Day 93

Big stone gap
That was dumb. I figured that since I was in a campground, and at a decent elevation, I wouldn't have to worry about ants. So I took no precautions. That was a bad choice. I woke up around 1am and checked it out. Tons of tiny ants were swarming underneath my basket. At least they weren't fire ants. I sprayed the ant killer inside the tent- probably not the safest idea, but it worked very quickly. I put the food in a bag and put the basket outside on the picnic table. In the morning, I was surprised to find the basket untouched. I figured of the ants didn't get to it, a squirrel or a bird would. I packed up and headed back to the pavilion. I still needed to write that postcard and add one more day to my blog. I might as well charge my stuff more while I still have the chance. I finally left around 11. There were a bunch of places that I would have checked for postcards, but I didn't have to. My route took me a weird way beside the highway. I figured I'd shave off some miles by just using the highway. Nope. There was a sign that said no pedestrians or bicyclists. Dang. I knew it would suck... The route took me downhill, making the height difference between me and the highway I would eventually connect back up with even greater. And I paid for it when I did finally start climbing. It would rough, but I finally made it to the glorious highway with huge shoulders. Unfortunately it was short lived. A minute later I was zooming down side roads into another city. I was riding along when someone yelled, "Where ya headed?" I was already way past him, and I didn't want to yell back. But I had to stop to get up on the sidewalk, and I looked back. He asked again. I pedalled over. "I'm trying to go through every state."
"Really? I've done that."
I thought he was joking or something, but then he explained that he was a social studies teacher, so in the summers, he would go on different bike trips to try to ride through states he hadn't been to. So not consecutive, but still pretty cool. He wrote a book discribing his travels, although it is unpublished. I'd love to read it, it would be interesting to see the similarities between our experiences. We chatted for a while and then I was off again. More small backroads, then back onto the highway. I got into Kentucky and exited the highway into Jenkins. I thought about just continuing, because it was shorter, but I needed to check for postcards. Several stops later, I was still postcardless. There was a museum that looked promising, but it was closed, even though the posted hours indicated it was supposed to be open. Drats. I continued on. Some more small, winding roads, streams and trees. Then I was back on the highway. It was for quite a ways this time. Finally I turned off and zoomed downhill. I could feel my cheeks pull back as the air rushed by me. I'd hate to have to climb that again. The road turned to one lane. This was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. Even though the road was so small, the left side was lined with homes. To the right, it was too steep to build anything. There was a stream alongside the road that would switch sides every so often. Dogs barked at me almost constantly. I pulled over a few times to let a car pass. At one point there was a car stopped in the road. The driver was talking to someone. I had to wait a minute or so for it to continue on. More dogs barking. I missed a turn and had to go back- I felt bad making them bark again, but it was much faster the second time because it was slightly downhill. I was really getting worried about finding a place to camp. I started climbing a hill. It was crazy steep. At one point it did an almost 180, and I could hear someone coming, so I pulled over. Bad idea. The guy passed me fine, but I couldn't get going again. I pushed it a ways and saw that two guys had their truck parked on an off-road. They told me I was about to climb a crazy hill. Sweet, so it kept going. It flattened out a bit at the turn so I was able to get pumping again. I was weird to do with an audience. It took some hard pedaling. I looked for places to camp as I went up- it wasn't too crazy steep after a while and this was my first break from the house lined streets. Unfortunately, if you can't build a house, you probably can't pitch a tent. There were no flat places that were off the road enough to hide. I got to the top and felt my face pull back again as I zoomed down the other side of the hill. Back to house after house. I went by a few houses that had people chilling on their porch- sometimes I would wave. I did this and then finally found a break between the houses that looked flat. It was dark, so it would be a great hiding spot. I looked back and realized that there couple I just waved to could probably still see me. I just hoped that they weren't looking. I dashed into the woods. I set up my tent, occasionally ducking to make sure my bright shirt didn't give me away as a car went by. A small dog barked off in the distance. I tried to be as quiet as I could. Finally I was inside my tent. I didn't use my phone- I didn't want to do anything that would make me visible in this dark corner. I tried to sleep, but there was definitely something outside my tent. Maybe a stray dog or a raccoon or something. Or maybe a cat, I'm pretty sure I heard purring at one point. People walked by when it was really dark out- one girl was talking about ferries- she saw glowing lights of all different colors. The guy was saying there was no such thing. I was half temped to start blinking my flashlight at them but I really didn't want them to come check me out. They passed by again on their way back, thankfully not checking the woods around me for ferries. Eventually I fell asleep.