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I didn’t get a chance to finish typing up my journal and answer emails before bed yesterday. The food from my cook stove was warming for a while, but with the food and hot tea gone, night’s chill started winning the battle. Last night was just a bit cooler than my first night on tour. Not being near a big city might have been a factor.

This is the first night I used my full mummy bag. I’m talking near freezing, mummy bag pulled tight so only your mouth and nose is out kind of cold. That mummy bag was perfect. I woke up and didn’t want to get up. Unfortunately my bladder has a veto over what I want, so I stepped out into the cold.
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I had a good night’s sleep last night, despite the temperature. I thought about not bringing my 20 degree bag and purchasing a warmer weather bag. I’m thrilled that I didn’t talk myself into it. I needed every bit of that bag to stay warm last night. I woke up just before 7, refreshed with my headache gone. I’m sure that drinking water throughout the night helped counter the dehydration and altitude effects. I immediately went to get my $20 worth of hot shower. Seeing my campsite for the first time in the light assured that I didn’t do too bad of a job picking it out. The layer of pine needles added a nice soft accentuation to the air mattress. I setup the laptop and AA batteries to start charging in the outlets along the all of the restroom.
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The bicycle tourist is greeted with two choices when starting their tour. Do I ride away from my home or pack up everything and take alternate transportation to the start? For local tours, the loop method is a good idea. Start off in one direction and ride in a big loop until you end up back home. If I had a year’s time, not just a couple months, I would enjoy a loop tour of the US. It would be ideal to leave Indiana, riding in the northern states during the warmer months and the southern states during the cooler months. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the few extra weeks it would take to get to Virginia by bicycle and luckily, my dad has nice friends.
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