Day 63

Tractors
I kept hearing what sounded like something jumping into the water last night. When I first got out of my tent in the morning, a crane flew off from the canal. Just as I was putting the first bag on my bike, my fears were confirmed- a saw two tractors coming down the road. I was seeing them through the trees, so they couldn't see me. But if they went left, I'd be hard not to see. I held my breath. Luckily, they both turned right. I packed a little more quickly than normal. Soon I was walking my bike to the road. I had to go up a bit of an incline, which is part of what hid me from the tractors. I could still hear them. I slowly creeped up, looking. The tractors must have been on the other side of the trees- I couldn't even see them. I pedalled up the road and sighed relief. The next few hours, the road was interesting- lots of curves, some hills and dips. It was quite the contrast from yesterday. I finally found a turtle on the road! I was hoping I'd find one. I didn't want him to get ran over, so I put him in my basket for a bit. I soon found a pond that was outside someone's house. I set the turtle in the grass and waited for him to move. Once I realized it was gonna be a while, I rode away. A bit later, I noticed that my front tire was running a bit low. I pumped it up again once or twice but it was a losing battle. Here would be the test of those smaller tubes. I picked a bad spot- there was one of those giant lawnmowers on the other side of the road, and the traffic seemed to picked up. One person stopped and asked if I needed a ride. I felt really nervous about how much I had to blow up the tube to make it fit, but I had to try it. Once I got back on the road, there was a huge difference. The handling was a bit off. There was a distinct "bump" every revolution- I read about that online. My basket shook every time. It was so annoying. I knew I'd have to stop by another bike shop as soon as possible. About a quarter mile after that, I heard a big pop and hiss. Awesome, I just popped that front tire. So it doesn't work. Oh well, I prepared for this, I got a spare regular tube. I looked at the box and it turned out, it's the same size as the thorn resistant ones. It probably wouldn't even last being pumped up. Now I was really screwed. I was really really angry at the guy who sold me the tubes- he assured me they would work and they barley lasted a quarter mile. I wanted to call him up and tell him it was his fault that I was currently standed. After having a whole day to think about it though, I realized that would be a bit harsh. It was my fault for not checking the regular tube- I apparently wasn't clear about what size I wanted. The first ones he gave me didn't have boxes- the second one did. That should have been a clear sign that they were different. So I think it comes down to two possibilities. Either the guy was really trying to screw me over (which I can't imagine- he said he was the manager. The store is definitely getting a bad review for this), or he got mixed up with the numbers. It wasn't his first mess up that day. Regardless, I was still screwed. I tried to get on my phone to find the nearest bike shop, but I only had 1x... Basically no internet. I had just passed a sign that said the next city, Beardstown, was only a mile away. I decided to put the other thorn resistant tube in and just not pump it up as much. This ended up being pointless- the bike was unridable. I then proceeded to walk it. Getting accross the bridge seemed to take forever. I saw Golden Arches up ahead- if the town is big enough to have a McDonalds, it must be big enough to have a bike shop. The sign stated the population as 5800- about the size of Nikiski, and we don't have a bike shop. I stopped by a Subway and asked if she knew about bike shops or a Walmart or something. She said none were in town, they'd be about 30 miles away. I left and tried to figure out how I was going to get 30 miles. That's when I remembered I had a path kit. Usually it's too much of a hassle to find the hole and patch it, so I don't bother. I can't submerge it in water to see where the bubbles come out. But if I could find it on the tube that was originally flat, I could repair it at least enough to go to the next town. The hole was more of a tear- I pulled a small piece of scrap metal from it. I only had one big patch. Hopefully that's the only spot. By this point I noticed the black clouds. Big bolts of lightning flashed in the distance. I could only feel the occasionally raindrop. Patching was pretty straightforward and only took about 10 minutes. It was the moment of truth- I started pumping. And pumping. And pumping. I was pretty heartbroken. The tire was getting harder, but not quite as fast as I thought it should. I kept pumping anyways, not knowing what else to do. The true test would be putting weight on it. After loading everything back up, I went to the hardware store. Maybe they'd randomly have tubes. Either way it's good to ask more than one person. The lady there said there was a Walmart only 2 miles away. She explained how to get there, but my brain isn't that great so I somehow got my phone to work, even with the poor service. The Walmart was only a tad out of my way- worth it if I could get a good tube. 30 minutes of riding through the rain later, I was looking at the wide array of tubes they had. They even had thorn resistant one- but they weren't the right size. It took me a while, but I finally found the two tubes they had that were my size. One was for smaller widths, one for bigger. Both were the wrong valve. I pedaled all the way here for nothing. I decided to look up if valves were interchangeable. Turns out both valves will work in my wheels. It's best if I have an adapter, which supposidly the tubes come with. I was planning on getting three spares but I settled on one- if I needed it and it worked, great, if not, at least I wasn't caring around three useless tubes. My phone finally refused to give me directions, so I tried to base it off memory and the roads on a preloaded Google map. I had to backtrack. Finally I got back to Beardstown and was soon making progress again. My patched tube was still working great. All things considered, that went pretty well. I didn't have to get a ride from anyone, I wasn't stranded for long, and I didn't have to walk far. I can't even imagine what I would have done if this happened on a day where I was in a more remote place. After sunset, I started to see street lights up ahead- oops, too far. I went back just a bit and found a great place. It was about 30 feet above the road, with tree cover. It was an easy incline from the side. It was weird though because it seemed like a bike had already been up here- a thin line through the grass was visible. Once I got to the top I realized it was most likely some sort of animal that made the trail. There were larger spots on the ground that looked like something was curled up there. This actually happens a lot- turns out a nice place to sleep is pretty much universal. I did have to avoid some thorn bushes though.

Day 62

Before Normal
I slept in just a bit because the bike shops didn't open until 10. Bad idea. My front tire was flat again. I contemplated pumping it up or just changing it out. I decided to try pumping it up, that way I could replace it with a thorn resistant tube. I tried moving the valve- I'm pretty sure it wouldn't pump up easily before because the valve wasn't in right. I managed to pull it straight off. Well now I know where the leak was coming from. I tried using my path kit to glue it back on, but I could see pretty quickly that that wasn't going to work. I put in a new plain tube, the last of the ones I had at the beginning of the trip. It was pretty easy since I didn't have any gear on my bike. All of this had added more time to getting ready than I had expected though, so I knew I'd be arriving at a bike shop well after 10. I got a bit down the road and realized now would be a good time to call all the bike shops to see if any carried thorn resistant tubes. None that I called did. For some reason I decided to go to the bike shop that picked up but I couldn't understand. On their website, they had a new address posted because they had moved. I put the new address into Google Maps but for some reason it still took me to the old address. Frustrated, I went to the nearest bike shop, 2 miles away. It was really weird- I had called earlier and they said they didn't have any thorn resistant tubes. So I asked for regular tubes, then mentioned the thorn resistant ones. He asked what vavle I had and then said oh yeah, we do have ones, just not with the other vavle. Then he proceeded to bring me two such tubes, both with different valves. What the hell? They weren't the right size, but the guy assured me they would still work. The phone call made sense and made sense of the rest of the phone calls that I had made- bike shops generally have thorn resistant tubes, just not in every size. The reason why this bike shop didn't carry bigger tubes is because they are so thick that they can be a pain to install. I'm guessing that the extra thickness makes them less vulnerable when overinflated. Still, it blows my mind that these places call themselves bike shops and yet they don't even have the right tubes. Finally I left. It was annoyingly late by now, and I still needed food and water. I found a water fountain along the bike path and food at a gas station. The bike path continued along the Route 66 that I was used to. I only had a bit of road before I turned off and started heading east. This is where I really started to take off- I wasted a ton of time in Bloomington so I wanted to try to make up for it. I only had short dirt roads to go over, the rest were paved. Cars rarely passed me. At one point there was a huge flock of birds. Some were on the power lines, some in the corn fields, even more took up the road. It was a lot of fun to bike through that. There was also a bunch of yellow butterflies. I didn't see them until the last second, so I rode close enough to disrupt them. I hope I didn't run over any. I had to avoid caterpillars in the road all day. I made incredibly good time- for a good part of the day I was averaging about 10mph. I made it to Havana, the only city for today, a bit before 8, right after sunset. I restocked at a gas station and was back on the road, looking for a place to camp. I went over a huge river- there should been plenty of trees to hide behind. The road followed a canal though. Once it appeared to move away from the water, there was a guardrail blocking me. I kept going until I finally found a road. It was a huge field of corn, surrounded by trees. I avoided the trees near where I came in because it was still close to the highway and there were noisy birds. I found a place that looked like it had been bulldozed- probably to make more room for crops. Maybe I could have found a better spot. I decided that the chances of me sleeping through a bulldozer approaching my tent, the person in the bulldozer not seeing me, and the bulldozer coming tomorrow morning in the first place were slim. I guess we shall see!

Day 61

Power lines
This is starting to become a trend- I was not nearly as hidden as I thought I was. People walked by when I got out of my tent, but luckily they didn't see me. No one else went by before I was on the trail again. De ja vu anyone? Unfortunately what was new about this was that my front tire was totally flat. Several days over the past week I would have expected this because of the junk that I had to ride over, but not today. I pumped it back up, figuring it was worth a shot, but expecting it to deflate quickly. After riding for a few minutes it held up just fine, so I stopped worrying about it. I knew getting to a bike shop was even more important now though. A saw a red cardinal- I'm pretty sure it's the first wild one I've ever seen. The trail went for a while and then there was a sign that said "trail temporarily closed." I looked on Google and hooray, there was another trail on the other side of the canal. I pedalled accross the bridge. Dang, that one was closed too. I decided to go around the sign anyways. I was soon met with a fence though. It wasn't worth it to try to get around  that. The trail actually had a paved road that parallelled it. I should have been looking for a gas station because I was almost out of food, but there was another city just ahead. I was hungry enough that when I passed by two bags of those veggie chip things, I stopped to inspect them. They were totally sealed, with only a bit of morning dew or maybe rain on them. They could have been there long. I chowed down. I kinda felt awkward when cars passed the other way though. I was just waiting for one to pull over and say, "Hey, where'd you get those chips? We dropped some" or something like that. No one did. I saw a legit vulture, red neck and all- I believe the first I've seen, at least in a while. Another biker caught up with me. He told me about a gas station- it was only a few blocks out of the way, but I needed food. He also helped me out by telling me just to take the same road I was on all the way to Seneca, the next town. I was planning on joining up with the bike trail again, but the paved road was definitely better. A group of bikers passed. One slowed for a bit and we chatted about food and my trip. Soon I got to the gas station, got supplies, and then headed out . I didn't get water because I was starting off with almost 3 liters and I was going through 3 cities in the next 30 miles. Somehow that water ran out by the time I got to the next city. Maybe it was the blistering heat. There was a spicket in a park that was clearly visible from the road. Lucky me! But when I went over to it, I discovered that it was dry. I ended up biking all around the city, looking for a gas station or store. I finally stumbled upon a bar- better than nothing. I filled up with 3 more liters of tap water. Just after chugging some, a woman passed by and told me not to drink Ransom water (Ransom was the name of the town). She said it was dirty sludge waste water or something like that. I dumped it out and got to fill it from one of those 5 gallon water jug machines (I can't remember the name). It felt like it got even hotter when I stepped back outside. A few more hours and I was inside my car. (Haha, meaning I was inside the city of Pontiac- my car is a Pontiac Sunfire. As a side note, I've seen tons of them, and still no Dodge Vipers...) I stopped by a Shell and filled up 6 liters- I had finished 6 liters today already. A man there offered to buy me a Subway sandwich. I thanked him but said I had plenty of food. It was hot when I went in the first time, like it had been all day, but when I went back in to get food, the sun had gone behind a cloud. This always seems to happen- the weather totally changes when I go into a gas station. I think part of this has to do with the fact that I tend to find one around noon, when the temperature is rising. When I am riding, I constantly get a little breeze, plus whatever wind there is, so I tend to keep cool enough. It's only when I stop that I notice how hot it is. When I go into a building, the difference is even more extreme because they have strong air conditioning. It seriously feels like I am walking into a freezer sometimes. Anyways, this time it was the opposite. Crazy dark clouds were heading in. I had been fighting a weak northern wind all day, but now it was blasting south. Excited to catch the tailwind, I headed back on the road. I had been following historic Route 66. The road itself had no shoulders and enough traffic, but there was another road beside it that was even older. Plants were growing in the cracks, there were bumps, and I had to pedal over overgrown dirt piles that I'm sure were intended to keep cars from using the road. It sucked, but it was better than riding in the road. After the shell station, there was a nifty bike trail. They had paved over the old road. My front tire had finally gotten really low again by this point. I pumped it up quickly and then blasted off in the highest gear. It was only sprinkling a little, not enough for a rain jacket yet. I think the clouds on the left may have been the darkest I had ever seen. Lots of first for today! Finally the clouds on the left turned into a storm, and I was basically totally surrounded. Behind me, the city I left was engulfed in rain. To the right, the hidden sun gave a glow to the small patch of sky next to the earth that wasn't clouds, and it appeared to be raining sideways. In front of me were dark clouds. I had to constantly whip my head around to try to take everything in. When I looked behind me, I usually saw lightning. The right had a few far off bolts as well. It took longer, but finally lightning started to the left- the thunder more of a crackle than a boom, and much closer. I reflected on how incredibly lucky I was- I was basically biking in the eye of a storm. If I had taken any other route, I'd likely be drenched by now. The rain did pick up after a while, so I put on my rain jacket. I enjoyed the ever changing scene around me. Eventually the sun appeared again, and a rainbow slowly emerged on the opposite side of it. I finally had to pull over and figure out where I was camping tonight- I didn't expect to get through Bloomington. Someone stopped and asked if everything was alright. It's crazy how hospitable this state is- that's the 4th time today someone offered to help. I ended up going a bit further, likely as far as I can go without going through Bloomsday. I found a good camping spot- next to the road and railroad under tree cover. I think it's dark enough in the shade here that my green tent isn't visible at all. It was weird setting up my tent when it was still so light out, but I didn't really have any other choices. Three high speed trains have gone by so far- I hope that doesn't happen all night.

Day 60

Just off trail
In the morning, every once in a while I could hear a bike go by or people walking. I wanted to wake up earlier, and I thought waking up earlier the day before would have helped, but it didn't. It has been so hot lately that I don't need my sleeping bag until maybe an hour or so before sunrise. I woke up a few times because I was cold, so maybe that's part of the reason why I slept in. When I got out my tent, one person went by and I felt pretty awkward. My tent was easily viable from the path if you were going a particular direction. No one bugged me though, and I was packed and on the path before anyone else came by. The rest of the day was pretty plain. The bike trail ended. There was a closed road, so I had to find my own way around it. There was another bike trail. Along this, I ran out of water again. This keeps happening because I'm going through so many cities, I know I'll never be far from water. When the bike trail ended, there was thankfully a water fountain. Then I had to pedal through some rough sidewalks. I finally found my way to a bike path that was the packed dirt stuff. It boardered a canal. The rest of the day was spent on it. Well, except for one point where I got on the road that paralleled the trail, and then had to imediately get back on the trail because the road curved away. By now, my arms were covered in tiny bugs. It was a pretty hot and humid day. The tree cover helped, but not enough. My arms and my speed must have been just enough to trap them. I went over two dams. The second one had a great view of the sun- I bet if I waited an hour that it would have been a great show. I found another water fountain, so I topped off. It was getting kinda dark. I hate stopping so early, but when you set up a tent under tree cover, it is much darker than I am used to. Luckily I found a place under gigantic power lines that was nice and open to the still lit sky. The plants around are really tall- they easily hide my tent. I set up my tent and was surprised that I didn't have to fight off many mosquitoes. I got in my tent, got on my phone for a bit, then checked the inside for mosquitoes. You don't have to worry about getting bit much once you are inside. I think they all follow your breath up to where it gets trapped. There was a small swarm inside. These ones must be smart- they don't buzz as much as the other ones. It took a while to kill them all. All I hear now is the crickets and the buzz of electrisity.

Day 58

Creek
It took me a long time to get to sleep last night. I dunno if it was birds or squirrels or something but they were absurdly loud. It's weird because I've been able to sleep through cars wizzing by and loud crickets, but not this. They finally stopped when the rain started. Soon after, the thunder woke me up. It was a long night. I wanted to wake up early in order to get to my warm showers destination on time, but 9am would have to work. The inside of my rain fly was covered with mosquitoes- possibly worse than last time. There were also dady long legs and a spider or two. I was definitely in nature. As I pushed my bike up towards the path, there was a spiderweb that I didn't see until it was too late. A big fat spider landed on the inside of my helmet. (You can exhale now, my helmet was sitting in my basket.) I didn't know what to do- luckily it didn't move. I finally flicked it away. I wish I had gotten a picture, but my phone was underneath my helmet. I had to get past a big truck and a bobcat on my way out. I crossed a road, then was back in a forest area. There was a sign that said the path was flooded- I wanted to check it out. Yeah there was no way I was getting past it. I routed around it. I went north, adding on miles, but it connected me back with my route faster than going south would have. On one of the bike paths, I stopped to figure out where to go next, and a man asked me what I was doing with my loaded down bike. After telling him, he wanted a picture with me. That's a pretty cool feeling. Soon the bike path ended, and I had to ride in the road. It wasn't bad though- the cars seemed used to passing bikers. Finally I got a sidewalk, and this is where the fun really began. There was a ton of traffic. One time a big orange truck turned sharply and it looked like it was going to tip over onto me. I've been really lucky with trains so far- I get there right after one passes by or I pass by right after one arrives. Today, I was not so lucky. I got to the tracks right as the gates came down. Two or three trains passed, then a slow one started up. It traveled for a few minutes and then stopped, still blocking the road. I waited for about 15 minutes and finally realized that waiting wasn't worth it. The train was going north, so I went south. I took a bridge over the tracks. More sidewalk, then I just used the shoulder. When the shoulder was small and the traffic was heavy, I rode on the side of the road on the grass and dirt. My phone battery was hurting by now, so I got out my backup charger than takes AA batteries. It charged for a bit and then randomly stopped. I don't know if it just decided then that it wouldn't be comparable or what, but it sucked. Maybe I shouldn't have updated my phone a week ago. I was close to my destination by now though, so I just hoped that 10% would last that long. The side of the road got bad enough that I needed to take the long way around. By now my battery was at 1%. I just tried to remember as much as I could and use my phone as little as possible. I got stopped by another train, but this one didn't take forever. When I finally got to a dirt bike trail, I relaxed. I had a lot of cars near me basically all day. I had to call Ty, my warmshowers host, a couple times- the street layout was really confusing. A street would dead end several times. Finally I was close enough that he rode out I to get me. It was still light out. I'm really glad I didn't travel as far today, I can't imagine biking through these places at night. I was greeted by Ty's two dogs. They were very friendly. After taking a shower and putting clothes in the wash, I was on my phone and Ty asked me what iPhone I had. He gave me a battery case for my phone- he said he got a bunch for cheap. I've been hoping to buy one of these, but I've been too nervous to leave my bike outside a big mall or a best buy. I am hugely thankful. I met Olivia, Ty's girlfriend. We all ate dinner- spaghetti and hot sandwiches. For desert, berries in yogurt. I ate until it hurt. I got to sleep on a really comfortable bed. I slept easily.

Day 57

Between fields
The storm last night was insane. My tent would light up, then booming thunder. It kept waking me up. It was especially exciting when the flash and the boom would happen almost simultaneously. It's too bad my rain fly isn't see through, I'm sure I would have enjoyed seeing the lightning so close. Early in the morning, I heard what sounded like a cannon being fired 4 times- I'm not sure if it was thunder, but I'm not really sure what else it could have been.
I was able to pack up in the morning and get on the road without being noticed. There was much more traffic now. I had to go through another big town. There was a bike shop. I've been wanting a thorn resistant tube for a while now. I called, and they didn't have any, just like the last few bike shops. I seriously find that to be the weirdest thing. Maybe they are afraid that if they sell those, no one will ever need to buy any more tubes. Ugg. I will just have to keep calling other shops. Right after this city, I was supposed to go on a bike trail, but this one was made of dirt. Not normal dirt- it must have been special hard packed stuff made especially for bikes. It was okay, but still not as good as pavement. I decided I take the slightly longer way that was pavement. Eventually I had no choice but to take the dirt trail. I kept looking at the highway it paralleled with envy. It had shoulders, but it was starting to rain again, and it was nice to not have to worry about other cars or deal with the noise. Soon I got to another big town and I had to spend the rest of the day dealing with riding in the roads and only getting short breaks of riding on actual bike paths. The rain really started pouring, so I found shelter under an overpass. I tried to figure out what I needed to do. There weren't any warmshowers hosts where I wanted to end up today. I could have quit early, but I also hated giving people such late notice, unless their profile said specifically not to worry about it. So I decided to just keep on going- I'd figure it out when I had less time until sunset. Bad idea. Leaving the underpass, I mean. It started to rain hard again a short while later. I was fully prepared, with rain jacket and rain pants (thanks mom!) but it sucks when it comes down like that and you have to ride near cars. I found another roof to hide under. I tried to memorize where I needed I go next. You'd think I'd be great at that by now, but I'm not. I finally left and made my way through many streets. It was around 5 by now when I made it to a stoplight. Holy crap. Living in Alaska meant that I never really learned what traffic was. Even when there was a green light, the cars had to wait because the cars in front of them were so backed up. I waited for about 5 minutes until I could cross. Later, I was supposd to go under a road, but it was flooded. To get around, I had to go like a half mile. Finally sunset was only 45 minutes away, so I had less that an hour and a half to find a place to camp. I was right by a big forest area. I wanted to cover more miles, but I wasn't positive that I could find as good of a spot to camp. I decided to head into the woods on the bike trail. I found a side that looked like it had a lot of shrubbery, then walked my bike in. I was instantly attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. I was so glad I decided to put my rain jacket on earlier. There was a small creek- I decided to stay away from that. I'm sure it will be bigger tomorrow. The mosquitoes were trying to eat me alive, so I didn't have time to find the best spot. I just had to hope that my tent wasn't visible from the trail. It was still light out. The extra time was nice- I could catch up on this blog, and figure out what I'm doing tomorrow. I sure hope the next warmshowers hosts are available! This forest sounds different- the birds are soooo loud!

Day 56

Before Lena
A chipmunk visited me in the morning. I looked them up though and apparently they don't eat people either. I got on the road and soon arrived in Lena. No post cards in the first gas station, but the lady there directed me towards the antique shop down the road. Bad idea. It was really cool in there- I probably could have stayed for hours. Their coin collection was in the same case as their card collection. Some seemed well priced, but of course it would be silly to add extra weight and value to my bike. They had used postcards that were really old- I wanted to read through them all. I ended up going with a generic Lena, Illinois post card. The next hour or so sucked. The road had a shoulder for short bit and then it disappeared, and then it was back again, and so on. I had to simply stop several times to make sure that cars didn't have to stop just because I was there. I rode through a lot of grass too. Finally the road turned into a freeway, and I realized it was definitely time to find a different route. I turned and spent a while on nice paved backroads with very little traffic. I had to deal with a dirt road once, but not for long. I got into a big city, Rockford, and I passed by an airport. A bit later, there was a guy biking in the middle of the road, the turn lane. I guess that's kinda smart- cars have to check to make sure they don't hit other cars when they are turning. But I stayed on the side like normal. Soon I passed by what looked like a volcano, but it was a landfill. It smelled fantastic... Not. I peddled a bit faster to get away from the stench. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. No shoulder, but no traffic either. The lightning bugs are more plentiful here. It was a treat to be able to see them all along the tops on the crops and in the grass on both sides of the road. I saw some trees that would work great for camping, but by the time it was dark enough to turn in, I was so close to the next city that there were none left. I checked google and decided to head down a side road to some trees that were in between two crop fields. I'm sure I was on private property, but there were no fences, and I was out of options. I was hidden from the road, but if someone walked or drove down here, they'd see me for sure. Oh well. The mosquitoes were back. There was also a giant grasshopper that found it's way onto my right front panier. I fell asleep before the storm started.

Day 55

Anthill
It turns out it wasn't an anthill- just a random lump. Somehow I manged to find the one comfortable position and slept fine. I cleaned out my basket- trial mix has a tendency to spill. After biking for a ways, I made it to a town. I filled up my water and got some chocolate donuts and nutter butters that instantly melted. There were a lot of uphills and downhills all day. Google kept trying to make me go on a dirt path, so I pretty much had to make my own route. Eventually I made it to the last city in Wisconsin, so I mailed the postcard I got before. Soon after, I was in IllINOIS. I dunno something about this name just seems weird, doesn't it? Maybe it's just that silent S. Anyways, there was a small town. I checked two gas stations and two small grocery stores- no post cards. Oh well, there are lots more cities I need to go through. I got on stagecoach trail- I was worried it wouldn't be paved, but it was. It had a share the road sign, like all the ones for bicycles that I see, but it had a picture of a horse and carriage. I thought that was pretty awesome. I started to realize how magical this part of the country feels. I saw probably 500 birds fly by in several huge flocks. Some were really close- they landed on the crops near the road. The lightning bugs started to come out after the sunset. Earlier today, I saw a huge butterfly on the side of the road. I would have checked it out, but there was a gaurd rail, so I couldn't get very far out of the road. But all these things made me feel pretty lucky to experience them all. I'm sure many people never get the opportunity. I found a place to camp in the woods near the road. I'm actually very close to the road, but totally hidden. Unfortunately I keep hearing a dog barking- I'm not sure which is better- the dog barking at me or at something else.

Day 54

Grapes
The trees I set up camp near seemed to have grapes on them. I didn't try them though. Aren't they supposed to grow on vines? Anyways, I enjoyed the bike path for an hour or two. I found a water spicket, but it was a pain. After flooding the ground and filling up all my water, I headed on. There was a town that I had to awkwardly maneuver through. No post cards. More bike path, then it ended in another city. I really needed a post card now. I checked a gas station- they suggested the post office. The post office suggested the flower shop. At first she said she didn't have any- then randomly checked and found some. It's crazy how forgotten post cards are nowadays. She asked me where I was from, and I told her about my trip. She told me I could have the postcard for free. Yippy! My first and only birthday present I actually got on my birthday, and she didn't even know. I passed through a town, and all of a sudden there was a lady running behind me, asking me where I was headed. We talked as we walked. She asked lots more questions- like if I was married or not. When her turn came up, we parted ways. A few seconds later, she came sprinting after me again. "Where are you from again?" "The Kenai Peninsula." I never really know what to say to people when they ask that- virtually no one knows where Nikiski is. A few more hours of peddling, and I got to cross the Mississippi again. It's crazy how big it is. The city on the other side was huge as well. Another state down- Wisconsin. I skipped out looking for post cards here- it was too intimidating. A few miles away I stopped by a gas station though. They didn't have any generic state postcards. They had one of a ferry and one of a bridge, both serving to connect Wisconsin and Iowa. I almost didn't get it, but then decided I could always trade it out if I found a better one. I made good time for the rest of the day. I planned on going through a city at sundown, then camping just outside of it. Right when I got in, there was a man walking who asked me how far I was going. We ended up talking for a really long time. He warned me about the storms coming through- and how it was supposed to be stormy for the rest of the week. He suggested camping under a bridge tonight. I figured my rain fly would be enough. I continued down the road, not going as far as I would have liked, but I found a fantastic camp spot. I could be seen from the road but only barely. Any cars passing by wouldn't see me unless they had hawk eyes. Unfortunately there was a giant lump right in the middle of my tent that I didn't notice until after I had everything inside my tent. It's gonna be a long night.

Day 53

Ed's

I was sad to leave Ed and his family- they were such great people. He didn't say anything about it, but I'm pretty sure he's a professional chef. The burgers last night and the eggs, sausage, toast and hash browns this morning were just too perfect. Ed's wife asked me if I had encountered bad weather. I told her it had been pretty rainy in Colorado, but no tornados or anything. She told me the best thing to do if I encounter one it to lay flat in a ditch or something. If I have time, an overpass will work even better. That's great to know! I tried to leave the way I remembered coming in, but I went the wrong way at first- oops. A few miles after that, there was construction, but no workers, so I just rode on the coned off pavement. I was finally able to listen to podcasts again. It had been about 3 days. Strangely enough though, I spent a lot of time with them turned off. I guess I had grown used to just letting my mind wander. I thought about the whole solar roadway idea and how dumb it was. Then I came up with a much better idea. It's too long to explain here, and I don't want people to steal it, so, sorry. I got to Iowa! I've been to 1/3 of the 48 states now. Good thing he rest of the states are all tiny. Especially Texas. I went through a town and saw a post office, which reminded me to stop for a post card. The first small gas station didn't have any, but she pointed me towards the bigger truck stop next door. They didn't have any either, but he pointed me towards the bigger truck stop a few miles away. They didn't have any either. Arrrg. To top it all off, the shoulder disappeared at this point, and the road was too busy to ride on. I struggled in the dirt beside the road for a while, then decided to chance the road for a bit. I just moved off when a car was coming. Finally there was an off-road that I took. It was dirt, but it was better than the dirt by the highway. My back tire had seemed weird before, and it was a bit low. I've had a slow leak for weeks now, but today it finally would go flat within 20 minutes of pumping it up. I felt like I had enough time to get to the next city to get supplies and then find a camp spot before it got too dark, but with the dirt roads and changing a tire, I wasn't so sure. I pulled over anyways and set to work. The first time I got a flat, I changed it in less than 15 minutes. This was a different tire, the one I got replaced a while back. It was such a pain. I honestly thought for a while that it was physically impossible for the tire to come off. My tools could not get a grip. A car stopped and asked if I needed help. The even offered to take it down to their house so that I could have an easier time changing it, but I figured I would be able to do it, one way or another. Once I finally got one side off, I encountered another problem. The thorn resistant tube was so big that it was tough to get out. I thought about cutting it out but I finally managed to remove it. It was shedding rubber like crazy- I'm sure it went flat from just wearing out. Putting everything back was pretty painless. When I was back on the road, the sun was behind clouds. Sunset would be soon. I sped up. I went by a house that I'm fairly certain has goats. I'm 100 percent sure that they had a pit bull. I took off like a dart after a bird or something, and I marveled at how his entire body seemed to be dedicated to making him go faster. Then I realized that he was chacing after me. I realized this when he was still a decent distance behind me- I peddled furiously. Somehow, he still manged to gain on me. The highway was just ahead- I didn't want to fly into traffic, but I didn't want to get bitten either. I slowed down to check for cars, and the dog slowed too. Luckily, there were no cars and I was able to cross quickly as the dog jogged to the edge of the road. That was a close one. It was getting darker and darker as I got into town. I guess I was a bit hungry, because I spent 30 bucks on food, including icecream. I was thankful for the street lights. Soon I found the bike trail- hooray! I planned on going even further on the trail, but I found a patch of trees away from any houses, so I set up my tent there. The tall grass should mostly hide me from the road. Once I was inside and set up, I grabbed the icecream. It felt completely melted, but it ended up being perfect. Like a milkshake thin enough that you can actually drink it, with a floating ball of icecream in the middle. It was glorious. 

Day 52

Thick woods
I stayed in my tent for quite a while this morning. I planned on staying in Rochester, MN, which was only 50 miles away. I contacted a few warm showers people to see if they were available. I hoped I would get a positive response before I left, but once 11am rolled around, I decided I might as well get a move on. I got to ride on the nice pavement for a while, but I knew that eventually I would have to ride on a dirt road for a bit. Just before this, I stopped and got donuts and icecream. It wasn't particularly hot outside, but I really wanted icecream. I felt kinda silly with a box of donuts in my front basket. Finally I got to the dirt road. It sucked. Halfway through, I checked my email and another warm showers person said they weren't available- that's 5 total now. I realized I needed to really figure this out. I could break my goal of not using a motel. Or I could charge my phone somewhere and just live with the stink for a bit. Or I could start calling people. I decided on the last option. I called Ed. "Hello, this is Ed's wife." Something about her tone through me off. "Hello, my name is Tyler, I found you on warmshowers.org?" She replied, "Uh, you've got the wrong number buddy. And don't you ever call this number again, got it?" And then she hung up. I just stood there, like what the heck just happened? I checked the name listed again- Ed. So I'm pretty sure it was the right number. Despite her ominous command at the end of out conversation, I figured it would be best to call back and make sure they get the number removed from the website or else others would inevidibly call. While I was thinking, my phone rang again- the same number I had dialed before. It was Ed this time, apologizing for his wife- he hadn't told her he had signed up for the site and what it was about. He said they would be happy to host me for the night. This was such a major relief. I cranked up my pace after this. I wanted to get there before it got too dark. I decided to take my chances and try the separated highway- nope. Way too much traffic. I planned for this though. There was a faster way to get where I was going, I just had to cross the highway like 3 times. I took my time, only crossing when there was a big gap in the cars. I got a nice surprise too- part of the route had pavement that Google hadn't showed. Unfortunately it didn't connect back up with the highway like it was supposed to. I had to push my bike through what I believe must have been soil for new grass, but it kinda smelled like manure. Finally I made it ino town. Google told me there was a trail here- I was nervous that it would be a hiking trail or something. But it was a glorious paved bike path! This was really lucky too, because I was running a bit late- contacting people and the dirt roads had slowed me down. I should have started earlier. Oh well. I had a great pace and soon made it to Rochester. I could already tell that I would love this city- every time I took a bridge that went over other roads, I could see bike bike paths on both sides. Super bike friendly! I went on the longest bike bridge of my life. It went accross the freeway, the railroad beside it, and a storage place. It even forked in the middle. Crazy. I was able to stay on the bike paths for quite a while, but the last few miles to Ed's house had only shoulders, so still awesome. I kept seeing a weird flickering off to my right. I figured maybe it was the fence reflecting something, the lights of cars passing by, or maybe I was just going crazy. Then I realized they must be freaking lightning bugs. I was pretty much extatic as I watched the sparks flash in and out of existence. This was the first time I had ever seen them. It seemed like magic to me, and I bet that a lot of magic (like special effects and graphics) is based off of them. Finally I arrived. There was one paved path and one dirt. I called Ed to ask which one to take. "Uh, we don't have any dirt roads here." Shit. The address I used was just a zip code. I got the real address from him. Google said it was 85 miles away. "Ed, what city do you live?" "Rochester." Thank God, that's means I just had the wrong address again. I just misheard him. We decided it would be easiest to meet near the Walmart closest to his house- he'd guide me the rest of the way. It was 4.5 miles away, and it was already pretty dark out. I peddled vigorously. The bike paths that I saw before were inconveniently nonexistent along the path to Safeway. Luckily there wasn't many cars on the road. I peddled up this small hill, and that's when I saw the monster. It looked like the street went down and then straight up- almost cliff status. Unfortunately, there was no other way around. I tried to build up as much downhill momentum as possible. It was rough, but I finally got to the top. The main street was next. No sidewalk. I waited until no one was coming, and I peddled hard to get past the no shoulder zone. I stopped and the next stoplight, to check where I needed to go, when I heard my name being called. Ed was accros the street. Fantastic, I made it. He peddled over and then we rode to his house. I finally made it. I took a shower, plugged in my electronics, and then dinner was ready, just for me. I had two delicious burgers. While I ate, they told me about themselves. They really got into biking about 10 years ago. Ed belongs to a group of people who are drinkers with a biking problem. He works for a company that sells vaccuum packers- which is crazy, because we have one that we use to package fish. Ed's wife knew someone who lived in Alaska. It's amazing, the random connections you can find with people you just met. It was getting late. I stayed up for a bit though. Their wifi was crazy fast, so I was able to finally update my phone, download some podcasts, and add some days to my blog. Enjoy!

Day 51

Park
I found an easier way out- I just had to walk my bike through the grass a bit. That would have been nice to know yesterday. Oh well. I found out that I had turned the wrong way, but I was quickly back on track. There was a water fountain, trash can and outhouse along the path- perfect. I wish all trails had these. I filled up with a lot of water, even though I knew I could get more later. It's hard to judge this. If you have enough for the whole day, you don't have to stop (except for food maybe or bathroom). But if you carry half that, you save about 5 pounds. I didn't care though, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I don't remember much from this day, but I did go across a 10 lane highway, which is always fun. I also got to pass over the giant Mississippi, for the first of several times, I'm sure. I remember seeing Mississippi River on my map and thinking, "Weird, why would they name two different rivers that?" (City names, street name and stuff like that have pretty much all been very unoriginal. Industrial and presidents, states and trees are all very popular) I guess I just didn't realize it started so far north. Near sunset, I arrived in a town. I hoped to make it out and find camp along a dirt road Google was pointing me to. It was rediculously steep to get there, but luckily that was paved. Once I got to the dirt part, I found out that the road was closed to through traffic. There was a big gate, making it impossible for cars to go through. My bike went around it quite easily. To go a different way would have been crazy- the dirt road wasn't very long. I'm sure they just didn't want a bunch of traffic going this way because it was shorter. There was a bunch of trees that would have worked, but it was near some crops, so I kept on going. The road connected with a paved one. I went for a ways and finally found a good spot. I checked on Google for nearby houses and there were none- although interestingly, it didn't show the road I was on either. Huh. It must have just been put in. Well, this was my only chance. I walked my bike into the trees. There was a fence, but it was far enough back that I was still hidden. I actually like fences- it's a little bit of extra protection against animals and it's very good evidence that you are not on private property. I set up my tent. It was on branches, so not the most comfortable place In the world, but I'm getting pretty used to that by now.

Day 50

Off bike path
I woke up to the sound of bicyclists on the bike path. Luckily, no one went by as I packed up and got back on the trail. The plan was to travel 90 miles today in order I get to the next warm showers host. There were several hosts near the REI. I needed to return my back paniers. They were almost completely ripped in half by now. I also needed a new pump- my 7 dollar eBay pump finally stopped working. My back tire was a bit low, but I hoped I could make it to REI. I had about 2 miles of blissful bike path left and then bam, it was gone. I had to ride on the side of the road again. This street was much more busy than I was used to. I went through some parking lots and rode on sidewalks to avoid the traffic. My back tire was really worrying me by now, so I decided to head to the nearest bike shop. Another customer there asked me a bunch of questions about me trip, one being where I was heading tonight. She told me there was an REI that was closer than the one I was heading to. I looked at my map and I had to go right past it anyways. Perfect. After my tire was sufficiently inflated with my new pump, I headed to Maple Grove. I arrived at REI a little after 7. This one didn't have the wide varity of paniers that the REI in Salt Lake City had. I decided to go with small front paniers. But when I tried them on my back, I discovered that I would need to adjust them a bunch to get them to work, and even then, they would have the ability to move around. I took them back. Now my only option was the same set of paniers that had ripped. Hopefully this new pair would last. I returned the old pair and the bike computer that had stopped working. I'm pretty sure I discovered the problem with it- the battery case on the sensor wasn't completely secured. But I had already cut it off my bike, and I didn't have the zip ties to put it back on. Oh well. I will have to keep track of my miles with google. Now was a good time to panic a little. It was almost sunset, and I was in the middle of a city. No one had replied back from warmshowers.org. I looked at my map. There was a park in the direction I needed to head anyways. It looked like there weren't any houses around it. When I got there, it was pretty dim, but the trees made it much darker. I passed by several people- one had a flashlight but he didn't have it on the whole time. The others didn't have light at all. I was pretty sure I was going to get mugged. I kept going until I was pretty sure no one was near. I went into the woods. I picked a terrible spot- there were downed trees everywhere, so it was really difficult to get my bike through it. I kept breaking tree beaches, so I was far from quiet. I finally got to a point where carrying my bike was too much trouble. I walked a bit farther without it, found a spot that would work for camping, and then made a few trips back to my bike to retrieve my gear. I got lost once- I made a wrong turn. I quickly found my way back. I set up my tent and crawled inside with my gear. One good thing about this spot was that if someone took the same route I did, I would definitely hear them coming.

Day 49

Slope
As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I watched a white bird fly around. The scene was much more impressive now that it was light out. There was a lake off in the distance to the left, rolling hills to the right with the road curving down. I passed by the freeway, my original planned route, and saw the sign prohibiting bicycles. Good thing I found a different route beforehand. I quickly got to the bike path and proceeded to stay on it basically the entire day. Every once in a while, I would pass through a town. One of these times, I glanced over and saw a pharmacy. I found a postcard in one of those last time, so I checked it out. Bingo. Unfortunately there was a person in front of me in line, and medication takes a bit to check out. Someone commented on my tan, and then the cat was out of the bag- I got asked loads of questions. Everyone there was really sweet though. One lady said she missed being young and adventurous. The truth is, this can be done at any age- you just might not cover as many miles. I'm doing this trip for a million reasons. Inspiring others to challenge their comfort levels and be adventurous is definitely two of them. They wished me luck as I left. I was running a bit low on water, so I kept looking for a water fountain. I finally found an old lever pump fountain thing, the ones that take 20 pumps and then each pump gives you a random splash of water. It took me forever to fill up my 6 liters of water, but it was cold, clean and free. A few hours later, there was a white cooler in the middle of the path. Two people were standing nearby with very colorful shirts and skin. "Wanna be colored?" The lady asked. Ohhhh. It was a colored 5k run. They splatter you with paint as you go. I had to skip out on that- I think you can imagine why. They asked me where I was headed. To help me out, they gave me two ice cold bottles of water. I am hugely thankful- it's amazing how kind-hearted people can be to complete strangers. I had to ride on a dirt road for a bit to avoid getting painted, but soon enough I was back on the bike path. It was another great sunset, although I didn't get to see it all. There are tons of trees here that block the way. Trees can be great- they provide shade while you're riding, they make it easy to pee, and hiding a tent it easier. However, they also harbor tons of wildlife and block light at the end of the day. I had to set up my tent a bit early. As I went to remove my back paniers from my bike, I realized that it would be a real pain to undo the bungie cord that was holding it there and to redo it in the morning. So I just left them on the bike. Hopefully there aren't any ants here. I thought this was a good spot, but I keep hearing what sounds like a car on a dirt road. I can also hear the freeway. I thought I was a little bit more in the boonies than this. Oh well. As I'm writing this, it sounds like there's a horse in the woods near me. I just hear a loud puff of air being let out every once in a while. I wish I knew for sure what it was. Also, a pair of bikers just went by. I hope I'm hidden.

Day 48

Tall grass
Definitely had a visitor last night. I'm sure this will get more and more common as I go through all this vegetation. Whatever it was sniffed around my tent for a while and then sauntered off.
I've been kinda lazy the last fee days- I didn't get going until around 10. The next town was really close, so I was able to get food and water. I also made Gatorade- I've been carrying around the powder but forgetting to actually use it. A train went by while I was riding, but it was going to fast for me to try to race it. I tried instead to count all the cars. I think I got to about 70 before a semi blocked my view. I crossed over into Minnesota, so that makes 15 states! When I stopped to take a picture of the welcome to Minnesota sign, I noticed a huge monarch butterfly struggling to catch flight as cars drove by it. I picked it up, but there must have been something wrong with its wings, because it couldn't fly off. I had to leave it a bit further from the road. The sunset was great, as usual. I biked past several lakes. I passed by many places that I'm sure would have been great campsites, but it was stil really light out, dispite there being no sun. Once I could hear the freeway, I gave in. I climbed up a bank and set up. I should have paved bike trails from here to Minneapolis- that will be nice. Most of the roads today didn't even have shoulders. As I write this, the outside of my tent is completely surrounded by mosquitoes. I am praying for wind tomorrow.

Day 47

Border
This morning was a really lazy morning. I guess the past two das really got to me. The weeds outside my tent were moving and I couldn't figure out how. Then the giant frog jumped into view. I would love to catch one of those, but I bet they'd be too fast for me. I didn't get going until about 11. After a while I made it to Oaks. The first gas station didn't have post cards, but I got everything else I needed there. The next one didn't either, but had several suggestions of places. The first drugstore- nothing. Second one- jackpot. There were so many, it took me a while to choose. The lady there asked me where I was from, and she could not believe I was from Alaska. I guess I'm just used to being in Washington, where Alaskans aren't that rare. She asked what I was doing in North Dakota. I told her about my trip, and she was even more surprised. She came out while I was writing on the postcard and invited me to dinner- I was starting to like North Dakota already! Unfortunately the day was still young, so I had to pass up the offer. Honestly I don't really remember what happened for the rest of the day, so it must not have been too exciting. When it came time to find camp, I saw off the left random bunches of trees. I picked one and crossed over the train tracks to get to them. I tried to get around to the other side. The grass engulfed me. After struggling to push my bike through the stuff, I reached the barbed wire fence. Well, I guess I'm not going that way: I tried the other side. As I went over there, I discovered that the train tracks split a small pond. Crap. I was sure I'd be overloaded with mosquitoes. I thought about trying to find a better spot, but I'm sure it would be tougher to do as it got darker. On the other side of the trees, there was still a fence, but there was enough space to set up a tent and the grass was tall enough to mostly block it from view. Once inside, I did a few calculations. In about 8 or 9 days, should be half way, mileage wise. This means that if the second half takes just as long as the first, I will be in Maine around October 15th. I'm pretty content with that. It's actually starting to get cold when I ride around and after sunset- likely because I'm so far north, but Maine is just as north. I guess we'll see if I finally use the sweatshirt that I haven't used once yet on this trip.

Day 46

Mosquitoes
I slept in. I wanted to catch up on some sleep and it kinda sounded like it was raining. When I finally decided to get up, it was easy to tell that it was windy, so I knew I didn't have to worry about the mosquitoes. I could see them lined up on the inside of my rain fly. I probably could have carefully removed it and packed it into the stuff sack in order to kill them all, but I decided to just let the wind take care of them. Once I got back on the road, I immediately discovered, to my horror, that the wind had completely changed direction. It was going southeast now, but mostly south. I couldn't go east unless I went south first- I didn't want to do that since it would add a lot of miles. The first east road north was still a lot of miles away, and it went southeast- no good. The last east road was straight, but it wasn't all that far from the town in North Dakota I was heading to. I had no choice but to slowly peddle forward into the wind. The whole day was like this. I found a grocery satire that just happened to be connected to a shell station, so I loaded up on candy, cookies and chips. Oh, and sandwiches and bagels. After watching the sky change colors at the end of the day, I stumbled upon a small-ish town. I needed to use the bathroom, but the gas station was closed. I continued, hoping there would be another. I couldn't see any. There was a baseball field, with an outhouse, but it was padlocked shut. I decided to continue on through town. It was small, so I wasn't too worried about wasting time. Nothing looked open. I found the city park. Along with 12 horseshoe game spots, it had an outhouse. But this was padlocked too. Seriously, why are people so concerned with locking up poop? I left the city, hoping I could make it to the next one. The sky was beautiful- I wish I could have watched it the while time, instead of looking for a toilet. The moon was spectacular too- I heard it was a special full moon somehow. Dispite this, it got dark pretty quickly. I knew I was really close to North Dakota though, so I kept going. Finally I saw the sign. That's 14 states! There was a lot of tall grass on the plot of land that the sign was on, so I just set up camp there, as far away from the road as I could get. There were some mosquitoes, but it wasn't as bad as last night. A spider made it into my tent, but he wasn't moving, so he was easy to kill.

Day 45

Eric's
I woke up after 10. At least the day wouldn't be totally lost. I figured out where to head next. North would be alright. It technically added about 15 miles to my trip, but I would be in North Dakota longer, so I would have more chances to get a post card. It took a while to pack up. Eric was still asleep. He stayed up longer than I did, so I didn't wake him. I finally left just before noon. I didn't pay close enough attention, so I ended up going the wrong way for a bit. Once I was finally on the right track, it was pretty straightforward. Follow highway 37 for like 130 miles. Eventually I found a gas station so I loaded up on icecream, pizza, chicken strips, twirlers and cookies. My diet is fantastic. The sunset was great- the sun turned golden orange as it passed behind a cloud. I found a couple of trees beside the highway with no fences or anything- perfect. As I pushed my bike through the tall grass, I became vaguely aware of a buzzing noise. It got worse and worse as I got closer to the trees. Mosquitoes. Swarms of them. I had to flail frantically as I set up my tent. Once I was finally inside, I relaxed. I could still hear the buzzing though- they must be surrounding my tent. I used my phone's flashlight and found that there was a small swarm inside my tent. Luckily they weren't too interested in me- I think my breath collects at the top of the tent, and so that's where they gather. It took a while to kill them all. Once I was finally safe, I set up my sleeping pad and discovered that I put my tent on top of very uneven ground, so there was a soft lump in the middle. It ended up being pretty uncomfortable. I woke up several times during the night to change positions. At some point, I was looking at my tent and watched a huge spider crawl up the side and down the other side. I panicked until I was sure it was on the outside of my tent. Well that should make the rest of this trip pretty exciting!

Day 44

Tree
I woke up a little after 7- better late than never. I quickly packed and was on the road in no time. I soon discovered that the wind wouldn't help me today, so it would take longer to do the same number of miles as yesterday. I tried to balance peddling hard to get there sooner and taking it easy so that I could peddle was as long as I needed to. I didn't take any pictures- partially because there wasn't much to take pictures of and partially because I didn't want to stop. Right when I was leaving this one town, the railroad tracks were parrallel to the road. There was a train going pretty slowly, but faster than me. The front was only a few cars ahead. I suddenly got the brilliant idea to race it. The whole day had been pretty boring, and I needed a boost. I cranked up to about 12 mph. It was neck and neck for a while- at least I couldn't gain on it. The train got loud, and I was like crap! It's starting to go to normal speed! I pumped harder, and slowly started to gain on it. The train got louder and louder. Finally I was really going faster than it, and I realized that it was getting louder because it was putting on it's brakes. Lame. I quickly passed it. It didn't last long, but it really got me thinking about how I can use this to my advantage. I'm sure there's a point where you push so hard one day that you have to take it really easy the next, ruining what you gained from pushing hard. However, I haven't reached that point yet. If I'm going to finish in 100 total days, I'm going to need to think of some new ways to pack extra miles in. I kept calculating throughout the day how far I needed to go and when I estimated I would get there. It kept getting later and later. My bike computer stopped displaying my speed correctly and so I could no longer estimate that way- I just checked google every once in a while. It was pitch black by now, and I was really starting to get tired. I contemplated just setting up camp, but I had made it this far, I can make it. I finally got to the town. I called Eric, and he said he was at a friends house, and to just call when I got to his house and he'd head right over. 30 minutes later I was finally there. We got my bike inside. Eric asked me if I wanted to meet the friends he was hanging out with. I was exhausted, sore, and felt like I was about to pass out. But I hadn't actually hung out with people in a long time. Plus, I didn't want to take Eric away from his friends. I figured I could last maybe another hour or two. I climbed into the second vehicle since the beginning of my trip and we drove the few blocks to his friend's house. We all talked for hours. Josh had just returned from his own adventure- train hopping. He had been to all 50 states and 22 different countries. He has gotten lost in the desert, with his water stollen, and only made it it because he stumbled upon a trail. Once 4am rolled around, I was finally starting to feel the long day. We headed back. Eric showed off some of his piano skills- after playing for 26 years, he could play some pretty incredible stuff. He was still wired, so he went out for some cigarettes. I passed out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Day 43

Side of road
I figured out last night that the path I was supposed to take had absolutely no convenient warm showers hosts along the way for more than a week. I'd be ok with finding a few plugins somewhere to go for a few more days but I will inevidibly need to do it again. I wanted to go north sooner, that way I'd be in North Dakota longer. There was a host along the way but they weren't available. Pretty much my only option was to go a bit south, adding a bit of miles. Also, I would have to go 180 miles tomorrow and the next day- the only other option would be to do 60 miles each day, which would be way too slow. I woke up somewhat early with this in mind. I felt like I had pretty much given up on the whole hide your tent thing. However, this really works well. Just going to the side of the road is easy (I don't have to look for a good spot), convenient (I don't have to peddle a mile down a dirt road to find a secluded spot) and usually pretty safe (the roads are usually surrounded by fences that keep animals out, and they probably don't like being around noisy cars anyways). Keeping the milage goal in mind, I peddled pretty hard for the first few hours. I was going north, and it felt like the wind was still going northwest. I had a great average, until I started going east. I slowed down, but the wind wasn't as bad as it could have been. Nothing really interesting happened until I got to Pierre. I had to go through the beginning of the town by actually riding in the road, because there were no sidewalks or bike paths. When I got to a stoplight, the traffic picked up, so I decided I really needed to figure out what I needed to do next. I pulled to the area that is just a blank space- where a car would end up if it didn't turn. I don't really know how to discribes it, but it's kinda important to my story. Cars were still going by me, so I was still kinda on the road, but I was in a place that no car should go. I looked at google maps for a bit and thought it told me to go straight. As I was looking, I heard the familiar sound of cars colliding. I looked up as a old man in a truck hauling a motorhome hit a small car. It was just a rear end collision and it didn't look like there was a whole lot of damage but still. I decided to get the heck out of there. I crossed the street. Google informed me I was supposed to take a left, and that I was going to go over a pretty wide river. I didn't want to do that with all the traffic. There ended up being a pedestrian path on the side of the bridge, only accessible from the street I had accidentally peddled to. Yippy! It was a neat river- I could see an island not far from the bridge. I filled up on water and food, got disoriented in the streets of the town, and then finally found my way to the highway. I was doing good milage wise by this point. I wouldn't get the 90+ that I was hoping for, but I should get enough for a solid day. On the side of the road, I notice some funny little signs that said west and south, but their respective road numbers. Crap! The opposite direction I was trying to go! I checked Google again but it said I was going the right way- northeast. I think was happened was that trucks were being rerouted because of construction or whatever so they ended up using the opposite roads to get them to the rerouted road. Later signs confirmed I was going te right way. I just find it interesting because oftentimes a road will technically be two roads, and so naturally having a directional delineation is silly because it won't be accurate. But a road that is north, south, east and west definitely takes the cake. There wasn't much for many more miles. The sunset was great- the clouds were just in the right place. I've been thinking that a west bound tour would probably be much better because you'd be biking toward the sunset every night. But then again, you'd have a lot of biking with the sun in your eyes as well. I wake up late enough that the sun is already high enough in the sky to be blocked by my helmet visor. Just when it was getting to be a bit darker than I like, I saw a lone tree up ahead. It ended up being perfect. The grass surrounding it was high enough that I was perfectly hidden. I took one last look at the colorful horizon and then entered my tent. I needed to go 90 miles tomorrow in order to get to Eric's, the next warm showers place. . Realistically that means I should wake up around 6 or 7 at the latest.... But yeah probably not gonna happen.

Day 42

Near woods
As before, the rain had stopped in the morning. It was a nice, cool ride. When I got to the first town, I brilliantly decided to get a half gallon of chocolate milk. Lots of calories, protein, energy. I continued into the freeway. It had nice big shoulders, although there were a lot of cars, so it was noisy. I noticed a biker behind me, and slowed down a bit. A lady with a well used bike and gear pulled up beside me and said hello. She said she had been all around the world, and her bike proved it. Pictures of flags covered the frame. She had been cycling for SEVEN YEARS. It was hard to hear, so we didn't talk for long. She was much faster than I. I tried to keep up for a bit but soon gave up. I thought about what it would be like to do this for seven years. I don't think I could ever get used to that. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying my trip. I just don't think I could do this for a living. If I got paid well to be a guide? Maybe. But I would feel too unproductive if I spent years doing what I am doing now. I enjoy modern day comforts too much to abandon them permanently. A cop passed by. I love it when this happens, because if I don't get pulled over, then it must be legal to ride here, and I can relax a bit. Oddly, I haven't seen a single Dodge Viper for this whole trip. Then I noticed that I could still see the other biker up ahead. I guess technically the cop would pull in front of her if he wanted to stop both of us. The cop pulled over. Damn. The cop ended up being very nice though. It wasn't against the law to bike on the freeway, but 1: he got a bunch of calls from people freaking out saying there were two bikers on the side of the road, 2: there was a road that followed the freeway, and 3: there was a 17 mile construction zone up ahead. I decided to take the next exit, which ended up taking over an hour to get to. The wind had really picked up by this point. Also, I was feeling very bloated. I soon realized this was a reaction to the chocolate milk. I found an outhouse soon enough. It was bad, let's just leave it at that. I found out that going north from here was actually faster, so that's what I did. I had to stop a few more times, so I didn't get a whole lot of peddling time in today. My stomach constantly felt like aliens were about to pop out of it. Realizing I was running low on water as it slowly started getting dark, I passed through a small town that thankfully had a gas station. I ended up having more water than I thought, but I filled up anyways. I continued by climbing up a big hill and looking for a place to camp. I found a road and decided it would work to get me far enough away from the road to not be seen. I soon realized that the plants here seemed too uniform. Even though there were weeds, I was pretty sure this was someone's crop/property. I went back around the fence and settled for camping in plain sight on the side of the road. It was dark enough that I wouldn't be very visible. I'm now laying here writing this. A few coyotes howled earlier, bit they sounded like they... (This is where I fell asleep.) were far away.

Day 41

Thunderstorm
I woke up a few times. Once from coyotes howling (seriously why are they everywhere?) and more than once because I was basically sleeping on a small boulder. Somehow I felt refreshed in the morning though, so I was all packed up before 9. Thankfully the storm had passed, but there were still clouds, so it was a good temperature. I was only about 10 miles from South Dakota, my 13th state. I reached that quickly. The first town had a very small shop. I got donuts, sour gummy worms, a chocolate muffin and a burrito. My stomach still felt a little weird, so I tried to get food that would be impossible not to eat. Most of the day went by without anything interesting happening, except there were a bunch of frogs hopping in my path. When I go to the first decent sized city, there was a supermarket desguized as a gas station. I got strawberries and  a huge thing of cookies. They didn't have post cards though so I went to the next gas station, and they did sell them. I'm glad this is getting easier. I had to go out of my way to find the post office, but oh well. As the end of the day approached, it started to sprinkle a bit. I saw what looked like decent camp spots but I wanted to get a bit further. I finally saw some trees that I was going to hide under but I didn't see the fence. I decided to set up my tent before the fence. There were tall weeds like before and the highway was higher, so I'm hidden enough. As I was setting up my tent, the same thing that happened yesterday happened today. While biking, the rain was fine, but as soon as I got my tent out. It really started to pick up. I quickly set up my tent and threw everything in. I'm now having second thoughts about picking this spot- it is right next to the woods. There are plenty of hiding spots for animals in there, and it goes around in a ring- plenty of space. I guess we'll see how close the howls sound tonight.

Day 40

Legit train
There were a few other trains that came last night. Every time one did, I felt like I was going to be run over. I was tired in the morning, but I got up anyways because it was really hot. I was sweating when I emerged from my tent, only to freeze because of the wind. I had a slight stomach ache. I figured it was from eating trail mix all day, but now I'm pretty sure it was the water I had- the protein shake I made had solidified. I've had problems with protein shakes for a while now because I can't drink them fast enough. The hot air combined with bumps in the road can cause it to slowly spill out over the course of a day. It's also hard to keep clean. But protein is important and expensive. However, protein powder that turns into cottage cheese is really discusting. I dumped it out in a gas station sink and had to scoop it into the trash because it wouldn't go down the drain. It's going to be a while before I make another one of those. Since I had already turned in a bit and the highway on the path I was supposed to take turned out a bit, I decided to head through the town instead in order to shave off a half mile or so. I ended up overshooting the next turn though, and there wasn't a bike lane, so it really just ended up working against me. The rest of the day flew by. Google pretty much said to go like 30 miles, then turn right and go another 40 miles. I passed through a town that had what they called a "carhedge." It was basically Stonehenge made of cars, but there was also a dinosaur. A few miles down was a fantastic rest stop. It was an armchair and a toilet on stacks of hay. It also advertised free wifi, but I didn't check to see if that was true. The wind was at my back for most of the day, so I made fantastic time- a had gone more than 50 miles halfway through the day. I thought I was finally going to have my first 100 mile day, but the wind changed later in the day. It was going directly against me. I tried to get as far as possible anyways. I passed through the last city without stopping- I had enough food and water for tomorrow. The clouds had rolled in, so it was dark immediately after sunset. I started to panic as I realized that I would probably have to ride in the dark for a while to get past all the farmland. Then it started to rain. It was pathetic at first, but then it became more consistent. I noticed that there wasn't a fence on the right side of the road and it didn't look like crops were growing there. I somehow managed to push my bike through the tall plants. Perfect- they were tall enough to conceal most of my tent. I quickly set up my tent in the nearest patch of ground that wasn't overgrown as the rain got more serious. I saw some fantastic displays of lightning. It ended up being perfect timing. If I had found camp just a few minutes after, I would have been soaked. As I laid in my tent, the walls would occasionally light up from the lightning. One time it was particularly bright and the thunder afterwards seemed to go on forever- or about 25 seconds. The wind picked up. This should be another fun night. Before I slept, I found out that I had been laying on the straw of my water, so there was a considerable amount under my sleeping pad. I was using my rolled up sleeping bag as a pillow, and it was soaked. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to make that mistake again.

Day 39

Field
The sounds of cows mooing kept waking me up, but I was too tired to get up and moving. I did finally get on the road a bit after 9 though. I had a pretty straightforward route. I passed the time listening to Hyperion on audiobook and looking for anything interesting on the side of the road. Since I found a pair of $150 Oaklies sunglasses, I've been curious about what else I can find. I've seen a bunch of cellphones, always with no battery and the screen shattered. Today, I found one with the screen intact. I also found a rusted pocket knife that I hope to find some way to open. At one point, a car came up beside me. Heart pounding, I paused my iphone. The lady in the passenger seat pointed a hunting rifle at me and told me to give her my wallet. Just kidding, she handed me a nice cold water bottle. This is the third person to stop to give me something- there are some really awesome people out there. After a few hours, I had to use the bathroom. I was only a few miles from the next town, but I found a wildlife place. I really lucked out- they had a bathroom, a water fountain, and postcards! I didn't even have to try this time. Plus, I didn't pass by any other stores along the way, so I would have had to go a few extra miles into a town in order to get water. Unfortunately this also meant I had to eat only trail mix all day, but oh well. The beginning part of the day was spent on road that didn't have any shoulders, but there wasn't a lot of traffic, so it wasn't a big deal. Eventually I got great shoulders with a bumper strip. Unfortunately, this shoulder turned to crap. It was older than the main part of the road. Every 15 feet there was a crack- about half of which were deep enough to make sitting down a real pain in the butt. I decided to bike on the main part of the road, looking back often to make sure there weren't any cars coming. Finally I got good shoulders back. After sunset, I had decent light, and I was really hoping to get 82 miles (because that's how many miles I need to get every day in order to finish in 100 total days). I rounded a corner and all of a sudden there were tons of city lights in view. Crap. I can't really camp in cities. I biked back just a bit and found a small hill to hide behind. My tent can't be seen at all if you are heading to town, can only be seen if you are heading out of town if you crane your head, and is completely visible of you happen to be a train. I crawled inside my tent right before a train approached. As I waited for it to pass by, it sounded really loud all of a sudden and I figured it must have a bad wheel. Nope. It had on its brakes. It slowed to a stop. On this trip as a whole, I have made an important observation- everything seems like it is about me. If someone honks, it's at me. If someone stops ahead of me, they want to talk to me. If someone moves completely over into the other lane, they are trying to avoid hitting me. Of course, this isn't always the case. I waited for someone from the train to walk up and tell me that I couldn't camp here, but after a few minutes, I realized that wasn't going to happen. I can still hear what I believe is the back of the train. Every once in a while, it ramps up and I think it's finally going to leave, but it hasn't yet. It's been like 45 minutes. I really hope I don't have to listen to it all night. Ok, a few minutes later I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of air puffing out as the brakes were released. Yep, then I could hear metal groaning as the train started to move, the caboose went by. I'm seriously surprised that wasn't because of me- the positioning could not have been any more perfect. Hopefully there aren't too many more of those tonight.

Day 38

Jolene's
I woke up early- there seems to be a pattern here. I always seem to get less sleep when I stay in an actual bed, but I always feel just as rested. While my clothes were being washed, Jolene made blueberry pancakes! I ate three giant ones. I was so full that there was no way I could eat anything more. I played with the family dog- it was nice to get some wrestling in. It'll be good practice for when I have to wrestle a bear. Jolene helped me figure out what path I should take next. Eventually it was time to go. I headed to the nearest gas station, hoping to find a postcard there. I had to go back, but I was only about two miles, so not a big deal. But they didn't have any. There was another gas station accross the street and another a few blocks down- neither sold postcards. I called the Albertsons that was nearby- nope. I was really startingn to get stressed now. I was finally out of the mountains, finally able to actually get some good miles in, and yet I was stuck without a postcard. I spent about an hour calling places and looking up stuff online when I finally decided to go to the Hallmark store. It was five miles away. When I got there, it took me a while to find where the postcards were hidden and it took me forever to wait for the one person in front of me to pay for her stuff. At least the postcard only costed 27 cents. To top it all off, my wallet was wet from all the rain in the mountains, so my stamps wouldn't work. Awesome. It was a quick fix though- I just got tape from the lady in the Hallmark store. Finally, I was on my way again. Actually, one store over was a grocery store. I decided to buy an entire roasted chicken. I figured I'd look totally badass riding my loaded tourong bike down the sidewalk while tearing into a chicken. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to eat and ride at the same time, so I ended up just stopping every once in a while to chow down. The rest of the day, I was able to go really fast. My average was above 10mph- a record for me, I think. If this is what the flat states are like, I'm both excited and disappointed. Excited because I can potentially get a 100 mile day if I get up early enough, and disappointed because rolling hills don't seem to be very flat to me. Towards the end of the day, the sunset was gorgeous- there were just enough clouds to show off the many different shades of orange and pink. I finally found a spot to set up my tent. With farmland all around, there weren't a whole lot of options. I'm at least partially hidden by the tall grass. It was already matted down in a lot of places. It looks like animals did it, but if cattle could be here, they could walk right into the road. In any case, it would be nice to not have a night visitor for once.

Day 37

Muddy uphill
Again, something most definitely visited me last night. Around 4:30am, I heard the cracking of twigs. I assumed this meant it was something big. It made really strange noises- something like a purr but not quite, along with a wining sound. I guessed later that it was a wild pig, but now I'm pretty sure it was a raccoon.
Today was the ultimate lesson in why you shouldn't waste time. Since I only had 60 some miles to go today, I woke up late. I didn't want to go back up what crazy mud hill, so I walked my bike the other way, hoping to find a road or something. Nope, just a river preventing me from continuing and a fence blocking me from the road. I would have to go up the muddy hill. I don't regret checking this way first though, because I saw a fairly large snake that was too clever for me to catch, a smaller one that I did catch, and a praying mantis! If I'm not mistaken, it's the first one I've ever seen. I could have spent all day there, but there were also some pretty gnarly spiders, so I decided against it. To get up the hill, I had to take the easy stuff off my bike (everything in the front) and walk it up, then push my bike up with the back paniers still on. It was rough, but I finally got it. My chain had been making terrible sounds for a day or two now, so I decided to seek out a bike shop. About 75 bucks and an hour and a half later, my bike felt good as new. It had a new chain and back tire. While I was waiting, I bought root beer float flavored Oreo cookies- which taste freaking amazing. I probably should have blogged during this time, but I was also charging my phone, which was pretty important, considering I had no charge left in any of my backup batteries. When I finally left, going through the city streets was kinda confusing at first, but I quickly got away from the traffic. A large part of the day was spent on frontage road, but eventually it turned to dirt. I decided to just deal with it when I saw a bike sign across the street, but I couldn't read what it said underneath. The side I was on had a different sign that said no bicycles, so I assumed that other sign said the same thing. I eventually saw the same sign when I was on the same side and it said that you can bike on the freeway, just stay on the far right. Yay! The dirt road was really getting to me. When I reached Wyoming, there were two guys at the border who asked my about my trip. They seemed excited for me and wanted a picture with me- awesome, I have fans! I kept thinking all day about how I needed to go fast in order to get to the home I was staying at that night before it got really dark, and I did pretty good- I averaged above 9mph. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. When I finally reached Cheyenne, the sun had already set. I contemplated just continuing on the freeway. It would be faster, but there were 6 exits, so I decided that I didn't want a repeat of what happened near Reno. I got off the freeway and minutes later my phone died. No bog deal, I have a backup charger that works with double A's. Unfortunately, what I didn't know is that all the double A's I had didn't have enough charge. So I was stranded, not sure f where to go. Now that I think about it, I should have just taken a few pictures of the route with my other phone. Instead, I started looking for a place to plug in my phone. I lucked out- not far was a building with a plugin on the outside. I waited impatiently was my phone to turn back on. It finally did, and I tried to figure out the route and how long it would take. Once it was 8 percent and the sky was filled with stars, I headed out again for the 10 mile journey. I went by a bunch of places that I bet are pretty during the daytime, but that I could barley see in the limited light. I saw a lot of couples, which makes sense, considering it was a Friday night. When it came time to cross the freeway, I was really stoked- I got to ride up a spiral path, peddle above the traffic, and then ride down another spiral. Definitely a highlight of the day. After a few more miles and holding up a flashlight to several street signs, I finally made it to the right house. I figured I should call, but my phone died before the first ring. I knew this was the right house though, so I just went up and rang the doorbell. I was instantly greeted by their dog and then soon after welcomed into their home. Jolene was kind enough to save and heat up some sloppy joes for me- it was delicious. She showed me my room- I had a gigantic bed to sleep in. After sharing a few stories, it was pretty late. I showered and then quickly fell asleep in the giant, super soft and comfortable bed.

Day 36

Real forest
Last night confirmed what I dreaded- my brand new REI tent has a leak. Okay well maybe it isn't a leak, maybe it is something like condensation or whatever, but having the foot of my sleeping bag soaking wet is not okay. I also need to return my back paniers, because they had a rip after the first day. I was hoping that it wouldn't get much bigger, but in a week or two, they are going to split. Then I will have a real problem. It was raining when I usually get up, so I decided to just sleep/lay there until it at least wasn't as bad. It finally stopped a little after 10 and I was able to pack up. I was complaining in my head because everything was wet so I just wanted the sun to come out to dry everything. The funny thing is, it did. Only for a bit, but still. It was a nice change from the constant gloom of the past few days. There were a lot of uphills and downhills, but at least none were dirt. I eventually got to a sign that said something about a detour, so I looked on my phone and sure enough, the road into the town I was heading to was closed. I could see that there were different ways to get there though, so I didn't worry. Until I got to the sign that said bicycles were not recommended, ride at your own risk. Great. I had the chance to get out of the mountains early, but it was basically too late now. I kept going, and thought the sign was exaggerating. The shoulders were great- a little bumpy and worn at times but I had plenty of room. About halfway through, however, the shoulders completely disappeared and I had to ride on the white line. Oh... This must have been what the sign was talking about. It didn't last long though. I had shoulder, then lost it again, then got it back again. I finally got to see some good views- far-off mountains, waterfalls, and interesting cliff faces. Getting into Estes Park was the best though- it was all downhill, with lots of curves. I looked back and saw that I had a couple cars behind me. The front car was too afraid to pass me. I was actually only going  a bit slower than the speed limit, so I decided to just peddle really hard. I think it helped, but I could tell I was frustrating some people. The view made it would it though- I could see so far- it was great to finally have a nice day. I got food in Estes Park, then headed out of the mountains. It was a quick journey. I knew I had a big day building up, since I had been in the mountains for so long. Even though I started two hours late, I still got a 70+ miles day in. I was hoping to camp just inside the mountains, but I made too good of time. I finally did find a place- I took a random trail by the side of the road. It was a steep mud cliff to get down to, but I wa able to set up my tent under some trees. It's gonna suck tomorrow morning because I'm gonna have to take everything up individually probably. Oh well. Good night!

Day 35

Behind rock pile
As I was packing up, a couple bikers peddled by. Awesome, I'm not the only crazy person going up this mountain! None of them had the kind of gear I had, though. The air was cold, but peddling uphill kept me plenty warm. It seemed to take forever. I had to stop to eat every so often- eating while biking uphill is too difficult. I finally got to the top- almost 12,000 feet! I thought wolf creek pass was going to be the highest, but this took the cake. It really made me feel that those days where I would get a few 6,000 foot summits were just jokes. I met a lady at the top, Kathy, who had been to every state except for Alaska. She have me her number and told me to call if I need anything once I get over to the east coast. It's great how people want to help out once they hear about what I am doing. I had a long downhill next, and it was even more cloudy and cold at the top than the previous summits, so I put on an extra shirt, raincoat and gloves. It wasn't enough. I shivered the whole way down. I screamed into the air at random times too- I really hate being cold. I knew that the lower I got, the warmer it would get though, so I kept peddling. I quickly got to the freeway. I was a bit nervous, especially after what happened yesterday. However, soon I relaxed and enjoyed the speed I was getting by slowly losing elevation. I expected to be on i70 for a while, but I found a bike path, so I was like heck yes! However, it turned completely away from the freeway after a bit. I checked Google. I could continue on the freeway, but there were two construction zones along the way, so I decided to take the slightly longer suggested bike way. By now it had started raining pretty good, so when I got into the little city that the bike path lead to, I found a post office that acted as great cover. I needed to send a postcard anyways. There was a lady her- she had been to every state. She doesn't have a favorite state- she says that each once has something different to offer. The rain had slowed, and I had stayed there a while, so I decided to press on. I restocked at a gas station- the hot burrito was a great weapon against the cold rain. I got to pass under the highway a few times until I finally got to a city that had a park with a nice bathroom. Once I was done, I opened the door and found out it was raining worse than ever. I pulled my bike inside. It was actually pretty convenient-  I filled up my water, made a protein shake and figured out where I wanted to go next. I could continue down i70, then head northwest. This would be all paved. However, there was a shorter path, but it was dirt for part of it. I figured a few miles wouldn't be too bad, even though it was raining so much. Boy, was I wrong. The paved part of the road was crazy steep, but doable. This should have been a warning about what was to come, but I ignored it. Less than a mile in, it was too sleep and slick to ride my bike, so I started pushing it. After a mile or so, I checked google again to see if turning back now would be so bad. It would have been three times as far- not worth it. A few miles later I realized I really should have turned back. I was probably only going 2 miles an hour by pushing. I could easily average 6mph going the other way. But it was too late now- going down would have been scary. I was feeling pretty mad when a truck pulled up and offered me a ride to the top. I thanked them but declined the offer. They said it was only about a half mile to the top- great, only 15 more minutes! It ended up taking longer than that, but there was a neat little building at the top. I finally got to parent again, only to have it taken away from me after a few hundred feet. It was downhill, so I wasn't too upset. I finally got to the city. I was mad again. It was so steep that I had to use my brakes often, wasting potential energy. Also, if I had come the other way, I wouldn't have had to go as high. I just kept peddling. I peddled through some light showers. Toward the end of the day, there was a gas station. I decided to skip it. It was finally getting dark, and because of the rain, I decided to stop early. The woods were creepy. I knew that bears were possible with these woods, but I had to stop somewhere. I was exhausted, so I just laid there and tried to sleep.

Day 34

Under construction  

Day 33

Under construction  

Day 32

Under construction  

Day 31

Under construction

Day 30

Luckily, the mud was somewhat easy to get off my bike tires- as I peddled, it fell off. My shoes were a different problem. I have the kind of shoes that snap into the peddles. That part was caked in mud. I had to just keep peddling without clipping them in while trying to work the mud out. It worked pretty fast, which was good because I got to zoom downhill right afterwards.

To be continued...

Day 29

Horses visited me again last night. The sound of hooves hitting the ground and snorting woke me up and like before, I didn't really know what to do. I heard them walk off, and I slowly peeked my head out of my tent to try to see them, but they were already gone. The àastars were brilliant, but I didn't want to let more bugs in, so I went back to sleep. In the morning, I decided to go to the next town before going to the four corners monument. That way I could get food and water before heading to Colorado. Also, I wanted to send a post card from the post office there. I wanted to get a custom post card that had a picture of me standing on the for corners monument, to prove that I was in all four states without going through the trouble of finding a post office in each state, but I wasn't sure if they would have that. I ended up just buying an Arizona and a New Mexico post card and mailing them both from Arizona- oh well. There was another town that I could get to that was in New Mexico, but it would add about 30 miles to my trip and I wouldn't be able to go back to the four corners, so I decided against it. That wasn't very smart, because when I got to the monument, it was packed with people. I didn't want to sit around for an hour to  get a picture, which I would inevidibly have to pay for, so I just got back on the road. I spent the evening watching lightning as I peddled up a gradual hill. It rained really hard for some parts- the first rain I had to peddle through in a long time. Eventually I was almost to the town I wanted to get past when I realized there was no way. I would have to camp before the town and stock up in the morning. I found a dirt road, and alongside it, woods. There was a fence, but it was just barbed wire that was on the ground- not very effective. It was getting dark, so I figured I didn't have a choice. I pushed my bike into the woods and quickly regretted it- the mud was crazy. It stuck to my shoes and my bike tires, until it wouldn't really even roll. I walked around, looking for a good place to set up my tent. There was what looked like the remnants of a burned down building nearby- I didn't want to camp too close to that. I found a place somewhat under a tree. I went to sleep with confidence that no one in their right mind would randomly walk out here because of the terrible mud and hoping that it wouldn't be too hard to get it off my bike tires.