it was a long day. Many hills and the fact that my tripp computer kept turning off made it hard to judge remaining distances. I was out of cell service and my battery was running low anyway. Needless to say, though I will anyway, i was happy to finally reach Bodega Bay Dunes SP.

But something was wrong. There was no sign nor ranger booth. And the trail was all sand. My back wheel, which is carrying the bulk of the 70lbs load, sank deep. My body was tired but I had an adreneline rush and this was certainly using different muscles. (I hope the sand doesn’t come back to bit me in the hub.)

I met a lady walking her dog. It turned out that I had indeed found the campgrounds but was coming in from the back side. She directed me to the toll booth which was unmanned at the time. Most of the state parks are unmanned a lot of the time due to budget cuts.

I paid, found the hiker/biker spot and set up camp. For some reason there was a topless lady staring at me from her RV picture window.

At any rate, I made it the restroom, found the showers and came back later with my towel and clean clothes. I read that saddle sores can be avoided by cleaning and fresh clothes immediately after cycling.

The sign said, “Showers are Free.” okay, what’s the catch? They’re probably cold. No problem I dealt with that in the Peace Corps almost every day. But I was out of practice, it was in the low 50′s and I was already chilled and shivering from the sweat now that the temperature had dropped with the sun.

Boy was I wrong! It was hot! I couldn’t stand it, it was that hot. Hot and free. Who could ask for more. So now I’m super duper clean, warm and dry. And tired, did I mention I’m tired?

On another note, you have to be wandering, ” What does someone think about with all that time?” MY answer is, “I don’t know yet. Three stupid songs keep ratlling around in my head and aren’t making any time for thought. I won’t tell you what they are but I have a feeling, that I’m going to be a man of constant sorrow if I don’t put a ring on it.

| Category Cycling