Day 102

Empty campground
Before I start at the beginning, I just want to mention that it is currently the end of this day. I was typing away on the previous day when I heard leaves shuffling and whatnot, just like footsteps. I really thought that some random person had stumbled upon my tent when I heard the wining- poribbsly a raccoon. It was right at the edge of my tent. I hissed at it and it ran off. Haha. Gotta love nature.

Since the flashlight people made me stop using my phone, I fell asleep fast and was therefore able to wake up earlier. Unfortunately, it was really freaking cold. It took me a while, but eventually I knew I just had to face it. I put on my long pants along with a long sleeved shirt and of course my rain jacket and packed up. My neighbor was still asleep. I couldn't see a tent, only his loaded touring bike. I would have looked harder but I'm pretty sure I saw him move. Maybe he's not asleep. By the time I left, I saw him stretching. It wasn't long before I got to the next campsite. They had a roaring fire going- I'm glad I got to skip out on that. I'm sure they were up late chattering, which would be hard to sleep through. Wow, I sound like such a grump. I guess I just have my priorities. I was putting off filling up my water again. Last time it was a huge pain, but this one must have been "well" greaced because it didn't take long at all. Eventually it got warm enough to take off my gloves, but j was dumb and so I just set them on the back of my bike and took off, like I have done so many times before. Luckily when I realized it, I only had to go back a couple hundred feet to find them. Apparently they had stayed on for close to a mile and fell off both at once- super duper lucky. I had noticed that my vision seemed a bit off, but now I could really see it. I worried that that well water was making me go blind. I finally decided it must just be my contacts. It's virtually impossible to put them in and take them out on this trip. My hands are clean for about 2 minutes after I wash them. However, I haven't even washed my hands in a few days because I've just been on the trail. I've been using just hand sanitisor. Out of all of the things I want to be on my eyes, hand sanitisor is definitely second to last, right after red hot shards of glass. So I just tried to tear up- a skill all little brothers have- to keep my contacts wet. It helped, but I still had poor vision for a lot of te day. Which was pretty scary once I finally hit the part of the trail that had bucket loads of tourists. It was a real pain to navigate around them. After what seemed like forever, they thinned out. Then the path became paved, hooray! Then a few miles later it promptly ended. I had to navigate the sidewalks of DC, which was interesting. I passed by a table with stuff for sale- ooo, a postcard! I suppose technically this is a separate territory from all of the states, so I might as well add it to the collection. One turn later and I passed by the White House. It's crazy to see something so many times in pictures and whatnot and then to finally see it in person. There were lots of people around, so I didn't stay long. As I passed through the rest of the city, I wanted to take pictures of everything. But I realized I can probably just Google pictures of DC buildings and get a much better look. So I just used my eyes. Tons of cars, tons of people. I had to pee like crazy. There was a McDonalds. Unfortunately you had to buy something first and ask for a token. I was so mad. I mean it makes sense, I'm sure they'd always have a line for the bathroom if they didn't do that but I really had to go. I decided I might as well but something. But there were quite a few people in line. I wasn't about to wait to order, wait for food, and have to ask to use the bathroom. So I just left. I stopped by a gas station- no luck. Finally there was a random porta poty. I swear I must have lost 5 pounds from that pee. I continued on, feeling much better. As I tend to do, I try to find my own way around, only using Google as a guide. So naturally instead of joining up with the route again, I passed under it. Just like my shortcut from a few days before. I rerouted. Finally I made it to a bike path. Trees! This was the part where I relaxed a bit. It would suck to get caught at night in a place like DC. At least I know there are places to camp. I passed by lots of places like this. I decided earlier in te day that 6 would be a fine time to set up camp if I had to, even though I can technically do that after 7. But I'd rather be safe that sorry, especially when I'm between DC and Baltimore. Once 6 finally rolled around, I was in an area that would probably have been the most rural place possible, but it just felt too weird quiting so early. I saw on Google that there looked to be several patches of woods ahead, so I continued on. Around 6:30, there was a parked car in the place that I was planning on getting into the woods, so I had to backtrack a bit. I entered the woods and looked for a place to hide. I imediately saw deer running away. The forest is kinda sparse, but I think I found a decent spot. I hesitated to set up my tent so early. It was still pretty light out. I waited a bit, just in case there happened to be someone else wandering these woods.