One More Day

I guess I should go back and take some remedial math classes. I completely misjudged today's ride; by the time I called it a night I had ridden just over 71 miles. But, spending the night in Mt. Vernon puts me in position to get to Carbondale, and the TransAm Trail, tomorrow. That should be about 55 miles from here, so if I get on the road by 7:00, I should get there in the early part of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, the temperature starts heating up again tomorrow. Starting tomorrow and going to Sunday, the temperature will climb each day with Saturday in the low 90s and Sunday in the mid- to upper-90s. Oooohhh, that's going to hurt. Again :-(

Another aspect of the heat is that my budget has gone to hell. I decided long, long ago that just water wasn't working so I now stop every 10 miles or so and get some Gatorade and a Payday candy bar. I feel better, but it costs.

Met Larry today in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Actually it was at the General Store and that may have been between two towns. Larry loves to talk and we chatted for about a half hour before I left and headed down the road again. He's out of work, but does side jobs, very much over weight, both knees have been blown out so he's not all that mobile, never wears shoes and always goes barefoot, and was at the store to buy some beer for the day. Everyone that stopped by, or even drove past, said hello to him and many told him they expected one of his beers later. We chatted about almost every subject under the sun. He has lived an interesting life.

Larry's companion was his grandson, who told me that Larry was his "best buddy." Their task for the next part of the day was to find some beets for lunch. Later Larry told me that at some earlier time in his grandson's life he had suffered 'nutritional problems.' I wanted to ask him about the planned beer and beets for lunch, but decided it was none of my business so kept my mouth shut.

As I said, the TransAm runs through Carbondale, so I should find it sometime tomorrow. There are no campgrounds in town so i'll stay in a hotel near the trail if I can. When I start riding on Saturday i'll officially be "on the trail!" :-)

From there, the next day to Chester should be less than 50 miles (maybe just over 40) which then puts me on the schedule of the guidebook I plan on following. But if the temperature is supposed to be in the upper-90s on Sunday, a 45 mile day will be nice.