It has been a few days since my last post, an exhausting few days. Allow me to recap:

I left Ridgecrest on Tuesday afternoon after a good meal and some good-byes to all the wonderful people I met during my stay. Again I want to thank everyone so much for being so kind to me. I had some really great conversations. In the end, however, I had to press on. The experience was incredible, exactly what I needed, but my path right now is to move on, keep pedaling to another destination. I hope to keep in touch and return again sometime soon to spend more time.

As I pedaled away, the sky was foreboding. The beginning of the ride took me down a closed off section of old highway 70. The road is blocked off, clearly says it’s private property, no trespassing. Someone at Ridgecrest told me, however, that the signs aren’t accurate. It is a public road with public utilities running underneath, just surrounded by private property. The signs haven’t been updated. I had to take my rear bags off in order to lift my bike over the gate. The road itself was in a state of disrepair- cracked, broken, overgrown with vegetation. The dense canopy of trees created a dark shade. To be honest, it was a bit creepy but very exciting. I was sure that I was going to come across a bear. All I saw was a wild turkey. Luckily this whole section was downhill, so I just had to coast, cautiously avoiding major breaks in pavement and harsh potholes.

After a few miles the deserted section rejoined the main road. I was worried for a bit that it wouldn’t connect. As soon as I got back on the highway the sky followed through with its promise and completely opened up. Heavy, heavy rain and plenty of lightning. It was a fierce storm. With at least 60 miles to go that day, however, I had no choice but to press on through. I put on my rain gear (not waterproof) and hoped that my homemade bags were sufficient to keep my clothes dry. They weren’t. Water soaked in through the seams and dampened all of my clothing. It was a tough and exhausting ride. The rain cleared up for about an hour, I think, then continued off and on again, but not as heavily as earlier. A friendly woman working at a gas station I stopped in was kind enough to give me some extra food- a muffin, some Combos, and a Snickers energy bar. Later on I exchanged waves with a group of people sitting on a porch. They yelled to ask if I wanted a hotdog. Hell yeah! So I stopped in and had a nice chat with these folks. The offered me a beer and a hotdog and chips and some fruit. It was a great little break, but I had to press on to make it to Hickory before dark.

I made it as the sun was going down. I stayed with a gay couple in a beautiful home. They let me dry all of my clothing and sleeping bag, which also got wet. From Hickory I planned to get to Chapel Hill, which is about 150 miles away, in two days. That means trying to do 75 miles a day. I can do it, but it’s not easy. I had a place to stay lined up in Chapel Hill, but nothing along the way, so I thought I would just wing it. I set a marker at around 75 miles to try to reach the first day. More rain had other plans for me. It started light in the early afternoon and continually got worse as time went on, sometimes with heavy winds. I ended up stopping at a Lutheran church to seek shelter for a bit around 5 or so. The rain picked up and continued for about an hour as I waited, and I decided I would probably just stay there. By 6:30 it was all cleared up and I could have ridden on, but the forecast was for more scattered thunderstorms, and I figured I should take advantage of the place I had.

It was a hard, narrow bench I spent the night on. It left a bruise on my hip from trying to sleep on my side. Being pretty tired, though, I was able to get a decent amount of sleep. I awoke early, knowing I needed an early start to make the 100 or so miles to Chapel Hill before dark. I left around 9am. After 10 long hours of pedaling I finally made it to my destination. I was exhausted in every way, but somehow after a cold shower I was ready to go out and have some drinks with my lovely host and her friends. I really am amazed what I am able to push my body through. Last night I stayed up until almost 4am, had at least 4 beers, all after biking around 100 miles. This a few days after staying up at a party in Asheville until 4:30am after about 50 miles of biking. This after spending the night before on a hard church bench.

Today I am functional, but definitely very tired. Luckily it’s a planned day off here in Chapel Hill. So far I really like this city. It’s definitely a college town, but being summer now, most of the students are not around. I’ve had a great time with my host Chela and her friends from work and eaten some great food so far. Also, they have Trader Joe’s, my favorite grocery store, here so I can finally stock up on some more good, cheap snacks. I’ve completely run out of snack food now.

So it has been just over a week now on this journey. So far it has been mostly very enjoyable. I’ve met some great people, seen the beautiful mountains and rural farm land out here. The cities have been okay. I have had some really rewarding experiences and encounters, and I’m finally really relaxing and beginning to let go of everything. I’m working on erasing all of my expectations and worries and truly taking this all as it comes.

For now, I have a rough plan for the next two days. I should make it to the coast in about three or four days. I’ve decided I don’t really want to do many more days over 50 miles. Any more than that, and my entire day becomes focused on getting to the destination before dark, and I don’t feel I have time to allow myself to explore and stop and relax along the way. Also, I brought supplies with me to be creative along the way. I have some fabric and sewing supplies as well as paints and some canvas. I want to read more and write more and take in more of the small stops along the way. So from now on, shorter riding distances to allow more down time.