Day 18 - The Easy Life

After posting last night, I headed off, intent on making decent time while the traffic was very light (almost nothing was moving on the road as evening set in). Soon, riding in the dark became quite fun - I had a great shoulder, and tended to use it out of habit even though I could have gone down the middle of the road, my head and tail light made sure people would be able to see me, and car headlights gave me plenty of warning when any vehicle did come on. The night air was pleasant and the road and fields surrounding it were surrounded by thousands of blinking fireflies, giving the whole ride a beautiful aura.

Immediately after posting, I left McDonalds, immediately running into another flat. Fed up, I used duct tape to line the outside of my old battered tire, before putting it back on with a decent tube and hoping for the best. It did well for me, getting me a good distance that night. Eventually I was tired enough that I hunted down a good place to throw down a tent and began to set up. As soon as my tarp was down *plop*, a small frog hopped onto the tarp and hung out for a bit before I began to set up my tent. A decent night of sleep and I was off this morning and closing with Ottowa and a bike shop.

Ironically, the only flat I had today on my cobbled together setup was when I went to open up the valve to add a bit of air, and pulled the whole valve out, releasing all the air and damaging the tire in the process. Ahh well. A quick fix and I was off again, with traffic along the whole route staying fairly light in the morning. Getting into Ottowa, I found that the only bicycle shop in town doesn't open until 1:00, so I'll be spending the day relaxing. I found the park and it conveniently had a shelter with a working electric outlet, and it's within reach of an unsecured wifi network, so I'm recharging my electronics, letting my camping gear dry out and snacking. After posting, I'll be checking the weather and then doing some reading of one of the e-books I brought along, perhaps with a short nap thrown in (I'm tempted to bicycle again tonight, as I feel it's as safe as or safer than day travel in the area I'm in).

So far, I've bicycled at least 1,300 miles. If I follow the route I'm considering taking (aiming south of US 50 to end up in Malibu, CA), I should have about 1,660 miles to go. Almost halfway! Good weather is supposed to hold up for the next bit, so I'll do what I can to get through Tornado Alley! Take care all!!!