Day 74

More ants
I find ants fascinating. I always have. I used to catch them and put them into clear plastic bottles full of dirt and watch them dig around. I think that is coming back to haunt me. The ants were still not bad enough to wake me up, but I did wake up a bit early and checked my basket. I didn't do anything to prevent them from getting in. I haven't had an any problem yet, and I've been doing this for 74 days. I figured last night was just unlucky. Now they were back in full force. They found their way to my other bag this time. I spent over an hour taking everything out of it and getting most of the ants out. I didn't have food that wasn't sealed, but they still managed to find crumbs and whatnot. I got everything clean except for my rain jacket. The pockets have a huge flaw- they are waterproof on the outside, but mesh on the inside. This means if it's somewhat warm while it's raining, or you are exerting at all, your sweat will end up getting the stuff in your pockets even more wet than the rain would. I had trash in that pocket from food, so of course the ants were all over that. I almost put it on- I'm really glad I didn't. I tried to brush them off as they came out of the mesh, but it was impossible. I just stuffed it in a plastic bag and tied it shut. The tent got the usual shake treatment. To top off the morning, by taking all my stuff out, I realized that I no longer had my rain pants. I used them yesterday- I must have put them over my back bags, put my shoes back on, then pedaled away, forgetting about the rain pants. Hopefully someone found them and can use them. I hate littering. But just wait, this day gets worse. Not too far down the road, my front tire goes flat from a wire. Not much of a problem, I do have one spare tube. I installed it and kept going- surly I'll pass by a bike shop today or tomorrow. Then my back tire goes flat. A bigger wire this time. Crap. Somehow my stupidity got me into this situation again. I thought about walking the 9 miles back to the nearest Walmart, or catching a ride back. Then I remembered my patch kit again. I didn't think it would be possible to patch, because I can't submerge the tube in water to find the hole easily. I thought the hole would be too small to find otherwise. But I pumped it up anyways, and lo and behold, I could easily hear the hiss by holding the tube up to my ear and moving it around. I put a patch over it and was happy to be back in business. Now I had two options: continue on for 40 miles to the next Walmart on the way and hope I get no more flats (or at least only get flats that I can fix with my patch kit) or bike back the 9 miles to the nearest Walmart. Of course, I decided to press on. I stopped for water and food, and could not find the hose for my water after I filled up even though it was in plain site (the two ladies working there helped me look, one even put her hand in mop water to look for it... I felt so dumb). And then a few miles later my front tire went flat. Another wire. I pulled over by some horses and patched the previous tube. It was thorn resistent, so more worth patching. But I could not get the patch to work. I think the hole must have been too big or something. I used my last patch on the regular tube and expected the worst, but it worked! I now had the option again- continue for 30 some miles or turn back for 15. Well, I knew the road behind me was full of wires, so I kept going. I finally got some decent biking in. I think I might have even gotten a bit of tailwind. I made it to the first town in Texas at 6- plenty of time to buy some tubes and look for a postcard. I went to Walmart and of course, they had exactly one tube that I needed. I learned today that 27 inch tubes and 700c tubes, the type I use, are actually interchangeable. But of course, they didn't even stock 27 inch tubes that were wide enough for my tires. So I had to walk away with just one tube, town patch kits and no post cards. I checked several more places, but no one had post cards. I knew I was going through at least one more town in Texas, so I just decided to leave- I only had an hour to find camp. Google took me to a road that had signs indicating that entering meant consent to being searched and what not. I figured I had nothing to hide. About a half mile later, I came across a locked fence and had to turn back. I'm pretty sure that's the first time Google really failed me. Near Reno, the path it gave was basically possible, although certainly not for a touring bike. The fenced off roads in Washington/Oregon were likely public at some point. But this was clearly not bikable. I turned around and headed back- I'd just take the highway. It wasn't that much further. After an hour or so the houses thinned and I pulled over. A few bushes and some grass obscure me from view. I set up my tent and set to work. Unfortunately, duck tape didn't work at all on my tent. My only option was to put my bags and basket that had food in them at some point in a trash bag. I suppose ideally I would then put them in a tree, but I'm sure it was too heavy, and really inconvenient. So I put it on top of the holes, hoping it would block their way in. Or at he very least, if they can't find food, maybe only a few will come in. I checked it a few times before going to sleep. There were always a few, but they hadn't made there way into the bag... Hopefully they never will.