Day 72

Old tree
Not a whole lot of interesting stuff happened until the end of today. There were some more fantastic views. I think this is probably what Colorado would have looked like if it hadn't rained the whole time I was there. There were some scary highway parts I had to deal with. I only had about 15 minutes of dirt road the whole day- Freedom Road. It also lightly rained during those 15 minutes. I ended up passing through a town around 7- the perfect time to stock back up for the next day. I took the first turn, to a Sonic and a gas station. Unfortunately the gas station didn't have a mini mart. I think I've been to Sonic once before, so I didn't realize that they don't have an inside for people. I paused at the employee only sign on the door with my two water bladders in hand. I should have just gone down the road- surly there would be more than one gas station. But it was too late. I caught eyes with one of the employees. He opened the door and I asked if I could fill up my water. He paused for a long time. I'm sure I'm the first person to ever ask him that. He then said sure. A girl brought them back out to me. I figured with them being so gracious, I had to buy something there. I got a double cheeseburger. They make a darn good burger. I should have gotten a shake too. It slipped my mind. It was getting dark, and I had to ride in the road (no shoulder), so I headed out. One block down there was a McDonald's connected to a minimart. It was cooler than most- they sold baseball cards, Pokemon cards, and comic books there. Quite the change from what I was used to- gas stations with just food and car stuff. Now that I had plenty of food and water for tomorrow, I headed out of the city. It was a getting dark, so I tried the woods on the right. There was a nice open spot, perfect for a tent. Unfortunely my bike ended up getting kinda stuck in the torn vine stuff. The ground had these thorn plants too. I stupidly tried to get my bike past it anyways. I had a Pringles container full of two different kinda of Pringles and a few leftover cookies. Somehow in the process of moving my bike around some throrns grabbed right on to this container and dumped all of it's contents on the ground. I now had two options. I could spend the last remaining minutes of light trying to pick it all up just so that I could sleep without bearbait outside my tent, or I could leave it all there and try to find a better place to camp. I chose to leave. I pedaled down the road, hoping it was far enough away from my spill. I tried the other side of the road this time. Much better. It declined sharp enough that I was pretty close to the road but totally hidden. I set up my tent in the dim light and climbed inside. I felt bad- there were dogs that were surly barking at me, driving their owners nuts. I actually heard these owners- they played country music and yelled at their dogs. Obviously I was much closer than I like to be, but at the same time, this state is so wild that I prefer being close. I fell asleep just hoping that whatever found my spill wouldn't be able to smell the path to me.