Day 3 - Feb 17 - A thief in the night

It was another cold night. Someone said 28 degrees. I slept well, nevertheless. The campground had a nice, heated rec room, so I spent the morning in there packing my stuff and having breakfast. As I packed up, I kept searching for a small zippered bag that I normally carry around my neck while I ride, for quick access. It contained a pair of sunglasses that clip onto my prescription glasses, another pair of cheap sunglasses that I can wear over my Rx glasses, my cell phone charger, and a bag of trail mix. As it turns out, I had left all my bags by my bike last night, rather than under my tent's rain fly. Ryan awoke in the middle of the night (I guess I was passed out) and rescued my bags from a racoon. The beast managed to run off with my zippered bag, however. We searched the wooded area around the campsite and found a cache of things the beast had stolen from other campers over the days and months (perhaps years), but not my bag. Grrr. Luckily, I didn't carry my ID and money in that bag. But I will have to ride all day without sunglasses.

                                  (We stopped for breakfast at this bakery on Dauphin Island)

                                                                  (Inside the bakery)

                                                                        (Mobile Bay)

                                                 (Carol and Rosie stopping for the view)

At times today the headwind was rough, slowing our (mine and Carol's) pace to a crawl. Traffic was horrendous, too. People are so rude! By the time we made it to the intersection of I-10, I was famished and grumpy. A double meat Subway sandwich, however, fixed me up. We had only another 20 miles to go, and I felt pretty good.

                                   (A mechanical oyster shucker on our way into Coden, AL)

                                     (A view toward the Gulf of Mexico while in Coden, AL)

                                               (A sign on the door to a convenience store)

Until the last 12 miles or so. The road was especially bad. Rutted with no shoulder. A semi passed me without moving over. It was kinda scary. We got a lot of honks today from impatient jerks. It had warmed up in the middle of the day, but by 3 o'clock a cold breeze was blowing. I was tired after 40 miles, so the last 12 were excruciating. By the time we got to Meredith's parents' house, I was ready to call it quits and get Meredith to take me home. I was that tired and miserable.

But Meredith's parents were (and still are) the boost I needed to go on. They opened their home to us 6 smelly people and let us crash on their living room floor. (I got a bed. It was glorious. But don't tell the others in my group). We had hamburgers and hotdogs and chips and cookies and soda. It was fabulous! Oh, and showers, too. Better than fabulous! The joy of hot running water (and soap). There's nothing better. Except maybe a bed.

Meredith's brother hooked us up with another place to stay tonight with a friend of his. It will be a short day (thankfully). My knees are sore. And I have sun poisoning on my lips, I think. They're swollen. I use Blistex, but it doesn't have sunscreen in it. Meredith drove me to the Evil Empire (Walmart) last night to buy sunglasses, so I got some lip balm with sunscreen. I hope it helps.

They've made a huge country breakfast for us while I wrote this, so I have to go. Will write again soon.

P.S. Most interesting road debris: An antler from a stuffed reindeer. Just one. Hmmm. I guess it shouldn't have been playing near the road.