'm between DC and Baltimore. Once 6 finally rolled around, I was in an area that would probably have been the most rural place possible, but it just felt too weird quiting so early. I saw on Google that there looked to be several patches of woods ahead, so I continued on. Around 6:30, there was a parked car in the place that I was planning on getting into the woods, so I had to backtrack a bit. I entered the woods and looked for a place to hide. I imediately saw deer running away. The forest is kinda sparse, but I think I found a decent spot. I hesitated to set up my tent so early. It was still pretty light out. I waited a bit, just in case there happened to be someone else wandering these woods.

Day 101

People
I got up a little early today! I felt a little bit weird though, like I was a bit dizzy. Hopefully I can just ride it off. I found out that this particular campsite was a paid one. However, since I didn't actually use any of the facilities and I was expecting a free one, I didn't bother. If that was more clear last night, I would have kept going. The next campsite was only a mile or so away. There were two bikers there, so I'm not necessarily disappointed about where I camped. I filled up my water- a pain in the butt. You have to hand pump from the well. It took a while. I had to pump with one arm and try to keep my water bladder under the flow. The water tasted terrible because it was treated with iodine or iodide or whatever doesn't kill you, but I got used to it pretty fast. Google had worked in a shortcut, much like the one I took yesterday. Just before, I finally had data, so I looked up how many more miles I had. Google rerouted me, shaving a bunch of miles off by going more straight. It worked out so that I got 100 miles closer to my goal from yesterday's travels, rather than the 70 or so I probably biked. Hmm. I checked how far away Washington, D.C. was. It would add a bit more than the 30 miles I gained, but I figured if I push myself, I can easily make it. So I continued down the trail. Google had it's own shortcut for me this time. Again, it's amazing how difficult hills are after being on the trail for so long. I obly had to go a bit out of the way to stock up at a Dollar General. Oh and before I forget, it's finally started to get really darn cold. I wear my rain jacket a lot. It was super windy today too. Soon I was back on the trail. I felt nervous about adding miles, so I looked for roads that paralleled the trail. I could go much faster on the pavement. I switched over once or twice until it was late enough that I wanted to make sure I knew where the campsites were. I continued down the trail and stopped when I saw a sign that said "Stop! You can sleep here!" I looked over at the old canal house. There is one every few miles. They are usually locked, but I guess this one wasn't. The sign said to register online, which seemed weird. Is that like a reservation or something? That's when a guy came out of the house. Yeah, he already claimed it. Oh well, I knew there was a campground up ahead. I pedaled away and when I was probably almost out of earshot, I glanced over through the woods to the river and burst out in amazement. The sky was lit up with a rich pink. The calm river below reflected it, lighting up the whole right side. I haven't seen a sunset in a long time. There are so many trees here that the sun goes behind them first. You couldn't miss this one, even with the trees. Once I got to a clearing in the trees, the view was already past. I got to a campsite a little after 7. I wanted to go to the next one just to clock in more miles, but the next camp was over 5 miles away. There were less clouds than yesterday so it wasn't completely unreasonable to try it, but this one was empty, it's late, I might as well just call it a day. I wandered around the site, trying to find a good spot. There were only thin weeds over mud in most places. I finally found a spot with thicker weeds and set up my tent. Probably an hour and a half later, someone shines a flashlight on my tent- great, I've got neighbors. Or I'm about to be killed. Or I'm being checked out by a cop. It was weird because I didn't hear them set up a tent or anything. I dozed off just trying to listen.

Day 100

Cliff
A dog barked as I fell asleep and he was at it again when I woke up. I bet the poor thing does nothing but bark all day. I heard a few bikers go by. When I started packing up, a few more went by, but I don't think any of them saw me. Just a few miles after starting, I went across a long bridge. It was pretty windy. I stopped to take some pictures. There was a leaf in my chain, so I bent down to pull it off. Somehow I managed to tip my bike over just enough to spill a ton of peanuts on the ground. I had to get off my bike to clean it up. Bad idea. The wind cause my bike to completely fall over, spilling everything in the basket. Somehow nothing actually fell off the bridge... At least that I know of. Seriously though, what a fantastic start to my day. At least my basket wasn't completely destroyed yet. I stopped by a porta poty and a guy shouts hello. I said hi back. Then he continued talking on the phone. I was like wow... But then he soon hung up and for sure was talking to me this time. A group of bikers was coming through I'm support of wounded veterans. They had a bunch of treats for the people going by on the trail- bananas, granola and cliff bars, Gatorade, and fruit snacks. They didn't say they were fundraising or anything though, so I just got some snacks for free. Yay! I got into a town and had to hunt down a convenience store. It was all down hill, but finally I searched Google and was able to find one. For some reason I got a dozen donuts... I guess I was feeling hungry. As I was heading back up the hill, a guy in a truck pulled over and asked me where the trail was. Luckily I had just looked it up and was heading there myself, so I was able to answer. A couple of people have asked me for directions and I have always had to say that I have no clue, until today. I got back on the trail and stopped every so often to check my map. The trail did a crazy V shape that I wanted to avoid so that I could shave off a few miles. I finally got to the turnoff. I had to climb three hills, always blasting downhill afterwards. The sign said 13% grade- I'm pretty sure that's the most I've ever seen. Finally it was all downhill into Maryland. It looked like the road I was on would meet right up again with the trail, but I found out it actually was quite a bit above it. I was going to just continue until there was an actual spot to get back on, but the shoulder disappeared and the traffic increased. Maybe the shoulders would get better, but I didn't know because I didn't have data and therefore couldn't check on Google. I decided to just go back because I saw a road that looked like it crossed over the trial. It didn't. It crossed under. I didn't see any other way though, so I just pushed/dragged my bike up the steep slope to the trail. I saw just railroad tracks at first and got a bit scared but right on the other side was the trail. I probably negated most of what I gained from the shortcut by doing this but oh well. Less than a mile later, there was a gas station that had a ramp leading right  into the trail. Oh well. Soon I hit the first city in Maryland. After some confusion about exactly where I needed to go, I found the visitors center. Woot, postcard on the first try! The next part of the trail was different. Before I was on a rail trail- this was a towpath, canal trail, or something like that. The quality of the trail was fine through the city but it slowly devolved closer to a dirt road. I could still keep a good pace on it, but every time I hit a patch of small rocks, I could feel how much it slowed me down. I passed by a road kill raccoon, not unusual at all, I see them all the time. But wait, I'm on a bike/hiking trail, that's kinda odd. I stop and look back. It's moving! I went over to check it out and was really surprised that it didn't just immediately run off. Every time I got a bit close, it would raise it's head and then put it back down. I didn't really know what to do. It seemed like it must have been run over by a bicycle perhaps. Or, it was a windy day- maybe it fell out of a tree. There were flies all around it, so I doubted it would have a happy ending. I extended my arm out to it and that finally caused it to get up. It didn't make it far though. It was so sad. I'm really hoping it's just dazed. I know they are nocturnal, so maybe it's just tired. I was totally gonna nurse it back to health and carry it around on my bike but I realized that was probably impractical. I had to leave it there and continue on. The wind was gnarly all day. At least it was nice and cool. The trail really took me through the heart of nature. I saw lots of squirles and crazy amounts of deer. Actually I keep forgetting to talk about deer. I hadn't seen them for months, but now I see many every day. A few days ago I saw four at one time, and one had small horns. Yesterday I passed just a few feet from a deer. It didn't even run away. Deer in the headlights was a common look I got. They would stand there starring at me until I got close enough for them to run away. There was a fantastic tunnel I got to go through. I could bike the whole way, but it still took a long time to get through it. The path was not very wide, so I had to slow down when I passed two other people walking their bikes. The ground was pretty uneven at times, but not enough to walk it. Oh right, and to the left was a handrail protecting people from a 30 foot drop to te canal below. Okay, I guess I don't blame them. About every 5 miles or so of this trail, there was a campsite set up with a porta-poty and water pump. I had enough water for the rest of the day, but this is hugely important for any hiker or biker. It was nice to know water was always less than 3 or 4 miles away. They also had a sign that showed exactly how far away the next and previous campsite was. Pretty awesome. Once it was getting towards that time where I need to think about camp, I would just pass a campsite and read the sign. If I thought I could make it, I kept going. It was 6:26 and I had 5.1 miles to go. I figured that would take roughly 40 minutes, so I'd probably stay there. Somehow I managed to get there by 7:56. That's like 10mph! And I even stopped to pee once! The next campground was 5.3 miles away. I hesitated, but I figured that's a lot of miles. I'd love to be that much closer to Maine. I increased my pace a lot, knowing it would be almost dark by the time I got to the next campground. Sometimes I would go under treecover and I could barley see the trail. Finally I saw a porta-poty, but no water pump or sign like usual. I saw car headlights up ahead. What the heck? Then I did see a different sign- "group camping" and an arrow. I checked the time. It was 7:13. I'm thinking this has to be a different one, because that puts my speed at above 15mph. Oh well, it was dark and I didn't want to end up going for another 10 minutes only to find out that was the last campground. I pulled in and of course, there was another tent there. Out of all the campsites I saw, there was only one with a guy at a picnic table- the rest had all been 100% empty. Of course the one I have to stop at has people. Ugh. I didn't want to be in earshot, so I set up my tent closer to the trail. It had been misting since midday, but some the last campsite it started picking up the pace. I slipped inside my tent. After a bit, some people with very bright flashlights came by. I know this because they shined them directly on my tent. Thanks for that.

Day 99

Barn
It took me a while to get out of the woods because I waited for there to be no one on the road. The hills were brutal. The temperature was cold, but the sun was warm. So every time I went uphill, I got really hot, and every time I went downhill, I got really cold. Google was giving me se complicated directions, so I decided to just take the highway the whole way. It had great shoulders. About halfway I stopped at a pharmacy. Postcards! On the first try! I hoped this would save me some miles, but it didn't. I still had to go up to Uniontown to connect up with the Great American Passage. More crazy hills... The rail trails have really spoiled me. I keep forgetting to talk about it, but my bike has fallen enough times now that my basket is all but destroyed. I really am impressed it has lasted this long though. It's rated for something like 9 pounds. I have mpre than that in it almost constantly. I was a bit worried it would fall off while I was going 30 mph down a hill, destroying everything in it. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I was on the road just enough to get another flat tire- yep, I am in a new state. The hole was small enough that I couldn't find it. I probably should have ridden on it more. I switched out the tube and discoved that I only had one spare tube left. Either I miscounted before or I lost one. Crap. I only have two weeks left, but I don't want to risk it. Luckily there was a bike shop only a mile or so off my route. They even had thorn resistant tubes! I really wanted the giant ones that lasted over a month, but they didn't have that size. They did have som odd sizes that he said might work. We decided to try it out. I wheeled in my bike and took everything off. We took off the front wheel and tried it- no luck. The only other tube we thought might work didn't. Oh well. I bought two of the smaller ones instead. I think they lasted about two weeks last time, so I should be solid. I filled up on water here and got back on the trail. It was great- so much better than I was used to. Some guys passed me. They were carrying gear too, so I pumped hard to keep pace with them. Soon they stopped to take a break though and I passed them. I figured they'd be on my tail again soon so I continued to push myself. It was such a beautiful ride. Some leaves have died completely while others are still green, so you get the full range of colors. Enough leaves have fallen by now that sections of the trail are completely covered. I crossed bridges over rapids. There was a tunnel, but it was closed. The bypass trail was probably a mile long. The tunnel was maybe a hundred or two hundred feet. I felt so silly when I got back to the other side of the tunnel. They should really open that up. There was a porta-poty infested with spiders. I guess this trip has made me much less cautious, because I still used it. Towards the end of the day, I saw a bunch of spots that would have probably worked for camping, but I still had 20-30 minutes. After a bit I was near a town so I had to find a spot. There weren't many options. To the left, there was basically a cliff down to the river. On the right, there was another cliff. Finally the rigt side opened up a bit. I found a spot hidden enough. It was slopped, but I'm used to that. A dog barked accross the river. That will be annoying. I set up my tent and crawled inside. I checked my phone and it imediately started ringing- I recognized the number from my old high school. One of the teachers there had a local radio show. He wanted to interview me- I knew this before the call. I hesitated to answer. I had wanted a list of the questions he would ask so that I wouldn't just have to come up with answers on the spot. If you listen to any professional interview, you can tell that they already know what they are going to say. I had thought about just about every question I could think of over the past week though, so I felt prepared enough. I answered the phone. We talked for a bit and then he asked if me cell reception was good. I thought it was, but there was a long pause after I said this and then he acted like he couldn't hear me for a bit and then hung up. Dang. I guess I am in a bad spot. He didn't call back. Maybe some other time.

Day 98

Dog walkers
I heard a siren while I was getting up. Luckily it wasn't for me. When I got out of my tent, I realized just how close I was to everything. I could see the nearby buildings pretty easily, even with my weak glasses. Oh right, my contacts have been bugging me the last few nights and it was bad enough past night that I took them out. I couldn't put them back in this morning, so I'll stop by a gas station and hope they have a bathroom with a mirror. I went three weeks without taking them out last time. Probably a terrible idea, but there's really no convient way to take them out and put them back in. Same with my retainer. It's been over a month. I put them in briefly after brushing my teeth to see how much damage I had done but it was fine. A little uncomfortable but not much different from going a few days with wearing them. Anyways, I packed up and was about to head out when I heard a tinkling sound, like a dog collar. I ducked down, partially to be less visible, partially to just make it look like I was working in my bike or something. They'd have to just wonder why I was in the woods doing it. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me though, and neither did his dog, somehow. I waited a bit to make sure he didn't see me coming out when another guy walking his dog went by. The dog definitely noticed me. He started barking. The guy just kinda pulled him away and kept walking. I can only hope he didn't look and just assumed his dog was barking at a squirrel. I waited a lot longer. Finally I was out of the woods and on my way. That could have gone much worse. I passed by the dog walkers, only to be greeted with more barking. I saw a family dollar and was really tempted to stop, but I knew they didn't have bathrooms and I really needed to put in my contacts. My glasses were probably less than half my prescription, so I couldn't read any signs. There was a gas station next to the Family Dollar- lucky me! I put my contacts in, bought a burrito as a thank you, then headed to the store that actually had what I needed. I stocked up, skipping out on water because I had 3 liters and I knew I'd be passing through several other towns today. I got back on the crappy trail. It only took me a few more miles to get to the end. Just before getting there, a couple pulled up and asked me about the trail. They were headed to San Diego. I guess they will have some nice cool weather just about the whole way! Then, after spending more than a full day without having to ride on a road with cars, I was finally back. The hills and cars seemed to really wake me up. I've spent just about the whole trip like this but it took one day to get me desensitized. Or resensitized. Whatever. It didn't take too long to find the next trailhead. I was so excited- it was paved! There were signs everywhere about the history of the town or about wildlife and plant life. It felt so official! 40 feet later I crossed a bridge and the path disappeared. I kept checking Google. What the heck? I eventually just took the road for a bit. Finally I connected back up with the path. It was the same condition as the last trail. Dang. I was so excited. Oh well. I'm pretty sure it ended up slowly getting better. Actually, it was even paved after one point. There was a giant curve in it as it followed the river. I could have shaved some miles off by taking the road, but since it was paved, I didn't worry about it, even though there was a road work sign. I had to ride through some rocks when I got to that part. There were backhoes digging at the sides of the trail. They waved as I passed. The trail after that was paved, but it was old. Still a million times better than everything I was on yesterday. I saw a cool waterfall and any regret of not taking the shorter route disappeared. Once I got to the end though, some of that regret came back. I had to push my bike up a steep, rocky incline. Google told me to go down the road and turn on the trail, but there was definitely no trail there. It was a busy road. It was rough, but I finally turned and got on a better road. I went over another long bridge- I've been over countless bridges the past few days. The view was awesome, as always. I had to deal with some really crappy sidewalks but I finally made it to another paved trail. I felt like a rocket compared to yesterday. The pavement eventually ended but the trail was well maintained, so I still kept a good speed. This part really added on the miles because of the curvy river. About halfway through, I realized that I forgot to stop somewhere for water. Well, more accurately, I was too lazy to stop. I just tried going a bit faster. I did finally run out of water and got a bit worried. But I knew the next town was less than an hour away. Somehow I didn't get crazy thirsty though. I got pavement back and the trail suddenly had a bunch of people on it. I had to ride much more carefully. I passed by several building before I found what I was looking for- a bathroom and a water fountain. Despite not having water for an hour, I used the bathroom and filled my water halfway up before drinking. I chugged a bunch while I was here though. It's nice to not have to carry it. I also figured out how many more miles I had until Maine- 900. That's if I don't go through Washington, D.C. So dispite my slowness for the past week, I'm still on track to finish in two more weeks. Pretty crazy. I had two options from here- take all roads into Pennsylvania, or take the trail about 10 more miles and then deal with roads. I chose the trail, even though it was 4 more miles. It seemed much more straightforward. I rocketed by on the paved trail. At one point, a guy passed me. He wasn't going that much faster, and he wasn't carrying any gear, so I decided to keep pace with him. I should have stopped to pee, but I pedalled hard to keep up instead. Finally he stopped and turned around. I continued onto the unpaved portion. There were still quite a few people, mostly runners. The trail got more and more degraded until I came upon a gate that said, " wouldn't you like to go further?" And I was like, "um, I have to go further." Luckily it didn't end there, but it just wasn't as good as the previous trail. This was also right on the border- I was sad that there wasn't a welcome to Pensilvania sign. It want long before the trail ended and I had to finally be on roads more or less permanently. I probably could have easily found camp before, but since it was a somewhat clear day and not quite 7 yet, I took the risk and kept on going. I passed by a place that looked promising but there were no trespassing signs everywhere. Another town, and I was really starting to get worried. Finally I spotted some woods off to the left. I waited forever for there to not be any cars watching me and I ducked in. It wasn't the best of spots. I set up my tent in a place that it clearly visible from the road. In fact, I can actually see inside people's cars from here. But I feel like the chances are low that someone will randomly glance over. I guess we will get to wait and see!

Day 97

Dogs
The trail never really got better. It was like they made it over a decade ago and then never once did any upkeep on it except maybe keeping it mowed in places. There wasn't a good way to route around it though. I decided to just enjoy the fact that I didn't have to worry about cars or hills. I would often see a road beside the trail. It was constantly changing elevation. On the trail, it was so smooth that I only rarely had to change gears, and that was usually from the crappy path, not the slope. The first tunnel was really amazing. I intended on just riding through, but the graffiti on the concrete walls were so interesting that I ended up walking and checking it all out. I probably spent at least 20 minutes there. There were several other tunnels, but none were as long or as cool as the first. Most had brick walls but one or two were just rock. I got to a town, asked around for postcards, and finally ended up in a bike shop/general store. They didn't have the exact postcards I like but it said West Virginia! Now I can go full steam into Pennsylvania. It finally started raining again. I experimented with riding in the road alongside the rail trail, but the hills and just the fact that I couldn't be sure when to turn (because my phone doesn't work in the rain) caused me to quickly get back on the trail that was becoming even worse from the rain. I finally went through another tunnel. I waited out the rain for a bit. I sang and beat boxed into the tunnel and enjoyed the echoing acoustics. Then I saw two people coming. It was a long tunnel- maybe they didn't hear me. I wanted to just leave, but just about any biker eventually passes me, so I figured it would be less imbarrising just to stay put. They never did come by though. I'm pretty sure now that my mind was playing tricks on me. Or maybe they started going through, saw me and decided to go back. I have no clue. I finally started continuing on. I quickly found another shelter and a bathroom. I spent quite a while here too, just chillin. I don't know why. I think it's part of the whole slowing down thing. I might as well enjoy the trip while I still can- I have only a bit more than 2 weeks left. The rain was off and on. After this I got to a paved part and I almost freaked out because I thought I would be rocketing through the rest of te trail. Unfortunately it didn't last long. It was paved just long enough to pass over a few roads and then it was back to grass and dirt. Now, I see tons of cemeteries, but I never stopped to check them out. Part of that is I want to be respectful, part is I don't really have time to randomly stop. Some have looked really interesting though. Even though I didn't stop, it was tempting. Some tombstones were just rocks- I can't imagine what the dates on those must be. All the cemeteries I had seen so far were near a town and were well maintained. The one I passed today looked forgotten. The plants were so overgrown that some stones were unreadable. I'm sure there were even more that I couldn't even see. Most of the dates I saw were from the 1800s. Pretty crazy. I hope someone takes the initiative to clean that place up. I saw another fat spider as I made my way back to the trail. It started to rain harder and it was getting darker, but I knew I still had at least 20 minutes and I wanted to get away from this cemetery. I'm not superstitious or anything, but living animals visiting my tent at night is enough for me. I saw a few places that looked like they'd work but I continued on anyways, thinking I would find more. I didn't. The houses got more plentiful and the trail got more muddy. I couldn't camp here if I tried- there were small streams of water on both sides of the trail. I checked google and of course, I was passing through a town. 10 minutes before I needed to find camp. Crap. I thought about heading back, using the road this time, but I knew it would be a long way, possibly just as long as going the other way, so I just trudged on. It would have been too dark to see the road, but luckily there were street lamps everywhere. I passed by a small patch of woods in the middle of town- it would have to do. I ducked out of sight and set up my tent. There was a tin roof building nearby, so I could always tell when the rain picked up. I seemed to get worse right when I got into my tent. That was good timing.

Day 96

Overgrown stream
Squirrels just love waking me up. I packed up and left, realizing that there was no way anyone came down here last night. The road (or more presicley, trail) was really bumpy. Plus, a long spiderweb was strewn accross it. I have no clue how I got past it, but at one point I just looked back and there it was at chest level. I must have hit an edge and caused it to fall. The road was nice most of the time- I had a decent shoulder. I passed by a nuclear power plant and some other plants too (I think). I went through a few small towns. I stopped by a sports fan shop, not really expecting much, but hoping they'd know where I could get a postcard. The lady there pointed me toward a pharmacy. Right next door was a thrift shop. I don't think I've ever checked one before today. I looked through all their cards and found two postcards. One was of a sunflower that had nothing really on it except printed in Canada. The other one had Ohio nightlife- well, their eyes anyways. It was a joke postcard. I'm pretty sure I saw the exact one in Kansas, but of course with Kansas instead of Ohio. But it freakin said Ohio so booyaw! I stopped by the pharmacy anyways because they had a blue postal box. I checked- no post cards. This happens a lot. Good think I checked the thrift shop. I left and about 30 seconds down te road, a car driving in the opposite direction stopped and asked me where I was from.
"Alaska, but I started in Montana!"
"Where ya headed?"
"I'm trying to go through every state, so Maine."
All this was like in the middle of the road.
"I envy you." And then he drove off. A few people have said this now, and it feels weird. One of the main reasons why I wanted to do this was to show that it was possible. I thought the main reason why people didn't try stuff like this was because they didn't have enough money, knowledge, time or physical fitness. So I tried to do it for as cheap as possible, buying the cheapest new bike, and buying everything else on Amazon. That eventually didn't work out. I had to get a new tent. Then I realized with my cheap setup, packing up and down took forever. So I pretty much gave up the cheap goal and splurged on paniers and a light backpacking tent. I quickly had to give up the time goal too though. Finding postcards is difficult, as anyone reading this blog has found out. And blogging takes forever too. I probably write way more than anyone wants to read, but I want to make sure I remember a lot of the details. I knew how to change a tire, but that's about it. You don't need loads of knowledge. Most of the stuff I've needed to know I've been able to look up along the way. Bike laws are usually just common sense. Google is at least halfway decent at keeping you off of roads you shouldn't be on. As far as fitness goes, I think I went and biked in the gym exactly 3 times. There's really no way to prepare for biking all day without actually biking all day. Many older people have said there's no way they could so this. I'm sure they could. They'd be slower, but it would sill be possible. Anyways, long story short, this trip is kinda me shouting at the world, "Hey! This is possible!" And I think I can hear the world shouting back, "Hey! We know! We just don't have 4 months to commit to it!" Touché. "But what about cross country trips?"
"We know about those too! And lots of people do that! But again, not everyone has that much time!"
Anyways, that's been on my mind. Begin rant two.
People have said they wish they were doing what I was doing. I feel like if they knew all that I've been through, they wouldn't feel quite the same way. Spiders, ants, animals, trains, running out of water, flats, rain, crazy inclines... Don't get me wrong though. I've told several people that this trip has its ups and downs, but the ups make it worth it. Really though, I think it's the other way around. Not in the joking sense that biking is great when going downhill, but that the challenge I get when I face a tough situation shows me how I can get through just about anything. I can get really frustrated, but I always pull through. It's like how you get a lot more out of a loss that you do from a win. A loss shows you how you can improve.
Rant 3
I kinda hate watching sports. It seems so pointless. I'd much rather be playing. But still, I remember a time, looking back at all the time I've spent playing sports and feeling like a lot of it went to waste. Getting better at a sport really only helps you in that one area. Sure, physical activity is great and blaw blaw blaw, but still. Of course, a lot of sports try to emphasize the other things you can take from sports- teamwork, hard work, etc. I think one of the greatest things this trip has shown me is how much I really took out of sports. I think wrestling really showed me who I am as I person. I only started in 8th grade, so I wasn't as good at the technical stuff as the kids who had been wresting since they could walk. But I found my niche in cradles and I kinda made a name for myself. I pinned kids who were better than me, who were more experienced. This is largely what I am doing now- an amature, out to beat the thousands of experience bike tourists who have always wanted to do this kind of tour but just never got around to it. If my research is correct, I'll be among less than 10 people who have done something like this. In football, we often faced bigger schools with larger teams and bigger kids. We used to say "Let's shock the world." It didn't necessarily make sense, because the world wasn't really watching us, but everyone watching likely had an expectation of the outcome and I found it inspiring to try to prove them wrong. Again, that's what in doing now- many people thought I would have quit by now. But I'm not going to. Unless I break a leg or something. I don't want to just hang out down here for a year to heal and get some muscle back.
Anyways... Haha that was a crazy tangent, but it's all been on my mind so I figured it was about time to get it all out. I pedaled for quite a few more miles but my rear tire seemed like it was going flat. I pumped it back up to make sure. It lasted like 30 minutes or so but then was low again. A slow leak. I figured my patch wore out. I took the tube out and pumped it up. It wouldn't even inflate. I found the hole because it was blowing on my nee. A huge hole. Probably from the pothole last night. As I was putting in a new tube, two other bike tourers passed by. They asked if I needed help. I should have asked where they were headed. Oh well. Three flats in three days. I need to start asking for thorn resistent tubes again. Lots more miles and a missed turn later, I was almost to the bridge over into West Virginia when I discovered that it was a toll bridge. Dang. It didn't look like it had shoulders either. I headed south, away from the bike shop I was heading to. I might as well get the wobble checked out and see about my high gear slipping. I called the shop. No thorn resistent tubes. They were out of the way as well. But I figured diagnosing the other stuff shouldn't take long. A headed there. It was super crappy. It was a one way three lane with lots of traffic, so no riding in the road. The sidewalk was crazy at times. I had to be really careful with people pulling off when crossing. I finally got to the bike shop. He took it right back and did a few adjustments to the screws on the derailer- basically what I already tried. He showed me how the chain wasn't lined up at all. Maybe I just didn't do it right. I loaded everything back up and took it outside for a spin- no luck. It still slipped. Well now he knew the problem- I just needed new gears. Which is only like 17 bucks. I was like wow... This has been a big problem for several weeks now, and a little problem for months. That's all I needed to do? He replaced it quickly and also checked out my wobble. After throwing in a missing spring, viola, no wobble. At least it wasn't moving like it was before. So it probably wasn't my fault. It was likely the guys at the other bike shop who replaced my tires, because that's when I started noticing the problem. Ugh. At least it was fixed now. I took it outside for a spin and felt like a rocket ship. I went inside to pay. He only charged me for the part- 21 bucks. He said he likes being nice to bike tourers. I gave him a 10 dollar tip but I instantly felt like I should have given more. I just hate tips. My frugalness and fairness traits collide and make sure I'm never happy afterwards, no matter what. Anyways, the other guy working there said that Walmart had postcards near the customer service desk. As in he knew they had them, he didn't just think they did. I headed over there, it wasn't far. No postcards. Ughhhh. He must have been thinking about a different Walmart. It had started to rain, but after filling up my water there and figuring out where to go next, it stopped. That's my kind of rain. I navigated back through the crazy city, finally stopping at a gas station to stock up. I bought too much food. A girl there saw me eyeing the parfae- she said that she made them and that they were amazing. Well shoot, I have to try it now. It was great, but I had to eat it quickly so that I could get back on the road. Finally I was on my way out. There were quite a few bike signs, so I thought I was golden. But then the paved shoulder became the crappiest shoulder ever. How does anyone bike on this thing? Every once in a while I tried riding on the white line, but there was so much traffic that it was impossible to do for long. I found a shortcut on Google so that I wouldn't be on that crazy road for as long. It took me to the very beginning of the rail trail. Dang. The rail trail really was just a trail. It wasn't too bad. There were two well worn tracks on either side, each well packed. But everything else was covered in grass. I dunno if I can do this for 60 miles. I found out it was after 7, so I needed to find camp soon. I passed by quite a few trailers. Finally I found a spot that seemed like it was away from everyone. I was about to duck into the woods when I luckily saw a fat spider sitting in his web. I didn't want to find a different spot, so I found a way around him and made a mental note to avoid hitting him on the way out. A dog started barking, so I paused for a moment. That's when the other biker went by. I don't think he saw me, but I guess if I saw someone pulled over in the woods, I wouldn't pay them any attention either. Regardless, he had his dog with him. It ran by, but then came back and sniffed around the edge of the woods about 15ft away. It came in the woods enough so that I could see him clearly. Time seemed to slow as I watched him. He paused too, probably listening. Apparently I passed the test. He ran off to his master without barking. I felt so lucky. I continued on into the woods after waiting a bit to make sure the biker and his dog were long gone. I set up my tent with just the small end facing out- it should be hidden enough, I was pretty far into the woods. I climbed inside and hoped for an improving trail tomorrow.