Today started off like any other day in a tent. It was humid, hot, and I hadn't slept well the night before. At 4:45am, I woke up to a drizzle of rain, panicked at all of the things I left outside, stumbled outside to my bike to discover that the only thing I really cared about getting wet was my roll of toilet paper. And so, in a confused haze, I opened and closed my waterproof panniers, and brought a damp roll of toilet paper into the tent to sleep with.
I woke up late, took my sweet time getting ready, and left my campsite at about 9:30 - a record in tardiness. Biking was slow, I was hungry, and I spent two hours in the sun wondering why my muscles aren't working as well as they used to. After a short break, I realized just how tired I was. I guess 9 hours of sleep isn't enough?
Whatever it is, it's part of a larger phenomenon that I've noticed. I tend to be tired in the mornings, and very energetic in the afternoons. It's very noticeable. In the mornings, I want to take breaks, but at around 2pm, I suddenly get infinite energy, and I need to force myself to stop, so that I can blog, shower, and get ready for bed before sunset. I'm starting to suspect that this burst of energy is related to eating lunch. Tomorrow I'll try to eat a big breakfast. Maybe that will help.
Maybe it's also about time for an actual rest day. Today I biked 70km. It's not enough. Does thie mean that today is a rest day?
I started late, but after lunch, I felt good, and could have continued for as long as there was sunlight, only it started raining. I've biked in rain before, and it's quite fun. The laundry hanging off my bike got even dirtier, and I had to use the rain-cover for my handlebar bag, but overall nothing much is different. You get heavier with water, but you also don't get exhausted by sun. If the rain is short, you dry up within an hour, and all is well.
Today wasn't that kind of rain. Today there was an extreme weather alert right where I was passing. Normally, I don't believe in weather forecasts, so I went right into the storm. At first, the rain was refreshing. It washed off my sunscreen, and cooled me down to a comfortable temperature. Then I started hearing thunder, but that didn't bother me either. The rain came down harder and harder, and I soon decided to cut the day short. I arrived at a hotel with fast-flowing rivers along the highway gutters, and very strong gusts of wind, that almost threw me off balance.
It's the wind that is dangerous, not the rain. My bike is not very well balanced, and if winds change fast, it can push me to places I don't want to be. And so, today I stopped. I showered, got comfortable, and by 6:00pm today, the storm was over, as forecasted.
Okay, so this one comes with a bit of a story. So far, I'd seen more churches than gas stations, and when I saw this thing off to the side of the road, I felt like I had to explore it. I biked in, and wanted to go all around, when on the back, I saw an unguarded ladder to the roof. To make a long story short, I got kicked off the premises, which made me feel bad, since I felt like I was antagonizing some religious minority in the area. Still, I was weirded out by the fact that everyone there was white. After looking them up, I stopped feeling bad. Turns out they are some weird freemasons fraternity that likes domes and fez hats. If anyone would like to make a case for this sexist, appropriationalist, exclusionary pomp fest, by all means tell me. Anyway, here's their roof:
