June 3

Realize I’m not painting the rosiest of pictures of being out here with my previous two entries. Friends have contacted me regarding the state I’m projecting. As one friend even put it, am I having buyers remorse? I can honestly say it’s great to be out here riding and seeing the countryside. What’s proving to be extremely difficult is what I left behind to be out here, loved ones, friends and the general overall comfort of being home.

Also having my moments of anxiety. All my anxiety comes from trying to find a safe place to sleep for the night. When I did the Great Divide that route went through mostly public lands so pitching a tent anywhere was essentially no problem. Here, everything is private land. I definitely do not want to trespass and stay where I’m not welcome.

Last night before setting up camp, I went to Hardee’s for a shake. While standing in line the gentleman in front of me said he had seen me at the park, were I had taken a moment to relax. He asked if I was planning to stay in town for the night. I told him yes. He asked if I had a place to stay. I pointed across the street to the Baptist Church, and said I plan on putting my tent up there. He said to me, “I want you to take down this number”. Well, it turns out he is the mayor of Kenanville, told me if I have any problems and need a place, that he has a house that is renovating, that I’m welcome to put up my tent there. Thanked him for his generous offer and Fortunately did not need to contact him as the church turned out to be a good place to stay.

After getting yesterday’s blog post posted and a McDonald’s breakfast and it was time to hit the road. The weather today was just like the previous two days. Partly sunny, low 80s, with a little more breeze to help keep things cool.

With the road being very flat and only a short stretch of dirt, I made some really good time today. The pedals just turned in effortlessly. Feel I’m finally getting adjusted to maintaining enough calories for energy and staying hydrated.

Part of my agenda today was finding a hardware store. I needed an O ring for my hydration system. Every time I take a drink, I was getting about 50% air. Definitely not something urgent just annoying. So, Town I went through had a hardware store right on my route. 10 minutes and $.50 later, had my new O ring and I’m drawing water like I should be.

With the miles clicking away, the sun started getting lower of the Horizon. Now comes my moment of angst, finding a safe place to stay. In a perfect world that place will also have running water for me to rinse off, fill water bottles, and have an outlet to charge things that have died or are darn close to it. 

Since I’ve done well the last two nights sleeping at churches, I kept an eye out for a church that would allow me to set up out of view from passing cars. Came to a church with cars in the lot. I thought perfect, I could ask for permission to stay. I explained to one woman about what I was doing and just need a small place to set up a tent. I would be out first thing in the morning. She told me that she would have to ask her pastor. The pastor was on her way so waiting a few minutes to get approval was no problem.

The end result is that the pastor was afraid the bishop would not approve. The lady so generously trying to help was very apologetic, and offered to let me stay in her yard. Unfortunately she did not live close and way off my route.

On the road again to find a place to stay, I wanted to find something soon so I wasn’t peddling after dark. I ended up camping next to a water tower that was about 100 yards off the road completely surrounded by trees. Was is a good place to camp but lacked the water I was hoping for. I know ironic right? No water source and I’m next to a water tower.