Wednesday February 9, 2011

   When I awoke this morning it was still dark outside. I got dressed inside my sleeping bag because it was a bit chilly still. Once dressed I packed up my sleeping bag and thermarest then stepped out to greet the day. Still dark. That just motivated me even more to get the rest of camp packed up so that I could be o my way when the sun rose over the horizon.
   After doing my morning 'rise and shine' rituals, I began gettig everything together. Once it was all packed on y bike, I broke out some almonds and watched the sun rise. It was amazing. Just as I was getting set to leave, a car camper came out and wanted to give me something. A bag of trail-mix. He told me it would be good energy food. With that and a good bye, I began to ride again.
   Brrrrrr!!!! It was cold! And the wind was right back in my face. I was hoping it would be at my back like it was yesterday afternoon. Nope. I just beared through it and as soon as the sun rose a little more I began to warm up. It was still chilly because of the wind but I was moving and my body was warm.
   On I rode. I came by some road work and checked to see what they were doing. Just filling cracks in the interstate with black top. On I rode.
   Miles of nothing but nature. Untouched, unharmed by anyone's hands. It looked amazing. But then I got the bug in my stomach and was hungry again. Almonds didn't cut it.
   I pulled into a gas station, the only thing for miles and picked up some blueberry bread. That thing was real good! Instead of getting back on the interstate when I left, I took Old HWY 80. It runs right alongside the 8 so I thought it would be safer. And it was. 12 miles of me ad the road. At one point I began talking to Sam, my Tron character, because I was so bored.
   When I got back onto the 8 I only had 2 more miles before I reached my destination! It was so early too! But I was trying to slow doown my progress so I could meet Hannah on sunday in Tucson. I rode just shy of 30 miles.
   When I got to the Mohawk Rest Area, I found that it was closed. I couldn't believe it. It was kind of a good and bad thing. Good because I wouldn't have people coming and going bothering me all night. Bad because it wouldn't be travelled so anybody or anything could have come around.
   As I was checking out the place I saw some dog poop that looked a couple days old. It looked as if it was from different dogs so I thought the place might be a place coyotes came by. Now what? I didn't want to camp on the ground in fear coyotes might sneak up on me,  plus I didn't want strangers to 'happen' across my camp site.
   All the doors were boarded p with plywood and the ends were pretty near the roof of the bathroom so I hopped up on the roof to check it out.
   Perfect. The roof was big enough for me to sleep, put all my stuff up there plus have tons more room. So I set into action. One thing I've learned so far is to get camp set up first, then goof around later. I was not going to leave my bike on the ground while I slept on the roof, so I had to bring it up. I took everything off my bike, which is a ton of stuff, and began setting it next to the wall of the bathroom. Next, I pulled out some rope I brought and a bungee hook I found. Tied the two togther and boom! I had a grapling hook! So I climbed back onto the roof and began pulling up all my bags. Easy! Then onto the bike. I lowered down the hook and snagged it by the seat rails. First try! Now on to the lifting. Definately not the easiest thing to dead lift from a laying down posititon. But I pulled it up and heaved it onto my now fort. I had an eagle eye position of my rest area and the interstate, but the interstate definately had a good view of me too. So I layed down and napped for a few minutes. When I awoke it was super hot and I had no shade, so I left my post and went down for some shaded parts.
   I soon became bored out of my mind. I wrote a little bit, played solitare for a bit and thought for a while. My thoughts were on this trip and why I'm doing it. I'm doing it for me but I'm so lonely already and there is nothing to see or do right now. The desert is only beautiful for so long before it becomes redundant. Man-o-man, what did I get myself into?
   After talking myself out of proceeding on the trip, it was time to call the people I needed to call to let them know where I was and that I was ok.
   First I called my mom and talked to her for a bit. She was very supportive and wanted me to know that once I got out of the desert the trip would be more exciting. Plus, I had barely started and my mind was still getting used to being on the road without. That helped, then I called Hannah. We planned a little bit of the Tucson meeting and spoke to the Texas meeting. Unfortunately, I had to cut the conversation short because I needed to save my phone battery. There I was again. Alone in Mohawk.
   When the sun was low enough for me to have shade on my roof-top I hopped up once again, layed out my sleeping bag and prepared for my night below the stars.
   What a terrible night's sleep. I could not find any comfortable position. I layed between my bags and a pipe. The pipe had a nozzle or something on it at my waistline, so I didn't want to move because the nozzle was sharp and I didn't want to tear my sleeping bag. Also, I didn't unpack my thermarest, so I was sleeping on roof. I think there was a wire or something under me too, because I kept feeling something in my back. Everytime I woke up, which seemed quite frequent, I would switch positions. I could not find a comfortable spot. I would also look out into the night sky for any sign of daylight. None. I never wanted it to become daytime so badly. It sucked. But then the sun finally did rise.

Daily Mileage: 27.5 miles