Taking it easy! (Day 12)

Whenever I go on long trips, such as hiking or bicycling, one thing I always have issues with is slowing down and really taking in the scenery. Whenever I do, I always have all the extra miles I could be laying down running through my mind. When I looked at the distance between here and St. Louis, I had two options - push really really hard for two days with the goal of getting through in the afternoon of the second day, or to relax, and take two days to reach the outskirts of the city, giving myself all of the next day to navigate my way through the city. I've already had some fun times getting through major cities as night closed in ( Baltimore and Cincinnati come to mind). I decided to slow down to really relax the next two days and cut my milage down from the between 80 and 90 mile a day average I have been going to around 50 to 60 for the next two days. A really challenge, but I've pulled it off so far, and what an interesting day it has been!

After waking up a bit later than I would camping out, I grabbed my gear. Apparently hoping my stuff, even though it is sythetic, would completely dry overnight after a washing in the sink was a bit overreaching, but it was only a little damp. I took the time also to check the weather, and saw that other than a small patch of rain ahead of me, things looked good. I had a strong hankering for pizza all day long, but most pizza shops don't seem to open until the afternoon, so I was out of luck with regards to that. I stopped by a gas station to grab enough fuel to get me to the next major town/city - Olney Il. I had read on wikipedia that there were white squirrels there, and I wanted to see one! After the twenty miles into town, I needed something to fill up the tummy (running on empty again!), so I stopped at a local diner - good food and friendly people!

I also asked for advice on where the best spot would be to maybe see one of their squirrels - it was already quite clear that they were a major aspect of the town, with squirrel crossing signs and town signs celebrating their white squirrel population. They directed me to the local park, where I saw a few gray squirrels, then finally spotted this guy (you can click to expand the image):



I was hoping to get a closer shot, but being a squirrel, (s)he was quite skittish. Still, I was happy to grab a shot of the critter. I also had cell phone access for the first time in a while, so I made some needed calls, and watching a threatening set of clouds rolling in.

Sure enough, here came the rain again. I was fairly dry, and wanted to stay that way, so I retreated to the park shelter where I relaxed as a downpour struck. Half an hour to an hour later, the storm was over and the sun was shining, and I was still dry! :) Full of good food and happy about seeing the squirrels (I also noted a placard that made it clear - they're albino gray squirrels), I made decent headway for a bit before a decent headwind began hitting me. Progress slowed a lot, but with the sun shining a fair bit for the first time in about five days, I was in good spirits!

A few miles on, I was stopping to reapply sunscreen to my face, as well as the two different lip balms I'm using (sunny weather actually gets me dressed more heavily to avoid sunburn, with long biking bottoms and a long sleeve shirt), I saw a biker coming up behind me. He came up pulling a trailer. For those of you non-tour bikers, you can carry your gear two ways - panniers (saddle bags) like me, or with an attaching trailer. The debates over which are better are apparently quite intense. He was probably more heavily loaded than I was, which made me happy that I hadn't overloaded. I gathered it was his first long trip as well. About that time, another biker who was traveling with him came up.

The two were Mike and Mitch(?) and were headed for Salt Lake City, Utah. Apparently Mitch(?) was in his last year at Duke and was going to be moving out there to take a job, so they wanted to go check it out via bicycle. We chatted for a bit. Apparently Mitch had had a fun day, with the patches he'd put on his bicycle tube blowing repeatedly, leaving him with four flats already for the day! They told me that they'd discovered that Olney, Il was a major distribution point for bicycle parts (but they didn't have a bicycle shop in town). When they were working on repairing his flat at one point, a car had pulled up and asked if they needed help. After asking about bicycle shops, the guy made a few calls. Apparently several of his family members worked for the distribution centers for bike parts. Being a wholesale location, they just gave him a free tube to send him on his way! Good times! They were off to meet Mitch's brother, who would be bicycling with them the next day. After a bit more chatting about our experiences so far and commiserating about the headwind, they took off, with me puttering along a bit behind them. After stopping for a snack, I lost them. Assuming they stay on 50, I might run across them tomorrow though. I gathered that they're doing shorter days than me, but moving faster when they're in the saddle.

With no rain and warmer temperatures in the future, I'll putter along a bit more today, find a good campsite, and rest up. Tomorrow, I should have another easy day into the outskirts of St. Louis. With any luck, the wind (apparently fairly strong compared to normal) will have abated by tomorrow! I'm off to save batteries! All in all, a good day!