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.