- Day 1 -1 Week
- Day 1 -12 Hours
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
- Day 9
- Day 10
- Day 11
- Day 12
- Day 13
- Day 14
- Day 15
- Day 16
- Day 17
- Day 18
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- Day 24
- Day 25
- Day 26
- Day 27
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- Day 36
- Day 37
- Day 38
- Day 39
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- Day 42
- Day 43
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- Day 45
- Day 46
- Day 47
- Day 48
- Day 49
- Day 50
- Day 51
- Day 52
- Day 53
- Day 54
- Day 55
- The End
- Retrospective
We woke up, showered and headed down the road for breakfast. Last night during checking they told us the place just across the way had great breakfast. We had to run from the building because of all of the mosquitos laying in wait all along the outside of our motel room. It was very nice out by the water, and I’m sure this isn’t a problem in winter but the mosquitos were crazy.
Breakfast was good. Not much fan fair, or conversation. I am 99% sure our waitress was the hostess, waitress, chief and dish washer, so she was busy. We ate and headed on our way.
The first 10 to 15 miles were basically more of yesterday. It was beautiful and interesting how it looked so wooded and suddenly there would be a massive lake and then the large expanse of wooded area.
After those first few miles the woods fell off. The hills did not really increase much but with the lack of trees there was a sudden up tick of wind. And by up tick I mean 25 mile an hour head wind, for the next 65, 70 miles. In fact according to the local news in a gas station while filling up our water bottles, 25 miles an hour with gusts of 45 to 50 miles an hour.
There was a fair bit of wind toward the end of the day yesterday, but we had tree cover as well as the endorphins of the end of day excitement. But almost an entire day, with no turns, no diversions or distractions. It was very disheartening.
Luckily for me Jerry had stories and jokes as we had a double wide shoulder for most of the day. So at least I had that distraction. He did point out that it is the kind of day where one gets to see what they are made of. Is this the thing that puts you over the edge and makes you give up? Is this the day you say I can’t do it? Is this the day you say, we should be going east?!?!
Not us. We persevered. It felt like the wind was listening. When we would say, fuck just stop for a minute. It would double. And when we would stop for a quick orange the wind would slow to a breeze just enough to make us question if we should press forward till it picked up again.
None of this would stop us. We continued. That is until Jerry got a flat. 3 / 2 Jerry / me. Not that it’s a race, and there is plenty of game left, but that is the current count.
We stopped, pulled the nail out of Jerry’s rear tire and changed the flat. Naturally, the wind came to an almost complete stop while we were changing the tire. It was actually kind of nice. The tall grass swayed gently in the breeze. I held Jerry’s bike while he worked on the tire. It was actually a nice break. Not fighting the wind, not pushing, a few minutes just standing there, enjoying the view.
Luckily we were less then 10 miles from the motel, so after the flat was fixed we were so close. The wind of course roared as soon as we got on our bikes. But 10 miles can only be so hard… I’m sure I’ll pay for saying that. But at the end of the day when you know the hotel / motel is right there, you get so excited. All of the little things that bothered you all day, all of your tiredness fade away. You, or at least I do anyway, feel fully invigorated and excited about the impeding shower and dinner.
At check in the front desk person joked that we are going the wrong way. Ha, ha. She pointed out how we will be fighting the wind tomorrow, and if we’re heading to North Dakota. Not much I could say other then thank you.
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