Day 8- Cows

I started day 8 on a nice decline- I didn't even have to peddle for a bit. Soon I did however, and I quickly reached the summit, the highest yet. After that, it was all gloriously downhill. I must have averaged a really great pace. There were several more summits, but I started early and I had a place to be that night- the Bicycle Inn, in Mount Vernon. It was another node in the warmshowers.org system. I was so happy to find along the way a small store that sold a bunch of random stuff, but most importantly, they had hand scooped ice cream. The day was probably the hottest yet, so the ice cream put me in heaven. I was a bit stressed all day because I kept calculating when I was expecting to get to the Bicycle Inn, and it was putting me past 10, long after sundown. My legs were finally sore for once, after peddling uphill for so many summits. If I had to go uphill to get to the inn, I would likely have to camp instead. Luckily, it was downhill for several miles, and I reached my destination around 9:30. While I was soaring downhill, the sky lit up red as the sun was setting.
I was only a few minutes later than another bicyclist, Nick. He started from Portland and is headed to New York. He had his entire trip planned out much better than mine. Several of his gadgets made me jealous- a Garmin that kept track of how many miles he had traveled and gave him turn by turn directions. His bag didn't even require a rack to mount- it strapped on to the seat post and became stiff enough to stay put. He was traveling with considerably less weight than I was. This just made me think even more about how inconvenient my setup was. If I stop by a bicycle shop and they happen to have saddlebags and a front rack, I will likely get them. But to save some weight now, I left the Ramen noodles here. They aren't very appetizing when dry, and I can't cook them anymore since my solar thermos broke. I also planned on taking a few things to the post office in the morning. With my devices charging, a fell asleep with the intention of regaining back the strength that so many summits stole from me.

Summit #1

Kinda neat!

Summit #2

Summit #3

Summit #4

Summit #5

The Bicycle Inn.