Thursday, 5/18/17

Today was a tough day. 62 miles, of which 42 of it was with a face slapping, head wind.  I know that is redundant, since head winds are by nature, face slapping.  But that is just how it felt.  Then we had a detour which took us(my bike and me) through 10 miles of gravel road. The last three miles today were on a road that was highly traveled, but had no usable shoulder.  So, I didn't make good time because I was constantly getting off the road for safety reasons.  Those wide loads are not very forgiving.

Enough complaining.  I got into town and into a motel before the "weather" showed up.  Tornado sightings and warnings most of the evening until now.  It is still raining, but I think the worst is over. So, I feel fortunate.  

Road kill report.  Two possums and a racoon.  They are both firsts for this trip.  I feel like we are getting into some new terrain.  Lots more trees.  We even went by what I would call a real forest. People were kind and stopped to let me know about the impending bad weather.  I had one guy stop about 5 hours before it was supposed to hit.

Physically, I feel good.  I still haven't quite got the hang of when to eat and drink.  Part of that is not having places to stop and find something to eat.  There are some wide open spaces here with not many people. Til next time.

Comments

  1. Len EdgerlyMay 20, 2017 at 8:02 AM

    Hang in there, Alan! Your updates are inspiring for someone reading in the comfort of his urban lair. Onward!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday, June 16, 2017

Was dodging rain today. For the most part, I was successful. It is supposed to be like that for the next few days. I ended up going a bit north today. I think the plan is to go around Richmond. The goal for tomorrow is Ashland, which is just north of Richmond. The roads were good again today. The only issue with the roads in Virginia is that there are no shoulders. So, I am really happy that the route takes me through less travelled areas.   The highlight of the day happened early. I was on the road at 5:50 this morning trying to get a head start on the rain. A Sherrif's car passed me and I waved. When I rounded the corner ahead, the Deputy had stopped his car at a stop sign and gotten out of his car. It was a little unnerving, since he had not pulled over to the side, but was in the middle of the road. He proceeded to the back of the car and it was obvious he was waiting for me. There were lots of things running through my head - did he misinterpret my wave? was I breaking the law...
Read more

5/15/17

    Today was a great biking day. 62 miles with the wind as my friend. The roads were straight and in great shape.  At one point I looked back at where I had been and could still clearly see the town I had left 9 miles before (in a straight line).  Very little traffic.  I had a vehicle pass me once every 5 or 10 minutes.  Which meant that I could really listen.  The birds were incredible today.  It was like a bird concerto for 6 hours.  They took the main part, with the crickets and frogs coming in once in a while to take over.  Even the gophers chirped in periodicly to keep it interesting. And then the cars and trucks were like the rest of the orchestra making verious contributions depending on the speed and size of the vehicle.  The sting basses rumbling or the timpani starting small, then playing too loud and drowning out the main instrument only to quickly fade away.  It was sweet.         Today also mad...
Read more

5/16/17

Image
Toto we are not in Colorado anymore!! It was a long day today.  I needed to do a longer ride either today or tomorrow.  It turned out to be today.  79 miles total.  I am in Leoti, Kansas. The landscape was really variable today.  It went back to sagebrush and cactii for about 15 miles, turned  back to grass for the next fifteen, and then suddenly became waves of some grain that I couldn't identify.  It wasn't amber waves of grain, since it was young and green.  But impressive in how it went on and on and on.  The last 30 miles of so ended up being a mixture of various agriculture and crops.   The road was really clean again today.  Road kill report  - 4 snakes, 1 cat, 1 red winged blackbird, 1 wild turkey, 1 skunk, and about 250 gnats.  200 of the gnats ended up stuck in the hair and sun screen on my arms and legs.  The other 50 ended up going down my gullet. Cleaning them out of my arms and legs was quite a chore. No...
Read more