Day 98

Dog walkers
I heard a siren while I was getting up. Luckily it wasn't for me. When I got out of my tent, I realized just how close I was to everything. I could see the nearby buildings pretty easily, even with my weak glasses. Oh right, my contacts have been bugging me the last few nights and it was bad enough past night that I took them out. I couldn't put them back in this morning, so I'll stop by a gas station and hope they have a bathroom with a mirror. I went three weeks without taking them out last time. Probably a terrible idea, but there's really no convient way to take them out and put them back in. Same with my retainer. It's been over a month. I put them in briefly after brushing my teeth to see how much damage I had done but it was fine. A little uncomfortable but not much different from going a few days with wearing them. Anyways, I packed up and was about to head out when I heard a tinkling sound, like a dog collar. I ducked down, partially to be less visible, partially to just make it look like I was working in my bike or something. They'd have to just wonder why I was in the woods doing it. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me though, and neither did his dog, somehow. I waited a bit to make sure he didn't see me coming out when another guy walking his dog went by. The dog definitely noticed me. He started barking. The guy just kinda pulled him away and kept walking. I can only hope he didn't look and just assumed his dog was barking at a squirrel. I waited a lot longer. Finally I was out of the woods and on my way. That could have gone much worse. I passed by the dog walkers, only to be greeted with more barking. I saw a family dollar and was really tempted to stop, but I knew they didn't have bathrooms and I really needed to put in my contacts. My glasses were probably less than half my prescription, so I couldn't read any signs. There was a gas station next to the Family Dollar- lucky me! I put my contacts in, bought a burrito as a thank you, then headed to the store that actually had what I needed. I stocked up, skipping out on water because I had 3 liters and I knew I'd be passing through several other towns today. I got back on the crappy trail. It only took me a few more miles to get to the end. Just before getting there, a couple pulled up and asked me about the trail. They were headed to San Diego. I guess they will have some nice cool weather just about the whole way! Then, after spending more than a full day without having to ride on a road with cars, I was finally back. The hills and cars seemed to really wake me up. I've spent just about the whole trip like this but it took one day to get me desensitized. Or resensitized. Whatever. It didn't take too long to find the next trailhead. I was so excited- it was paved! There were signs everywhere about the history of the town or about wildlife and plant life. It felt so official! 40 feet later I crossed a bridge and the path disappeared. I kept checking Google. What the heck? I eventually just took the road for a bit. Finally I connected back up with the path. It was the same condition as the last trail. Dang. I was so excited. Oh well. I'm pretty sure it ended up slowly getting better. Actually, it was even paved after one point. There was a giant curve in it as it followed the river. I could have shaved some miles off by taking the road, but since it was paved, I didn't worry about it, even though there was a road work sign. I had to ride through some rocks when I got to that part. There were backhoes digging at the sides of the trail. They waved as I passed. The trail after that was paved, but it was old. Still a million times better than everything I was on yesterday. I saw a cool waterfall and any regret of not taking the shorter route disappeared. Once I got to the end though, some of that regret came back. I had to push my bike up a steep, rocky incline. Google told me to go down the road and turn on the trail, but there was definitely no trail there. It was a busy road. It was rough, but I finally turned and got on a better road. I went over another long bridge- I've been over countless bridges the past few days. The view was awesome, as always. I had to deal with some really crappy sidewalks but I finally made it to another paved trail. I felt like a rocket compared to yesterday. The pavement eventually ended but the trail was well maintained, so I still kept a good speed. This part really added on the miles because of the curvy river. About halfway through, I realized that I forgot to stop somewhere for water. Well, more accurately, I was too lazy to stop. I just tried going a bit faster. I did finally run out of water and got a bit worried. But I knew the next town was less than an hour away. Somehow I didn't get crazy thirsty though. I got pavement back and the trail suddenly had a bunch of people on it. I had to ride much more carefully. I passed by several building before I found what I was looking for- a bathroom and a water fountain. Despite not having water for an hour, I used the bathroom and filled my water halfway up before drinking. I chugged a bunch while I was here though. It's nice to not have to carry it. I also figured out how many more miles I had until Maine- 900. That's if I don't go through Washington, D.C. So dispite my slowness for the past week, I'm still on track to finish in two more weeks. Pretty crazy. I had two options from here- take all roads into Pennsylvania, or take the trail about 10 more miles and then deal with roads. I chose the trail, even though it was 4 more miles. It seemed much more straightforward. I rocketed by on the paved trail. At one point, a guy passed me. He wasn't going that much faster, and he wasn't carrying any gear, so I decided to keep pace with him. I should have stopped to pee, but I pedalled hard to keep up instead. Finally he stopped and turned around. I continued onto the unpaved portion. There were still quite a few people, mostly runners. The trail got more and more degraded until I came upon a gate that said, " wouldn't you like to go further?" And I was like, "um, I have to go further." Luckily it didn't end there, but it just wasn't as good as the previous trail. This was also right on the border- I was sad that there wasn't a welcome to Pensilvania sign. It want long before the trail ended and I had to finally be on roads more or less permanently. I probably could have easily found camp before, but since it was a somewhat clear day and not quite 7 yet, I took the risk and kept on going. I passed by a place that looked promising but there were no trespassing signs everywhere. Another town, and I was really starting to get worried. Finally I spotted some woods off to the left. I waited forever for there to not be any cars watching me and I ducked in. It wasn't the best of spots. I set up my tent in a place that it clearly visible from the road. In fact, I can actually see inside people's cars from here. But I feel like the chances are low that someone will randomly glance over. I guess we will get to wait and see!