Day Six
The first pictures above are from last night, including one of my tent in the campground, and one of a cool-looking tree nearby. Then there's a picture of me and my bike it our rain covers!
Shortly after midnight last night it started to rain, and the wind blew, and I laid in my tent thinking about those tall, tall trees all around me! Then the lightening and thunder strarted! There was a lot of it, and the lightening was pretty bright, but I don't think it passed directly overhead. The closest I counted (between the flash and the "boom") was 2 miles away. It was still pretty loud! I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and imagined classical music, perhaps Beethovan's 5th?, and went back to sleep. Well, okay, first I assessed the tornado risk and thought about the two ditches within running-to distance, and prayed that we'd be safe, THEN I snuggled down and went back to sleep. It was still raining lightly at daybreak, but quit about half an hour later. I was happy with the performance of my tent, since only the foot of my sleeping bag and air mattress were damp. But then I must have sprayed 5 lbs of sno-seal and seam sealer on the tent before I left home! We packed everything up and covered all our bags with the rain covers, and pedaled off in our rain suits. About 20 miles later we reached a place called "French Camp" (see picture. Also picture of me and my bike in all our little rain covers!), where we finally were able to shed the rain gear! Just off the Trace was the old trading post, fixed up as a musem, and they had free blueberry muffins (Bring on the muffins, hold the coffee!) and the cutest little half-pomeranian, half-shitzu dog! She was a little beggar and sure enjoyed pieces of the muffins!
Then we rode on. We stopped at a couple little gas station stops off the trail near towns. The second time they had a fried chicken and catfish stand. They were out of chicken so I got brave and had a piece of fried catfish, breaded and deep-fried, then had a second one. They tasted more "fishy" than I'm used to, and also had a taste I can only describe as "bottom of the lake" taste, but it was a nice change from sugary garbage. I hope the next stand isn't out of chicken, but if it is, at least I know the catfish is pretty good!
So far the day had been mostly sunny and in the mid-60s, but now, for the last 30 miles of pedaling, it was cloudier and the wind shifted to the northwest. We were going north. Sometimes in open fields we were pedaling right into it, then we'd hit a patch of trees and it would shelter us from it somewhat. There was a lot more uphill today too, and overall it was a harder day. We ended the day at another free campground called "Witch Dance", and when I finally found the sign it explained that once upon a time the locals believed the witches came there to dance, and wherever their feet touched the ground, grass wouldn’t grow. There were little bare spots scattered all through the woods, about the size of a footstep! I got out my campstove tonight and made stew (freeze dried), and ate saltines with it, and I made hot chocolate. It felt good to have a hot meal after such a long, hard ride. We rode 78 miles today.
The first pictures above are from last night, including one of my tent in the campground, and one of a cool-looking tree nearby. Then there's a picture of me and my bike it our rain covers!
Shortly after midnight last night it started to rain, and the wind blew, and I laid in my tent thinking about those tall, tall trees all around me! Then the lightening and thunder strarted! There was a lot of it, and the lightening was pretty bright, but I don't think it passed directly overhead. The closest I counted (between the flash and the "boom") was 2 miles away. It was still pretty loud! I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and imagined classical music, perhaps Beethovan's 5th?, and went back to sleep. Well, okay, first I assessed the tornado risk and thought about the two ditches within running-to distance, and prayed that we'd be safe, THEN I snuggled down and went back to sleep. It was still raining lightly at daybreak, but quit about half an hour later. I was happy with the performance of my tent, since only the foot of my sleeping bag and air mattress were damp. But then I must have sprayed 5 lbs of sno-seal and seam sealer on the tent before I left home! We packed everything up and covered all our bags with the rain covers, and pedaled off in our rain suits. About 20 miles later we reached a place called "French Camp" (see picture. Also picture of me and my bike in all our little rain covers!), where we finally were able to shed the rain gear! Just off the Trace was the old trading post, fixed up as a musem, and they had free blueberry muffins (Bring on the muffins, hold the coffee!) and the cutest little half-pomeranian, half-shitzu dog! She was a little beggar and sure enjoyed pieces of the muffins!
Then we rode on. We stopped at a couple little gas station stops off the trail near towns. The second time they had a fried chicken and catfish stand. They were out of chicken so I got brave and had a piece of fried catfish, breaded and deep-fried, then had a second one. They tasted more "fishy" than I'm used to, and also had a taste I can only describe as "bottom of the lake" taste, but it was a nice change from sugary garbage. I hope the next stand isn't out of chicken, but if it is, at least I know the catfish is pretty good!
So far the day had been mostly sunny and in the mid-60s, but now, for the last 30 miles of pedaling, it was cloudier and the wind shifted to the northwest. We were going north. Sometimes in open fields we were pedaling right into it, then we'd hit a patch of trees and it would shelter us from it somewhat. There was a lot more uphill today too, and overall it was a harder day. We ended the day at another free campground called "Witch Dance", and when I finally found the sign it explained that once upon a time the locals believed the witches came there to dance, and wherever their feet touched the ground, grass wouldn’t grow. There were little bare spots scattered all through the woods, about the size of a footstep! I got out my campstove tonight and made stew (freeze dried), and ate saltines with it, and I made hot chocolate. It felt good to have a hot meal after such a long, hard ride. We rode 78 miles today.
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