Bike Trip - Day 16

This morning, Tim woke me up and told me that I slept through a violent thunderstorm that was apparently throwing lightning bolts really close to our tent. ("1000 yards!! It was flash BOOM!") I couldn't get myself to leave my warm sleeping bag but I eventually crept out and we started packing up. A camp staffer stopped by with his yellow lab, and after finding out that I was deaf, he told me his dog was deaf, too! That was cool, and he was nice. We seem to have the worst turnaround times and if we wake up at 7ish, like today, by the time we're on our bikes it's 9:30 AM. Ugh. The day started out amazingly, though, because we practically had a 20 mile downhill!

Since it had just rained, it smelled like wet forest and the air felt really clean. It was wonderful. We came really close to a town that we had thought to eat lunch at, and out of nowhere, Dennis appears from behind! He had stayed at the campground we'd considered before biking to the next at the top of the mountain, and he had managed to catch up to us again! He has mountain components on his bike, and much less weight, so he can spin faster on the uphills. We decided to eat lunch together at an italian restaurant for lunch that had a constnatly flow of backpackers, free wifi, and food that ended up being delicious. After a long lunch, we all paid and Dennis continued on his way while Tim and I visited a bike shop with hopes of finding chamois butt'r...which makes a long day of biking a good amount less painful on the butt. We found some, and bumped into a guy who used to bike a lot and lives near San Francisco. He gave us his information so we can call if we have a problem near CA or want biking information about CA, we can give him a call. We eventually got back onto our bikes after we both peed for the hundredth time at the italian place. About 20 miles later, passing rain showers hit and we saw a touring bike at a small deli. We figured we'd stop in and get ice cream, and a tourer named Jim was quietly eating a well balanced meal inside. They didn't serve ice cream, but I saw a chocolate cake, and that looked just as good. The woman are the store was really nice, but verged on crazy. She loved our "accents" but she was the one who talked funny. She howed us photographs of her dog on her phone and talked about several random things. We started talking with Jim and found that he is a professor in nutrition at the University of Tennessee. Last year, he had biked from Oregon to somewhere in Kentucky, and this year he figured he'd pick up where he left off and bike to Yorktown, PA. He was really polite, but he seemed to be a little debbie downer and was somewhat negative about his trip. He told us that we had a really difficult three days ahead of us and that the last two days would be filled with vicious dogs. He asked if we had any Halt! which is a mace for dogs. We didn't, so he told us to put stones in our pockets to throw at them, and to carry a big stick. He kind of scared the living daylights out of me. After a while, he paid for his meal and left, and then we used the restrooms and got ready to leave. The woman there ended up liking us quite a bit, so she ended up giving us our piece of cake and glass of milk on the house! Yum! We continued on our way and finally stopped for the day at a motel run by a very sweet old man, and out jumps Dennis from his own motel room! Our room wasn't ready yet so the three of us went across the road to grab some pizza and went back to the motel. The older man let us eat in his old restaurant (closed now, and it's just his own space to hang out) so we sat around, ate, and chatted for a while. After a while, my eyelids started drooping, so we all retired to our rooms and after showers and brake pad maintence, Tim and I passed out.

Time with Tim!
We got to bike down a mountain all morning, which was nice. Another cyclist warned us that there are vicious dogs ahead, he really put some fear into us. I guess after getting maced and tasered by so many cyclists who fear dogs, they are now truly hateful to cyclists, sad! I pondered why my GPS sometimes freezes today. I figured out that it happens occasionally when you don't follow its directions. I feel kinda bad when I blow by it's suggestions but I know its for the best when I follow the cycling maps instead. I guess it's so sad that it just gives up. I think I'l give it some powdered prozac and see if it helps. Dennis gave Perry some HALT! for the dogs because he has for-real mace, too.