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.