So, on the 24th, I started my bike trip. It's hard to believe that was just yesterday. (This bit was written on the 25th. Obviously.) Bunches of things happened. Many bunches.
On the aforementioned 24th, I started, somewhat foolishly, at nearly 7 PM. The route I was taking from Winchester to Lexington was supposed to take over two and a half hours, and, since I'm not quite fit for cycling yet, I had guessed it would take a good bit longer than that. Not that I was figuring on riding right through the night--no, I would set up camp somewhere for the night, despite the fact that a vast majority of Kentucky's land that I've ever seen seems to belong to someone else. Of course I would find seven square feet that would not be visible from the road, yet also not potentially get me in trouble with the law.
The weird thing is, I think I found that seven square feet. It was during sunset. I should have taken it. I didn't. Lesson learned: as soon as the sky stops being blue, start looking for a space to camp. At least in the more territorial areas of the US. It doesn't matter if it's 7:30. If you've found one chance, take it, lest you not find another one for the rest of the night.
Which is exactly what I didn't do. I passed the spot, and it got dark. I turned on my headlight and kept going. I stopped by Boonesboro State Park, and they said I had to pay $14 to camp there. As a personal thing, I'm keeping money of any sort to a minimum (that, and I just didn't think I could afford it), so I passed them by. I kept going (having unknowingly passed the turn that would have taken me to Lexington) and, now half an hour into full darkness and fairly lost, I basically went door-to-door asking if I could pitch a tent in their yard for the night. The first two said "no." The third, after hearing what I had experienced, said I could set up in their backyard for the night. That night was spent journaling and reading for a little while, then sleeping. It was one of those nights in which I didn't give a damn about the internet.
The next morning I left without a trace but the 7'x3' rectangular imprint on the grass, left by the tent. I got to what I thought would be back on track, but that track was actually taking me further away from my destination of the day. Since my phone was finally back in service, I made a call, got my bearings, turned around. And that is when disaster struck in the form of a flat tire.
While riding back to the turn I had missed earlier, I started feeling a slight beat with each rotation. That concerned me a bit, since I had no way to get to any bike shops in any of the three cities I was anywhere near. It was odd, though: I felt serene anyway. I'm so used to panicking when things of this sort happen--I definitely wasn't expecting calm. But hey--I'd just go to the next house and see if they could help me out.
That's when the disaster turned into an amazing experience. The house I stopped at was owned by a middle-aged couple who were sitting in their patio. When I waved at them, the man came out to ask if I needed help. After telling him, he rummaged around in his house for a pump, while his wife invited me in, gave me a can of Arizona green tea and a bowl of (really good) potato salad, and made intermittent conversation while smoking a cigarette. The man tried inflating the tire, realized that the tube had been punctured, and, upon learning that I had no spare (I'm seriously learning from experience here), tied my bike into the trunk of his car and drove it and me all the way into Lexington, to a bicycle shop that he had known for a while (for the record, it was "Pedal the Planet," on Richmond Road). There, I took my bike back into the service station, told them my problem. They said "no problem," and operated on it for a while. They said that, along with the rear tube, the front tire had lost a little tension, the brakes were on the loose side, and spokes were a bit off-center. When all was said and done, I paid $30 for practically a whole new bike and a spare tube, and I was suddenly already in Lexington. I rode around the city for a while, marveling at how smoothly the bike was running; it was nowhere near this good when I had first ridden it home a month ago!
Anyway, that was my first day or so of tour-cycling. I think I'll take it easy for the next couple of days, and set off again on maybe Thursday or Friday. I'll also be signing on to "Warm Showers" so that I might avoid the dire straits I was in a couple nights ago.
That's that, I guess. On to the next thing.
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