Day 47: I'm a Birthday Candle in a Circle of Black Girls

Friday...

I am proud of myself today. I know I promised not to rush myself anymore… but I pedaled 81 miles into a 20-30 mph headwind, and it is probably the hardest cycling I have done this entire trip. Here’s how the day goes:

I wake up feeling pretty wonderful in a gigantic motel bed. I look a little thinner, my hair seems a little fuller, and I have a certain skip in my step…. Yeah…. Sleeping in a bed agrees with me. The rain has vanished and left a cold wind in its place, so I decide to do my online stuff in the morning, as the afternoon hours can be spent riding, instead of hiding from the heat. Allison has emailed me a link to the new Band of Horses album, and I put it on my ipod… I’ve been awaiting this release for months. That first album is stellar. I hit the road… and the road immediately hits back…

Wow… like a punch in the face, the strongest headwind of the trip yet… I can’t seem to get any speed higher than 10mph… and I’m pedaling as hard as I can. I turn north and hope to avoid the wind, but it’s coming just as bad from the north. After a while I reach Litchfield and debate maybe taking a break day… because the wind is just ridiculously brutal. Online it is being reported as 20 – 30mph winds coming from the North and West… I am able to find a wireless signal from inside a Chinese Buffet… life doesn’t get much better than this… 5 trips to the buffet later… I vow never to eat Chinese Buffet food again for lunch… But I decide to press on and try to make Saulk Centre tonight! It’s an additional 60 miles directly into the wind… but what the hell was I gonna do in Litchfield? Relax? Enjoy the picturesque Lake? Think about the future? Read a book? Plan my life? No thanks. Pass.

So… I pedal and I pedal and I pedal, albeit very slowly… and it looks like I won’t make Sauk Centre before sundown… which irritates me… I don’t like not reaching my goals for the day…. I vow not to take any breaks and I continue pedaling until my legs are on fire… I know, I know… so bad for you… but whatever…. I’m a man on a very unimportant quest!

The Band of Horses album turns out to be kind of disappointing. Sigh… I think that’s my last highly anticipated album of the year. Oh well. Eventually I make it to Sauk Centre, and feel like I could collapse at any second… I find a campsite on the lake and chat up some nice old people on vacation… I think I’m starting to understand RV vacations… They seem fun. Oh… some poor kid on rollerblades gets attacked by a skateboarder. Gets hit in the back of the head. I didn’t see it… but saw the poor kid crying afterwards.

I call the Campground manager from a safe distance and tell her that I won’t be in until after midnight… she tells me to just grab any spot when I get in and we’ll settle up the cost in the morning when she wakes up (around 8am). My plan is to just get in late and then leave at 7am and thus camp for free. Dishonest yes… but… well… I really have no excuse or justification. I am just poor and can’t afford to pay $18 to rent a 10sf piece of land for an evening.

I kill time talking to my sister on the phone outside a McDonalds by the freeway… the Sportsbar in town is the size of a Wal-Mart… can’t imagine the amount of drunk drivers that get sent out onto the road at closing time.

I ride back to camp at 11pm, shower, and decide not to set up the tent… but rather just sleep under the stars in a sleeping bag… It was nice to see so many stars. Really puts you in your place. Today was long. But I’m feeling sorta invincible.