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.