I woke up and was happy to find that I didn’t get rained on
overnight – a first! I should hire myself
out to drought-stricken areas – all I’d have to do is set up my tent and the
rain would start to pour! I got rolling and came upon a rare views of Lake
Erie. I stopped to take a picture, but
my camera was giving me a “memory card error” message. As I was futzing around with it, I heard the
oddest sound.
“Hurumph!” Was that a
seal? I looked to the water and seconds
later remembered I wasn’t on the ocean.
What the heck was that? I looked
around and behind me was Buffalo Bill!
He’d managed to sneak up and surprise me like the biking ninja that he
is. I was happy to see him and amazed
that our paths managed to cross both in time and space after we’d parted going in
different directions the other day. Once
we got caught up on old times, we rode together to <town name>.
Although Bill had given up on converting his Canadian funny
money to real American currency, he was still in search of a bike shop where he
could get a new inner tube. We made
good time getting to town, but it was bigger than I had expected and the
location of the bike shop wasn’t as obvious as Bill had anticipated. I plugged the address into my quietly
scheming GPS and we made our way there.
Bill got his new tube and directions to the nearby bike
path. I had the tension on my shifter
cables adjusted, for which I was only charged 5 bucks – sweet! We once again went our separate ways – he to
the bike path and then southward, me on the roads heading west. Bill let me snap a picture of him, then we
said our goodbyes.
My conniving GPS sent me through a confusing jumble of
neighborhoods, beeping out turns every few seconds, and even when I did exactly
what it told me, it would yell at me and make do a U-turn. I don’t know what I did to piss that little
machine off, but it was intent on exacting its revenge. Eventually, I ended up on a main road and
began cruising…just as my stomach started to rumble.
The smell of grilled usages was in the air. I looked around and spotted the source: a sandwich
shop I’d almost missed with a woman outside grilling – you guessed it –
sausages! I turned around and pulled in
only to be greeted by Buffalo Bill at one of the picnic table talking with a
couple of people and already halfway through his lunch. What the fudge?
It turned out that his bike path intersected my “direct”
route here at the sandwich shop. If I’d
just taken the scenic route, like Bill, I could have been halfway through my
lunch, too. Well played, GPS. When Bill finished and was ready to go, I
refused to say goodbye this time and instead said “See you later.” After he left, I talked with a nice young
woman who lived next door and a white-bearded older gentleman enjoying a pint
of ice cream with a fork. Me and the
nice young woman (with cute tattoos) talked about my bike trip, while the older
gentleman grumbled about how a half gallon of ice cream was cheaper than a
pint, but that he couldn’t give away the extra that he couldn’t eat. I commiserated with his conundrum, lamenting
that there wasn’t some sort of appliance that would allow him to freeze the surplus
ice cream to enjoy another time. He
remained unconvinced by my fanciful musings.
After lunch, I was making good progress toward the
campground I was aiming for, but the weather started looking ugly. I cut things short and diverted to a hotel about 5 miles from
where I was, giving my aggrieved GPS a chance to strike another blow. It took me off the main roads (always a cause
for concern), and sent me up every steep hill it could find between me and my
destination. I’m sure the devious device
was very upset when I walked into my room just as the first bolts of lightning
began to flash. Winning!
What I Learned: The second most common type of litter on the side of the road is, surprisingly, banana peels. I see at least two a day, with a top score of six. For some strange reason I've developed the habit of gleefully yelling out, "Banana peel!" now whenever I see one. The number one item, by the way, is empty cigarette packs (assuming you don't count dead creatures as litter).
Distance Today: 45 miles
Total Distance: 776 miles
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