Today I felt a real sense of the distance we've traveled when we crossed over I-40. This was our 9th day of riding--we actually started 11 days ago on May 10th. I'm thoroughly enjoying the touring. For the most part, we're riding along the backroads, seeing a part of the country that we never see while zooming down the interstate at 70+ mph. This has really been a "stop and smell the roses" experience. We SEE the wildflowers, and SMELL the honeysuckle in the air. The days are long for me, though. I'm finding out that after about 60-65 miles, I'm ready for it to be over. No matter how pretty the countryside, all I want to see is the motel at the end of the ride. Today was a very hilly ride, with quite a few of them just going on and on. I have a double chain ring on my bike. DB did put a 27 on the rear cassette, so I have another climbing gear, but the hills are hard for me. I just crank up them as far as I can go, then stand and pump the rest of the way up. Tough on an OLD LADY!! Tomorrow is a short day--45 miles. It has a lot of hills according the the Adventure Cyclist maps we are following, but since the distance is short, I think I'll be ok.
The internet service at the motel here in Waverly is unreliable, so I may be unable to publish this post until tomorrow.
60 miles today - 638.3 total so far
