WOOOOo!!!

Oh yeah!! Today was crazy fun for me! It's midnight and we're at our dear friends the Gray's house. We got in about 10:30. It was an extremely long and and crazy day. We made it about 50 miles, but that was ALL long climbs and long descents. Over and over again. I was happy that I felt much more fit than I thought I would, and was able to do the long hills without too much problem. There were a few mishaps, like when Peter dropped my water bottle cap in a service station toilet, and when I kicked my rear pannier bucket off by accident in the middle of an intersection. After that, I had to redo my system for fastening them to the bike, I modified two bungee cords by cutting them small and then retying the hooks and burning the ends to keep them from unraveling. No problems after that!!

I felt so alive today. Sweating and grunting up hills, flying down them dangerously fast, noticing all the sights and sounds and smells of the earth... it's truly a wonderful way to travel. Not so slow that it takes you forever, but not so fast that you pass by all the little details and marvels of the everyday world. What is it about people that we in general are so addicted to ease and comfort that hardly anybody gets out and goes biking? We saw a grand total of ONE biker on the road. In 50 miles. America needs to wake up and get out and get happy! Funny how i feel so energized... not much sleep last night plus long day today, but man I feel way better than when I was getting 12 hours of sleep and lazing around the house!

Life's a grand adventure
Get out and see the earth, there's beauty everywhere
Bye until next time we get internet.
Which will not be in our random stealth camping sites that we'll have to stay in the next two nights.
Peace be with you all. And there are a lot of you, it's crazy. You're like an army. A peaceful army. Word.

-dan