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!