Day 67

Nowhere
I was wondering why there were bees outside my tent. Or I guess the buzzing could have been giant flies- I've seen some here that are seriously about the size of 4 regular flies. There were some weird mosquito-like things too- smaller than mosquito eaters but bigger than a mosquito. Hopefully they don't bite. I got out of my tent and discoved that I was in a field of flowers. Really tall flowers. I packed up and got onto the road. That's when I noticed that both tires were flat. Awesome. I pumped them both up anyways, just to make sure. They seemed ok for a few miles, but then my back tire went totally flat. I used a pear tree for shade as I changed it out. The presta valve made me nervous, but I got it figured out. I hope. I got back on the road. I had to ride on gravel roads more than I would have liked. Soon I realized my front tire wasn't going to make it. I pulled over into some grass and set to work. A big spider tried to help by crawling up my leg. Hopefully these thorn resistant tubes will finally last a while- I'm getting sick of changing out tubes. More gravel roads, and then the fun really began. I noticed the wind before, but now that I was going south, I discovered that it was going north-east, but mostly north. I was going south-west, but mostly south. The struggle was real, all day. I kept trying to just go west, but I knew it was pointless because I would have to go south eventually. I just had to power through it at 4mph, downhill. Towards the end of the day, I realized I was running low on food and water. The slow pace meant I wasn't getting to the next city like I was expecting. I had been through a few small towns, but one was early on, so I didn't think about stopping at the general store, and one gas station that I checked out was closed. I found a town park. Hooray, it had a kitchen! But it was locked. The sign said that I could call and pay 20 bucks to use it. Nah. I looked around and discovered a spicket- hooray again! But of course, this was locked too. Apparently they value water just as much as I do. There was a plugin- I really wanted to stay and charge my stuff, but I really needed to find water. There was a town I could go through on my way- it was my last chance. I stopped by the park there- another locked spicket. Someone yelled, asking if I needed water and waved me over. A sink- hooray for the final time! By the time I was done filling up, the sun had gone behind some clouds. I tried to look for a good forest on Google, but I realized I would just have to pedal and look around. I ended up finding railroad tracks- perfect because there are always trees nearby and no houses- no one wants to live near a train. I saw thicker woods beyond it, so I decided to go there instead. The trees went along a stream. Once I was under treecover, I discovered that the stream bed was totally dry. I know it's a bad idea, but the flat surface, hidden from view, out of the wind, was just too tempting. I had been out all day and I didn't see a dark cloud in the sky. After I set up, I found out what all the wind was for. Apparently there's a chance of a storm tomorrow morning. And the wind is going to stay constant. Ugh.