Day 86

Fire hydrant
In the morning, I looked up what to do about a chain slipping. The internet suggested adjusting the high limit screw. I loosened it. When I got on the road, it seem to be working better. Unfortunately, I could still make it slip and throughout the day, it didn't seem any different. Ugg. I stocked up at a Dollar General and got too much water. I had to drink some to avoid wasting it. Like 4 people talked to me here. They all wished me luck. One was a 90 year old woman who still walks and drives around. I hope I can be that lucky! The roads were ok for a bit- not much shoulder, not much traffic. I had to hunt down a bathroom. There were about 5 places that did not have one. I finally found a McDonald's though! Relief. The roads around this place were crazy. There was construction going on, there was an accident with someone being carried away on a stretcher, and it was the joining spot of several major highways. Using the sidewalks, turn lanes, and parking lots worked for a bit but eventually they were no more as the road went from two lanes in each direction with a turn lane on either side and in the middle to just one lane each way. With no shoulder. I had to ride in the grass. Riding in the dirt sucks but riding in grass is even worse. The shoulder got a bit better after a mile. I was supposed to turn up ahead but all I could see was a line of cars and no shoulder, so I continued on the same road. I checked before so I knew they both went to the same place. The shoulders sucked but at least I was off the road finally. Then Google wanted me to get on a 3 lane highway. I paused for quite I bit and tried to find another way around, but I couldn't find any. I just rode in the grass/dirt alongside the road. Finally I got into the city and took a turn that was a road with 3 lanes, one way. I pushed my biked for a bit becaus the grass alongside was so tall (plus it was uphill). Soon I realized that there was practically no traffic. I found a backroad anyways. There was so much trash on the side of the road- it was really sad. I crossed over the previous road,  away from homes. Finally I got to some sidewalks. More crazy highway for a bit and then a long quiet road. A few roads later I kept going past road closed ahead signs. I panicked a bit but just hoped it was like previous closed roads. It was. It was basically a bridge and bits of road almost completely grown over with vegetation. But there was a small path down the middle, perfect for bikes. I was starting to need to think about camp. I had to get back on the freeway, so I wanted to find camp before then. There were a few spots but it still felt too early. I got on the small shoulder. The freeway always has plenty of spots- no one wants to build their house right next to a freeway. There were parked cars up ahead so I headed into the woods a tad early. There was a trail, but it didn't look like it got used often. I had to avoid some spider webs but luckily the spiders on them were tiny. I set up camp and tried to sleep instead of thinking that every motorcycle that passed by was a four wheeler on this trail.