Every day, I wake up to Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Badd Moon Rising" blaring from my phone's alarm. I grab my phone, open up Google Maps, and type in "Portland, OR" to see where I'll be going today. There's a few reasons I religiously follow the instructions Google gives. The first, is that it's a route optimized for speed and safety. With a traditional map, I don't know anything about bike lanes, trails, or construction. I could find out, but it would take so much planning and route-charting that frankly, I'd rather not do. I am also biking with a purpose - I need to be in Portland by June 19th, and efficiency does count.
Sometimes I stray away from the Default Blue path that Google suggests, in favour of something nearby, or a paved road in favour of an unpaved one. Today, I followed Google's recommendation to a T, and let me tell you, it was strange.
First, I had about 60km of riding near the beach, but not on the beach road, which had no shoulder. Eventually, I reconnected to the beach highway to cross a really big bridge
Eventually, I got to the tracks themselves, and took a nice picture.
Eventually, the highway made some wide bends, and Google found a better route through back roads. Some were paved, and others not. Some looked like they were going somewhere, and others really did look like they were about to suddenly end with some unmanned water treatment plant.
Finally, I made it out of the woods, and got back on the highway, only to be told to exit it before a big interchange with an interstate highway. This was now the suburbs of Slidell, and so I started snaking through residential neighbourhoods. Then I got to a high school. I turned, and looked at the map, and Google said to go straight through the school. So I did - I entered that school parking lot, and looked for the exit in the other direction. Eventually, I found it, only for it to be gated off. I walked the bike over to a sidewalk, passing a student who was just leaving class, and continued for about 10m before I got a flat tire on my front wheel.
Today I got my first flat. It's much less of a deal than it sounds, since I've got patch kits, spare inner tubes, and it's a beautiful day today. Still, it ruined my 100km by noon run. I was averaging 20km/h, done 92km, and it was 11:30. I would have just squeaked by if that flat hadn't stunted the run. Oh well, I still finished the day early.
I'd planned to do 100km today, and find a place to stay, and I did just that. Funnily enough, the only campground within a 30km radius of my ending location is the Indian Hills Nudist Park.
They charge $30 entry, and $15 for the tent, so it's a pretty good deal. They've got laundry, showers everywhere, a pool, hot tub, and a lovely community of nudists. All very friendly, helpful, and social. They've got laundry machines, and it's so great to be able to clean all of my clothes at once!
There's some rules in a nudist park. No pictures, of course, but that also means that phone cameras get covered. Clothes are optional everywhere, except for the pool area, where they are not allowed. Pool volleyball is on Thursdays, Kareoke on Fridays, and during the weekends they have cookouts, and socials. There is also a strict no photography rule, but when the owner is the one taking the picture...
As I sit on my towel by the pool, with this laptop providing a partial cover, I can't help but see the parallel between this pool and the grad lounge in Toronto. People come and go, chatting in small groups between their other duties. I guess the only differences are that in the lounge, we aren't naked, and here they don't talk about math.
On second though, maybe there's only one difference.