Oh my gosh, I am whipped. What I tho’t would be a fairly easy, straight forward day turned into almost a night mare, I left at 6 am so I could be done by noon or shortly after because it is so dang hot.
A mile out of town I encountered detour signs so I rode to where they were going to send us. Up a ramp onto a 4 lane restricted hiway. No non motorized vehicles allowed. Great. So I rode back to town to find a local with other options for me. Turned out that was the best part of the day. I ended up on bike paths that took me right where I needed to go and got there sooner than I expected. Yeah.
So I rode on and go through this rather large town (9500) and see Wal-Mart, AT&T etc. I needed a Verizon store because my screen saver broke and I was getting moisture on my phone. Didn’t see a store so rode on and ate lunch at 10am but also found out where Verizon was. Right next to AT&T but thier sign was so small, I missed it the first time. So that was my second back track of over a mile one way. Really starting to rack up go no where miles! And to make matters worse, they didn’t have one that fit my phone so all was for nothing.
So then I continue on and come to another detour which puts me on the interstate (no unmotorized vehicles allowed). I was furious at this point. So I stopped at the gas station and got my options. Back track 4-5 miles into the town from where I had just come and take a state road south to catch a road that would take me where I needed to go.
This was all very frustrating because I had to get to Carlyle where I had a non-refundable motel room. When I tried to make reservations at campgrounds, they were all full because of this weekend which I forgot about but I couldn’t have made them earlier because I didn’t know where I would be til yesterday. So frustrating. Anyway, I rode probably another extra 5-6 miles and that was with a head wind. Once I turned on my last road, I still had 17 miles to go and thunderstorms were brewing. I rode like the wind, or tried to, the last 12 miles so I wouldn’t get caught in another lightning storm. How much should one person have to deal with in one day?
I was only at the motel a half hour before the storm hit. At least I made it. Called Verizon in this town and they don’t have my screen saver either. At least I didn’t walk a mile to find that out. As it was, I walked a mile in the other direction for dinner and had a scrumptious, chicken, baked potato, green beans and soup meal. I was stuffed but I needed it.
I should sleep good tonite. I hurt all over. The riding I did was good, just too much of it that accomplished nothing. Six and a half hours in the saddle is too much. With all my stopping etc, I was on the road 8 and 1/2 hours. Too long in this hot sun. If I go my intended route tomorrow, I’ll have 70 miles. Right now, i’m not sure I can do that. It is a straight shot on a good state road which had a wide shoulder today so if no one throws a monkey wrench in my plans, it should be a good ride, provided the thunderstorms don’t arrive early.
66.6 miles today. 1168.3 total
BikerAl Across America 2018 