Yesterday I finally felt like I was getting into the swing of things again. I knew my enemies, and my challenges. I've got around three more weeks of five-hour days to enjoy in the mountains, and the nature is just so beautiful, and my tent is back, and the bike is running smoothly. As I was writing the blog, darkness fell across the mountains, and soon the only light source was my flashlight, tucked into a corner of my tent to give some light as I packed my things and go to bed.
It was getting cold. I wrote the blog, pushed it to git, and closed my computer, and, wearing my sweater, long pajama pants, and the blanket pouch Sarah got me for my Boston bike ride, I snuggled into my zipped-up sleeping bag.
I woke up in the middle of the night from the cold. It was always either my feet, or my entire body shivering when I accidentally moved my head, and the sleeping bag hood would let some air in. At some point, I checked my phone for the temperature, and was horrified to see that it was one degree celsius.
What could I do? I went back to bed, and slept in as much as I could, to avoid having to face the freezing cold of the early morning. And so, today was a late start. Still, when I woke up, the lady who owned the campground gave me tea and a breakfast sandwich. I think that this is the only thing that let me start in the morning.
I was cold the entire day. For some parts, it was just a mild irritant. For others, my fingers were numb, and I had to put on both of my sweaters. I've been told that the area I was in got it mild. I heard that other mountains had to send out snowploughs. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go near one of these mountains, so instead, I'll be taking a day off to rethink my clothing setup.
Looks like I picked a crappy day to get a haircut.
Warm Showers is a website where people can host bicyclists doing long tours like mine. It's like couchsurfing, or airbnb, but the relation between the host and guest is one of friendship, exchange of stories, and general goodwill as opposed to money. I've heard of this site for the first time back in Florida, but either due to forgetting about it, or not finding hosts, I didn't use it until today.
I was to arrive in Bloomfield today, and my options were crappy RV parks, or very expensive hotels. I decided to give warm showers a shot, and called Teesie.
Teesie was excited to host me, made me dinner, and is giving me a bed and a room to stay the night. Her house is magnificient. There's bicycle quilts, bicycle fabrics, and other bike-related sculptures dotting the place. She made me a wonderful dinner, and didn't complain when I overate. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of the things on her walls, and you'll see what I mean.
This really is the best place to take a rest day.
Today I biked for 140km over the course of almost eight hours.