• Initially I thought that people were honking because they didn't like me, but it only really happens when I'm chugging along uphill. So I started looking at faces, and they were all cheering me on! So now if someone gives me a toot-toot, I smile and wave and am happier. It's still a scary sound though (and much louder than people thing).
• Biking on the interstate is like a monastic running of the bulls.
• I was talking to Geoff on the way out here, and I mentioned that I hoped to maintain an average speed of 20 mph on flat ground. That may have been bluster...
• I like fried chicken. But it doesn't help me go faster. I know they say you should eat whatever you want when you're on the bike, but if I have junk, I can feel it sitting in my stomach and not working. So now I've moved on to a mix of junk and good food. I think secretly a part of why I wanted to go on this adventure was the prospect of eating tons of garbage.
• It's sometimes difficult to tell if you're going uphill or downhill. Occasionally all you can do is look at how fast you're going and correlate that with how much effort you're putting out. If I'm struggling to go 10, I'm probably going uphill.
• I don't like going more than 30mph. I've been stopping myself if my speed creeps up too high.
•America seems smaller this way.
• I don't really know how the "grade" of the road relates to the angle, the rise over run, or whatever else. I should figure that out.
• Is a professor the opposite of a confessor?
• I'm doing much better days after staying at hotels than I am after staying in the Walmart parking lot. Duh.
• Some of my beard hairs are definitely coming in gray—but not as many as the pictures would seem to indicate.
• It doesn't matter if it's 60° outside, the desert is hot. The road is hot. I am hot.
• The price of a hotel has little correlation with how nice it is, especially when looking from town to town.
• Hills are still problematic, but they feel easier than back at Neah Bay. My 73 mile day and 80 mile day both had huge hills. I'm hoping that when I get done with the Rocky Mountains, I'll be road-hardened and trained up to bike century after century through Kansas. Also, I had no idea what kind of hills I was getting myself into.
• I've started carrying sunscreen with me and reapplying every 15-25 miles.
• Bicyclists get weird tans. I'm getting a weird tan.
• I've got a weird hankering to read some Louis L'amore. But I think George RR Martin will due for now.
• The Special K bars don't do anything for me. I eat 3 and feel nothing. On the other hand, I eat 1 cliff bar and go for an hour!
• I think there's something going on with this trip as it relates to my sources of stress. Making a list of things that I hate or am scared of or that stress me out, the top dozen would include: heat, bike grease/chain lube/dirt (things I'm allergic to), overexposure to the sun, Walmart, dogs, and being dirty or not showering regularly. It's almost like I picked this crazy adventure because it specifically addresses so many of those things... That would also explain why a year ago I got so wrapped up in setting a world record for blowing up balloons (a former member of my top 12 list). Maybe my brain is tricking me into ticking off these things one by one, until I'm at piece with everything?
Safe travels.
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