Day 10: The 96%
I remember yesterday being long. I only went 67 miles so it wasn’t the longest day by far. However we climbed several big hills and got rained on quite a lot. It had been several days since any of us showered. We also hasn’t done laundry in a while. We tired to sink wash our clothes but it’s been so humid or rainy that nothing will dry or stay clean. To say the least we were gross. Clothes are heavy so I’m only carrying two shirts. One to ride in and one to sleep in. I can’t describe the sticky-ness of everything. Even over my geology field camp I think I was more clean. So it was a given that we stayed at a motel for the night. The closest one was in Hazard, KY. It’s called the Daniel Boone Motor Inn. To anyone else it would have been smelly but to us it was paradise. It was cheap, had showers, laundry and a steak house attached to it. So for the first night of the trip I paid 22 dollars for housing. It was an hour shower for sure. After everyone showered we walked down to the restaurant. Like everything else it smelt like cigarettes. Sure enough someone was smoking at the bar. I ordered a bison burger with fries and the salad bar. Ellen (a new cyclist joined the group) was adventurous and ordered frog legs. She let everyone try them and I was surprised to find that they were really tasty! If I get a chance I would order them for myself. Our waitress gave us a loaf of bread with cinnamon butter. Let me tell you: if you have ever been to Texas road house you know how good their bread and butter is. This was better. I don’t know if it was because I was hungry but it was the best butter and bead I’ve had.

After dinner we put our laundry in. Since I wanted to call my parents I offered to switch it out and watch it. I talked to my dad for a while but my mom was eating dinner so I’ll have to call her tomorrow.

Right when I was about to switch the laundry out to the dryer I noticed something odd about my right foot. It was really swollen. Enough that it freaked me out. A lot. I don’t get swollen feet. Ever. I asked the inn keeper where I could find some ice and he was nice enough to get me a bag. I iced and elevated my foot until the laundry was dry. At that point it was 9:15 and I was ready to fall asleep on the spot. I took the laundry back to my room and was asleep by 9:30.
Day 11:
This was definitely the best night of sleep I’ve gotten so far. I don’t know if it was the fact I was sleeping on a real bed with a real pillow (I normally use balled up clothes or my towel) or the room was air conditioned and not stuffy or humid. I woke up at 7:30 at almost 100%. My foot from the night before looked normal but I wanted to keep an eye on it today. Our two new companions headed out early and everyone else followed shortly. We started out the day with a nice big hill. And then other and other. Even though we were only going 42 miles it felt like the longest day by far. Around noon the heat and humidity set in. I could see the sunscreen rolling off my arms and my face felt shiny and greasy. Boonesville was the final destination. We stayed behind a local church that was friendly to cyclists. Unfortunately there was only a porter potty which was indescribably gross. I’ll spare you the details. There was a sink and a cold shower though. The shower felt nice at the end of the day. For dinner we went to the local diner called the bus stop diner. For 11 dollars I got 4 pieces of toast, mashed potatoes, roasted beef covered in gravy, a huge plate of fries, Pepsi and hot fudge cake with ice cream. Although the dinner looked dingy on the outside the food was super delicious. Just as we went up to pay it started to downpour. I’m talking you can’t see out the window. We sat back down and waited for a break in the rain. After 10 minutes or so we rushed back to our pavilion where we had set up our tents. From there we watched the rain. The lightning was spectacular and I got a cool picture of one of the smaller bolts. After the rain stopped I called my parents. I wanted to write more but I ended up talking to them for so long I went to bed. In the middle of the night we heard someone messing around outside our tents. I poked my head out to see what was going on. It turned out to be a racer who needed a place to crash for a few hours. I went back to bed but kept waking up because it started to downpour off and on. Finally around 6:30 we got up and headed out. The ride was pretty uneventful. I only biked 49 miles. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. I think we are going 75-80.

Day 12:

Like I said above we didn’t go that far today. The campground we are staying at is amazing. It has a pool, electric, and laundry. After getting here we put our laundry in and swam for a bit. It was really nice to cool off! For dinner we are going to bike a mile down the road to a Cracker Barrel and then go to Walmart next door to replenish our food supplies. I’m currently waiting for my clothes to dry so I can go shower. Wasn’t a bad day by far but the endlessness of the trip is starting to wear on my mind. I’ll need to mediate tonight and rethink my situation. But for now I have clean clothes, laundry and Cracker Barrel to look forward too!