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.