Bike Trip - Day 23

This morning, I wanted chocolate milk so I walked next door to a general store and bought some. When I got back to the hotel I discovered the milk was rotten. I had to go back and complain, and exchange it for two fresh chocolate milks. I'm so used to grocery stores in NY and New England that don't have spoiled milk or expired products, so I need to pay more attention to that around here. The guy was nice enough and didn't cause a problem when I traded the bottles, though. After a round of group photos we all set off on our way. Somehow, the other three ended up behind us so when Tim and I were eating an early lunch around 10:30 AM, Dennis once again pops out of nowhere, soon followed by Johnny Mango and then Marc. Tim and I really liked the pulled pork sandwiches we were eating, so we went and bought two more to eat later in the day. We also found a caramel drumstick ice cream cone, and since Dan Summers is ga-ga for them, we figured we'd give it a try. It was good, but not spectacular. Later that day, we stopped at a gas station to buy some cold drinks, and I grabbed a bottle of Ale-8-1. It sounds like "A Late One" when you say it, which I guess is the reason behind their name? We also bought some vanilla float soda. The Ale-8-1 was a fruity ginger ale and delicious. The float soda was revolting. Oh well. You win one, you lose one. Later that day, we were trucking along to our campground when Dennis comes from behind without his panniers. Someone had told him that the campground we were headed to was seven miles off the route so he'd biked to catch us. He knew of some campgrounds so we backtracked a few miles to a gas station where we caught Johnny Mango. We later found out that the campground we were initially headed to was in fact on the route, but didn't have showers. We decided to go to a closer campground and share a site. Tim and I went swimming in the lake and it was the most fun I've ever had swimming. The lake was dammed so the water was high and there was a playground on shore that was partially submerged. As a result, there was an underwater see-saw that I stumbled over by chance, and we played on that for a while. We also stumbled across those little animals on a spring that you swing back and forth on. We played on those for a while. We also found some water guns, and ran around shooting each other and trying to hide. The best part, though, was the slide. It was one of those wavy slides. It wasn't submerged, but if you went down it, you ended up in the water. One of us would go to the top of the slide, and the other would splash water all over it. Then you'd go down, and you'd skyrocket off the first bump, get some air, smash back onto the slide, and go off a second bump, and SHOOT off the slide at all sorts of funny angles and splash resoundingly into the water. It was good fun. We played for a long, long time, but eventually our butts hurt so we wandered back to our campsite, giddy with excitement. We set up our tent, showered, and the whole gagng walked to a newly opened restaurant with subpar food. We ate, and a thunderstorm struck, so we all hurried back to our tents and went to sleep.

Time with Tim!
Nothing too much to report here until evening time. Perry and I were headed to a campground at a good distance. When we were about 4 miles from it, Dennis flies up behind us unladed and says our campground is 7 miles off route. We go back and find Marc. Then Johnny Mango rolls up. We all went to a campground on a lake. Since Johnny Mango has a golden age pass, we got a site for 11 dollars, split 4 ways. Perry and I swam for a while, which was cool. At the "beach" there was a sign that said "Kids don't float, so give them something that does!" Good advice until their water wings pop and they are down like the Lucitania. We had a fun thunderstorm and I finished reading 1421.