Day 105- Nature

It was really windy and stormy again last night. It rained hard. I feel so lucky that I haven't had to deal with that during the day in a long while. I woke up early, just before 7. It'd be best if I got out before anyone came down the trail and heard me packing up. I left the nature preserve without seeing anyone- phew. There were lots of busy roads this morning as people were heading off to work. In order to get over into New Jersey, I had to walk my bike across a large bridge. The difference between states is usually not to noticeable, but here it definitely was. The roads were all pretty good in Pensilvania, the houses looked expensive. In New Jersey, everything looked run down. I find it interesting that people living so close by can live such different lives. I had to share the road for a while, but luckily there was plenty of space. Then I turned on a canal trail. I was hoping to make up some time here. I knew where I wanted to end up, and you never know how the rest of the roads are going to be like. Unfortunately, the trail sucked. There were lots of puddles to go through and some gravel patches. Luckily there was a paved road on the other side of the canal. Paved is probably too generous of a word- the road was uneven, bumpy, in desperate need of replacement. I felt like I was destroying my bike at times. But it was faster than the trail, and soon it got better. I was making my way over to a highway when I realized that I was kinda going out of my way. Sometimes it's necessary but in this case, there were plenty of smaller roads that would provide a much shorter route to where I was headed. I just figured that Google knew what it was doing, and that it would take longer to try to come up with my own path. Once I got to the highway however, I discovered that it was impossible to get onto. Basically I'd be merging with a lane, then the highway itself. All with no shoulders. I realized that I haven't used the walking route in Google for a while. It usually gives shorter routes, but occasionally it will try to take you on a hiking trail, with stone steps and stuff- not fun on a bike. I risked it anyways. It gave me a slightly shorter route- yay! Eventually it connected back up with the highway. Hopefully it will be less crazy there. I biked up and over the bridge that crossed the highway and zoomed down the other side. I had to stop often to figure out where to go. The hills were really no fun. Finally I made it to the area that looked campable on Google. It was another nature preserve, I think. It said it was bow hunting season and to stay on the trail. This could be a fun night. I made it really far without seeing anyone. I ducked into the trees only to find that I couldn't go any farther than a few dozen feet because of a fence. I could still probably be seen from the trail- not ideal. I walked around without my bike, looking for a better spot. I found one, but it was across a small stream and kinda far away. I still had light though. I got back to my bike and was debating if it was really worth it to go that far when I heard the jingling of a collar. I ducked down and watched as a guy walking his dog went by on the trail. He totally could have seen or heard me, but hopefully he didn't. Either way, he didn't do anything about it, and neither did his dog. I don't know what kind of person walks his dog through the woods near dark, but whatever. I decided it wasn't worth going further. I'd be too loud and too visible in the process. I moved my bike over to a spot that I hoped would be good enough and then heard a dirt bike. I thought for sure it had to be on a nearby road, but then I clearly heard it just 40 feet or so away. I ducked down again. He turned the motor off. Damn. I didn't know what to think- I just tried not to make any noise. I thought for sure that he saw me. But then he fired up the engine again and took off. Honestly I'm not whether camping or having a dirt bike here is worse- both are not permitted. After waiting a bit, I set up my tent, just hoping that was the last person. I tried to sleep, even though I was expecting a cop to come.