Thursday, May 12, 2011

Malnourished slugfest.

Fuggit. Today was tough as hell. The day started out with an 18 mile stretch of too many trucks and not enough shoulder. I was happy that Nick and Lael gifted me a reflective construction vest. I think I can notice a difference in how vehicles treat me when I'm wearing it. I'll take whatever I can get.

The trip is what you make it in most cases, so I can only blame myself for a lot of today's difficulties. I was tired, and I ran out of water. No water = no cooking. I needed a rest. I wanted to stop at about 40 miles, but in spite of directions and GPS, I got fairly lost and added about 10-15 miles to the route.

I didn't find water until 60 miles or so, and I was feeling worn out. I didn't eat very well, because I'm not very smart. I had a sub and a Clif Bar today, and now I'm sitting in Subway drinking a Coke and wishing I had a better place to sleep. It's 7pm on the dot, and I've already covered over 80 miles - much further than I was planning, and I don't want to go overboard and hurt myself. I'm already feeling like less than a normal human, and not in the good way, either.

On the upside, I'm close to Charlottesville. Charlottesville is on Adventure Cycling's TransAm trail, and I will be following that all the way to Oregon, god willing. I am hoping to meet people, and take my time. I have a guidebook that breaks the trip down into manageable sections of about 40-60 miles per day. I'm ready to start using the book and go into putt-putt tourist mode.

I'm writing this paragraph in the present tense. I'm going to decide between sleeping in the crunkest clearing that's sort of used as a trash dump behind a Family Dollar, or bust it even further down the road, hoping for something better. I technically feel good enough to continue, but I'm also used to beating myself up until I'm delirious and in pain. It's something I need to quit doing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you haven't done so, I think you would enjoy reading Peter Jenkins' book " A Walk Across America". He often slept in grave yards, saying they were one of the safest, least frequented places at night.

Pixy Stoneskipper said...

I totally read the first book where he sets off and horses around until he gets to Louisiana. It was fairly great. Having finished my cross country tour by now, I can safely say I've gotten a LOT better at finding places to sleep. Actually, I found a nice place to set up camp right after writing this post in a Subway restaurant. No trashy clearings for me... I moved on to sleep in the woods on the outskirts of a huge horse farm.