We had yet another great night's sleep inside where it's warm. It worked out really well because we already had our cereal and milk from yesterday, so we had breakfast right there sitting at the table and chairs in the lobby where we stayed. It was very enjoyable, it almost felt like a routine you would do at home- wake up, get out your cereal bowls and spoons and eat breakfast at the table. I can't help but think what it's going to be like when we are back home in a "normal" routine, that time is so quickly approaching. While we were enjoying our breakfast, a car pulled up- we had a visitor! It was Skip! He was just stopping by to make sure we were ok and didn't need anything. We talked with him for quite a while and he said a prayer for safe travels for us. It was so nice that we got to see him again, even if it was just for a few minutes. After breakfast, I got our bowls all washed out in the sink, and we packed up. Somehow we didn't get on the road until almost 8:30, but that's ok. We were so happy to see that the sun was shining today! Yesterday the weather report said that the sun would be shining both yesterday and today, but it didn't even peek out once yesterday, so I was really counting on today. It also warmed up quite a bit today. After riding up and down a couple of the long rolling hills (nothing at all like yesterday morning's ride), we were warm enough to take our big gloves off and about an hour or so later were warm enough to take our face masks off. And the best part--tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer!! We had a pretty enjoyable ride this morning because the road conditions were great and the shoulder we had to ride on was as wide as a lane, if not wider! It was amazing. We made it to Somerset in about 2 and a half hours and were on the lookout for the McDonalds. The ladies told us that there was a nice bicycle shop in Somerset and gave us the general location of it. We stopped to double check where it was. While there, since I was somehow feeling really hungry, I got a chicken sandwich off the dollar menu. We didn't have any trouble finding the bike shop, so that was our next stop. My bike was the one in need of some work. When we left Orlando, I noticed that my crank was getting loose and wiggled a bit as I pedaled. We stopped at a bike shop in FL and they said that all it needed was to be tightened, which I was glad for at the time. Less than a week later, it started to get loose again. Something was definitely broken. Joey and I figured out that it was the bottom bracket, and sure enough it was- it was toasted. The spindle had quite a bit of rust on it and the bottom bracket itself was just covered in rust too. Our bikes are going to need some serious attention when we are done with the trip. The guy at the shop suggested stripping them down right to the frame and spraying "Framesave" in there to help treat the rust that has built up and prevent further rust from coming on. That is something we definitely need to do because there is no reason that our bike frames can't last us for many many more years to come. I would hate to see them rust out from the inside out. After the amount of miles and the amount of time they have spent outdoors in the elements, some TLC will help a lot. The guys at the shop were nice enough to clean my chain and give my rear derailer a nice bath in some kind of "gunk removal solution". It has been working a bit funny and is starting to wear out, but that helped a lot and will make it so that it will at least make it home. My bike also got a new rear derailer cable, too. While my bike was being worked on, Joey was able to fix his brakes, since his cable broke sometime during the day yesterday. In doing so, there was some grinding inside the cable housing. Since he needed to take off his handlebar tape to do that, he ended up replacing the tape too (which was of course due to be changed anyways). It was about an hour or two to get everything all fixed, but the bikes are running a lot better now. I really enjoyed the time while we waited because there was the cutest little doggie named Winston there to play with. He was so friendly! I also attempted to do a little typing in between things, but wasn't too productive with that. Once we took off down the road again, I was really enjoying how much smoother my chain was feeling, how the gears were shifting, how the crank didn't wiggle, and most of all that the lower gears didn't skip around whenever they felt like it. Our next mission was lunch. Since we've been talking about going to KFC when we got to Kentucky, we figured that today would be a prime opportunity to go. Way back when we were in Nevada, we first heard that there were such things as KFC buffets, and had seen a few here and there since then, so that's what we were really hoping for. The KFC in Somerset happened to be one of those buffets! It was perfect. I hadn't had KFC since I was a kid, so it was a nice little treat- everything from chicken to mashed potatoes, veggies and those yummy biscuits! All the comfort foods! Once we were full we hit the road again. It was probably around 2:30 or 3 by that time. We didn't have a TON of time left to ride, but we still made a goal to make it to the town of Stanford, which was about 35 miles away at that point. The hills "stretched out" a little and weren't as steep, and for about half of this afternoon's ride, we had that beautiful shoulder. Then all of a sudden, the road turned back into a 2 lane road and there was no shoulder at all, and those pain in the toosh rumble strips that we've grown to dislike so much. There is nothing more annoying than trying to ride and hitting that strip every once in a while. At one point, we were riding along and herd a little "blurp" of a cop car. We turned around and he motioned for us to pull over. Puzzled, we pulled into a nearby driveway. When he got out of the car, he asked the general questions of where we were heading, where we were coming from, etc. He told us that someone had called in saying that some guy on a bike with a brown coat on and a red basket on his bike "tried to pick a fight" with a driver in their car. After he said that, he said that we were the only bikes he saw, so he decided to pull us over, even though we didn't match the description at all. Joey said something to the affect of "that doesn't make any sense, the cars are always going too fast to do that." The cop chuckled at that a little, apologized for bothering us and wished us a safe trip. For the next few miles Joey and I joked around about the idea of doing that and said things like "there was that one incident in Utah with that crazy lady... boy did it take them a long time to find us.." It's still pretty funny that he pulled us over. As darkness drew closer, we were pretty sure that we weren't going to make it all the way to Stanford like we hoped to, but that was ok because by the end of our ride today, we still managed to go 52.93 miles, which we thought was pretty good for getting our bikes fixed and taking such a long lunch break. We rode for as long as we thought it was safe, which wasn't as late as usual simply because the traffic had picked up and there wasn't much of a shoulder anymore. We took a little detour off the main road for about a quarter of a mile and found a nice church that had some cars at it. As we were pulling in, there was a dog running about who ran towards us and then got scared and ran the other direction. When we pulled up we heard some drums playing inside, but didn't find any unlocked doors to peak our heads into. The parsonage was right next to the church and the inside door was wide open. We decided that was a good bet. The same dog that had "greeted us" when we came in was sitting there in the doorway. We met the Pastor, Bro. Johnny, and he said that it wouldn't be any problem at all to camp, so off we were to set up our tent. A little while later Bro. Johnny came over to see where we were from and where we had visited on our trip. He also asked if we were hungry and if we would like to join him and his son for some steak dinner. We weren't super hungry, but always enjoy a nice home cooked meal and great conversation. When the pastor came out to tell us that dinner would be ready in about 5 minutes, he also asked if we would rather sleep inside the youth building where it would be warm! We have been SO spoiled the last few nights, but are so thankful none the less. This kind of thing has really helped us SO much on this last part of the trip because it is still winter and the nights are the worst part. Not to mention that because of that, we have had a chance to talk with and meet what seems like a lot more people. When dinner was ready, we enjoyed some steak, mashed potatoes (the instant kind as Johnny joked, since his wife wasn't home), and green beans. It was delicious. Afterwards, we played with their dog, Zane, and talked quite a bit about the mission work that Bro. Johnny does down in Haiti. I think Joey and I have another thing to add to our list of things we need to experience- now that trip would definitely give us a different perspective on life. I was surprised to hear that it was only an hour plane ride from Miami and that in that short time it is, as Bro. Johnny described it, an incredible culture shock. He goes down for a week a couple times a year and has done various work there including helping build an orphanage. After going there, he said that it just kills him to see how so many Americans are: throwing away food, complaining about how bad things are, when people in places like Haiti are the ones who really have it bad. After a very enjoyable evening talking with Bro. Johnny and his son Nick, we headed off to the youth building. We carried over what we could, moved our bikes, and then just carried the tent over still put together so that Joey could put it away inside where it was warm. Another wonderful day on the trip. I cannot believe that we only have 22 more days until we are home!!! I thought about that a lot today and about how fast that time is going to go. Touring has become our life for this year and we have gotten very comfortable with it. But like every stage in life- once you get comfortable with something, a major change happens and your pushed to the limits again until you get comfortable in that next stage, a never ending cycle. That's just the way life goes, so guess we have to get used to that and just enjoy the last little bit of our trip before we have to start the next stage.
|
|