Home sweet home

Thursday morning started out fun. After a night of rain, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. My tent was soaked on the outside, but I stayed nice and dry on the inside. It got cold too last night. It must have been in the low 40's. I was warm in my sleeping bag though. So I'm packing up my stuff and I go to unzip my pannier and there's some kind of animal inside. All I could see was a brown hamster like rodent, and of course it startled me. Come to find out I had acquired a stow away in the night. This field mouse or brown rat had been snacking on the two pieces of bread I had left in my pack. buried in the bottom now he finally jumped out and scurried across the lawn. upon further investigation I see that the little rat bastard chewed right through my zipper and of course destroyed it in the process. I'm gonna fix it with safety pins or something. I broke camp and was on the road at 7:00 a.m. The first 10 miles it started raining pretty good. So I ducked into a country store for some coffee and shelter. I met some nice local folk sitting around playing cards at a table. We chit chatted for about 45 Min's. till the rain let up and I was on my way. They liked me and payed for my coffee. The next 40 miles were cold and windy with a little rain, not my favorite riding conditions as you folks in Brooklyn know. By 1 o'clock I was 40 miles from my hometown of Lakewood N.Y. I decided to go for it. The sun came out and the closer I got The idea of being back home made me push even harder. At 5 p.m. I arrived at my favorite coffee shop in town. I am spent! but it feels so good. 92 miles today, 440 miles for the week. I can do this. I've learned that my body will do pretty much what I ask it to do. As long as I stay hydrated and stay fueled up. My sister Lisa picked me up an hour later and I'm staying with her and Kimme and timber, in they're lovely home in Jamestown. We went out for cheese burgers and drank some cold beers. Stage 1 complete. I think I'm going to stay off my bike today.