April 15th to April 20th "Training Days" - Part IV

The rain had cleared off by the time I headed out of Madison. It was going to be a long, hot day, with lots of hills, and therefore, lots of hiking as well as biking. Not unlike my encounter with Paul the previous day, I met Mark just as I was pulling into a shady spot on the side of the road to take a break. Turns out, Mark had heard about Paul, but never managed to catch up with him.

Where Paul had been on the road for about 50 days total by the time I met up with him, Mark had been taking a more leisurely pace from the West Coast, a break from playing baseball for New Mexico State University, which had lasted over three months (so far). He also had some back-up from his parents whom he would be meeting as he continued his cycling east.

I think in part because the cycling thus far has been so strenuous, it has really made me appreciate little things, like...a warm shower after my ride, or a cool patch of shade...especially when there is a safe place to park my rig for a few minutes, and rest, have something to eat, re-fill my water bottles, etc.


At this particular juncture, while I was resting, eating my cheese and crackers and "Finger Salad", this insect dropped on my arm, seeming to be looking for some attention, so I gladly abliged, snapping several photos with my camera on the "macro" setting as it proceeded to walk down my arm, and onto my elbow, and up the back of my arm.


I eventually encouraged it to disembark onto a weed next to the tree stump where it continued on its own journey to who knows where? : )

As for me, my journey continued over more sun drenched hills and straight-aways. On the hills, I would choose the side I'd walk on based on how many trees actually shaded the road. I would pace myself by pushing my bike from the shade of one tree to the next, counting steps, sometimes guessing how many steps it would take to get to the next patch of shade. (My determination to proceed on my own must have been pretty obvious to the people passing me in vehicles, since I don't remember any of them stopping to check and see if I needed any assistance!)

I remember one particularly large tree on the opposite side of the road that seemed the last one big enough to offer shade at that time of the day for as far as I could see. So I made my way across, parked there for a while, draped myself over my front handle bars with my head resting on my handlebar bag and my hands gently patting my front panniers. I realized, I probably could have slept that way, except for the heat, and my determination to get to my destination in Monticello, FL before sun down.

Nevertheless, as I waited and rested, drank some water, ate a Luna Bar, I realized there were more clouds now than there had been earlier in the day, and they were headed in the same direction that I was. Just as I was about to leave the shade of the Big Tree, one of those clouds began to cover the Sun, and so I "prayed": "More clouds, please. That would be really helpful right now.... : )"

And, then there were a few more clouds, and I started to either walk quickly up the hill to keep in the shadow of the clouds, or ride more slowly down the hills for the same reason. I was able to continue "Cloud Chasing" almost all the way into Monticello, with the town sign appearing near the top of yet another long hill.

But, that was not yet the end of my day. There were still a few more hills, luckily on mostly shade-covered side-walks, and another down-hill or two, before I finally made it to my destination: "Bluebird Meadows Farm" run my Maria and Diane, whom I had been able to contact via WarmShowers.org

True to their prediction, I stayed longer than I planned, so it was here that I ended my first full week On the Road! And what a week it was! : ))