Day 61

Power lines
This is starting to become a trend- I was not nearly as hidden as I thought I was. People walked by when I got out of my tent, but luckily they didn't see me. No one else went by before I was on the trail again. De ja vu anyone? Unfortunately what was new about this was that my front tire was totally flat. Several days over the past week I would have expected this because of the junk that I had to ride over, but not today. I pumped it back up, figuring it was worth a shot, but expecting it to deflate quickly. After riding for a few minutes it held up just fine, so I stopped worrying about it. I knew getting to a bike shop was even more important now though. A saw a red cardinal- I'm pretty sure it's the first wild one I've ever seen. The trail went for a while and then there was a sign that said "trail temporarily closed." I looked on Google and hooray, there was another trail on the other side of the canal. I pedalled accross the bridge. Dang, that one was closed too. I decided to go around the sign anyways. I was soon met with a fence though. It wasn't worth it to try to get around  that. The trail actually had a paved road that parallelled it. I should have been looking for a gas station because I was almost out of food, but there was another city just ahead. I was hungry enough that when I passed by two bags of those veggie chip things, I stopped to inspect them. They were totally sealed, with only a bit of morning dew or maybe rain on them. They could have been there long. I chowed down. I kinda felt awkward when cars passed the other way though. I was just waiting for one to pull over and say, "Hey, where'd you get those chips? We dropped some" or something like that. No one did. I saw a legit vulture, red neck and all- I believe the first I've seen, at least in a while. Another biker caught up with me. He told me about a gas station- it was only a few blocks out of the way, but I needed food. He also helped me out by telling me just to take the same road I was on all the way to Seneca, the next town. I was planning on joining up with the bike trail again, but the paved road was definitely better. A group of bikers passed. One slowed for a bit and we chatted about food and my trip. Soon I got to the gas station, got supplies, and then headed out . I didn't get water because I was starting off with almost 3 liters and I was going through 3 cities in the next 30 miles. Somehow that water ran out by the time I got to the next city. Maybe it was the blistering heat. There was a spicket in a park that was clearly visible from the road. Lucky me! But when I went over to it, I discovered that it was dry. I ended up biking all around the city, looking for a gas station or store. I finally stumbled upon a bar- better than nothing. I filled up with 3 more liters of tap water. Just after chugging some, a woman passed by and told me not to drink Ransom water (Ransom was the name of the town). She said it was dirty sludge waste water or something like that. I dumped it out and got to fill it from one of those 5 gallon water jug machines (I can't remember the name). It felt like it got even hotter when I stepped back outside. A few more hours and I was inside my car. (Haha, meaning I was inside the city of Pontiac- my car is a Pontiac Sunfire. As a side note, I've seen tons of them, and still no Dodge Vipers...) I stopped by a Shell and filled up 6 liters- I had finished 6 liters today already. A man there offered to buy me a Subway sandwich. I thanked him but said I had plenty of food. It was hot when I went in the first time, like it had been all day, but when I went back in to get food, the sun had gone behind a cloud. This always seems to happen- the weather totally changes when I go into a gas station. I think part of this has to do with the fact that I tend to find one around noon, when the temperature is rising. When I am riding, I constantly get a little breeze, plus whatever wind there is, so I tend to keep cool enough. It's only when I stop that I notice how hot it is. When I go into a building, the difference is even more extreme because they have strong air conditioning. It seriously feels like I am walking into a freezer sometimes. Anyways, this time it was the opposite. Crazy dark clouds were heading in. I had been fighting a weak northern wind all day, but now it was blasting south. Excited to catch the tailwind, I headed back on the road. I had been following historic Route 66. The road itself had no shoulders and enough traffic, but there was another road beside it that was even older. Plants were growing in the cracks, there were bumps, and I had to pedal over overgrown dirt piles that I'm sure were intended to keep cars from using the road. It sucked, but it was better than riding in the road. After the shell station, there was a nifty bike trail. They had paved over the old road. My front tire had finally gotten really low again by this point. I pumped it up quickly and then blasted off in the highest gear. It was only sprinkling a little, not enough for a rain jacket yet. I think the clouds on the left may have been the darkest I had ever seen. Lots of first for today! Finally the clouds on the left turned into a storm, and I was basically totally surrounded. Behind me, the city I left was engulfed in rain. To the right, the hidden sun gave a glow to the small patch of sky next to the earth that wasn't clouds, and it appeared to be raining sideways. In front of me were dark clouds. I had to constantly whip my head around to try to take everything in. When I looked behind me, I usually saw lightning. The right had a few far off bolts as well. It took longer, but finally lightning started to the left- the thunder more of a crackle than a boom, and much closer. I reflected on how incredibly lucky I was- I was basically biking in the eye of a storm. If I had taken any other route, I'd likely be drenched by now. The rain did pick up after a while, so I put on my rain jacket. I enjoyed the ever changing scene around me. Eventually the sun appeared again, and a rainbow slowly emerged on the opposite side of it. I finally had to pull over and figure out where I was camping tonight- I didn't expect to get through Bloomington. Someone stopped and asked if everything was alright. It's crazy how hospitable this state is- that's the 4th time today someone offered to help. I ended up going a bit further, likely as far as I can go without going through Bloomsday. I found a good camping spot- next to the road and railroad under tree cover. I think it's dark enough in the shade here that my green tent isn't visible at all. It was weird setting up my tent when it was still so light out, but I didn't really have any other choices. Three high speed trains have gone by so far- I hope that doesn't happen all night.