Day 92: So Senseless and Stupid

I wake up late. Watch an episode of Mad About You. Is it strange that I really like that show? When I get to Los Angeles, I am going to rent the DVD sets and watch all of them; lying in bed for days on end. Actually, I will probably be kept pretty busy trying to find work and earn money, and won't have much time to waste. We'll see if it happens. This is all so I can spend April and May traveling through Europe, and still have enough left over to rent a room in Brooklyn when I get back to NYC. But I'm just going to wing it for now, and see what happens. I'm pretty confident in my ability to 'float on'.

Holy cow... I walk out the front door and the sun is shining. The sky is blue. I pack up and am out the door at 10am. I get my $10 key deposit back from the sister of the world's sternest woman, and I get going.

One more word about the motel: The room actually reminds me of a basement apartment that my buddy Greg lived in his first month in Brooklyn. Crawling with spiders; floods every time it rains. We spent an entire day painting, fumigating, caulking and patching up holes. It didn't help in the slightest and he moved out one month later. When I woke up this morning, I feel like I might have been too hard on this motel; it seems there were no insects, which was a nice surprise. Also, it had Wifi... even though the stern Asian woman swore up and down that they did not. Still confused about that.

Today was going to be a long day. I grabbed breakfast at the 7/11 and made conversation with a guy I had assumed to be homeless, until he took me to his truck to show me his bike. It was a completely dilapidated mountain bike with a bell where the water bottle cage would usually go. The riding today went really well. I stopped at the Wal-Mart in Yelm and grabbed a new set of headphones. It was the nicest Wal-Mart I have ever seen. In and out in 10 minutes. I would not have time to take any prolonged breaks today.

In Centralia at the college, they had an Iraq War Memorial on the campus; thousands of white crosses each with a dead soldier's name. Every inch of lawn on the small campus was filled with a memorial to a fallen hero. Overwhelming and sad. I found a soldier from Tampa and one from Brooklyn. Makes me want to scream; so stupid and senseless. I try to keep this blog apolitical, but in times like these staying apolitical is a ridiculously political statement. Anyone who still supports our monster President should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

The rest of the day's ride was really nice, though as I got more and more tired, the terrain got more and more challenging; beautiful rolling hills. I started to get a bit stressed around 4:30pm, as it seemed I would not make it to Longview by sundown, and there really aren't any motels anywhere along the way. I rode really hard for the rest of the day, averaging 14.59mph for the day, and a 102 mile day at that, and made it to the motel shortly after sunset. What a beautiful way to finish out the ride. Tomorrow's weather is more of the same. I know I've been harping on this for the past week or so, but I am really going to miss this lifestyle.Tonight's motel is really nice, and still pretty cheap. I can't wait to stop spending so much money, and to start eating like a human being.