Day 43 - 7/20/16 Marengo to Freeport, IL

Last night was great, first time in the tent since Indiana and first time stealth camping since New York!  I wasn't expecting to stealth camp but, the campground I had on my radar turned out to be closed for some reason.  What else was I supposed to do besides pitch my tent and make myself at home?  

The solitude and fresh air is a nice change from the citt.  Everything is good in moderation.  I got up early so I could beat the heat and the potential thubderstorms looming overhead.  It's also just really pleasant riding in the morning light, knowing I have the whole day to get where I'm going.  I may have escaped the heat for the most part but, I rode right into the rain.  The plus side to the rain, or at least the time leading up to it, was the clouds that added so much drama to the otherwise redundant scenery.  

To the North, the sky was streaked with pink and purple like it was 7:00pm what it was only 12 in the afternoon.  And straight ahead, nothing but blue-ish gray covering every inch of clear blue sky.  I would've had more photos if I didn't pack my phone away for fear of getting soaked.  

I'm glad I put all the proper rain covers over my bags before it rained because when it finally did with 10 miles left in my ride, I was so tired, I might've just said screw it.  There were a few moments when I was so hungry and tired and cold that I was hoping for a pick up truck to offer me a ride.  Looking back, I'm so glad I didn't even have that opportunity.  I found some trees in someone's yard that looked like a good umbrella.  

I stopped for a minute, gave myself a mental pep talk, put on my poncho, ate a snack and felt good as new!  Thus is no great accomplishment, toughing out 10 miles in the rain but, I was almost ready to throw in the towel if the opportunity came along.  From this point, I went slow, a comfortable pace, and tried not to look at how many miles I had to go on the odometer.  I just had to pedal, and that's all I did.  

Words cannot describe how nice the shower felt once I peeled off my soaking wet clothes.  As a human, I realize I have a great ability to make things seem much worse than they are, we all do.  But, if we just focus on the most important thing and ignore everything else, we can get through anything.

Day 29 - 7/6/16 Elkhart to South Bend, IN

I woke up at 6:30am to the sound of heavy rain and thunder with the realization I never brought my bike back inside after getting lunch yesterday.  Luckily, only my tent and sleeping pad were straped down to my bike and the bag they're in kept them dry for the most part.  As I walked back through the kitchen I saw he guy that came in last night.  I heard a car pull up yesterday evening but didn't think too much of it since some of Neil's other friends stopped by throughout the day.  This guy was looking for Neil when he came in but I told him he was out of town for a couple days.  After that, he went down into the basement and didn't come back up until I saw him this morning.  I was too tired to introduce myself or inquire any further as to why he was there.  I'm sure he felt the same way about seeing me.  Neil's house seems to have a pretty loose open-door policy.  I didn't leave until after 12:00pm for a few reasons:

1. I was waiting for the rain to stop

2. My next host wasn't expecting me til after 3:00pm and I only had 30 miles to ride.

And 3. No one was there to make me leave.  That's okay, right?  I wasn't making a mess or eating all the food in the house so what difference does it make?