Day Twentysix- Done (Over 1875 miles)

August 15th-
I woke up ready for a nice warm day. I wasn't lucky enough to get it though. About ten miles into my morning it started to rain. It was the same flavor rain as the night before; ice cold. I kept pushing forward a little disgruntled like an employee who is harrassed on a daily basis. I was fine with the cold rain, but the wind was trying to kill me. As an eighteen wheeler was barrowing toward me the wind decided to push me sideways almost into the far lane.

I realized that the odds weren't in my favor and set myself and my bike up between two short trees. I passed ten minutes in those trees. I started to realize that the storm was not going to pass by quickly and I needed to be somewhere else. So, I walked out across the road and walked my bike. I hoped that someone would stop.

Sure enough, the very next vehicle was a truck with an open bed. Bill pulled off to the side and Teresa jumped out to help me. They offered to take me into the town after the next, but as the rain cleared and my hopes rose I turned them down. They did drive me over 20 miles through the storm though. Thank God for that. I don't think my body was ready for another attack that close to the first. They dropped me off at a market in Dinosaur, CO.

I went inside and filled up my water bottles and bought myself lunch. I sat down and ate at the only table in the gas station (market) with another guy who was just passing through. The rain drizzled off and on for the next twenty minutes as people came in from the west asking, "who is on the bicycle?" Most all of them told me about the storms that were ahead on the route I was taking.

Lucky for me the guy I was sitting at the table with was heading toward Salt Lake City by way of my destination. Abdullah Rahman and I talked for a few minutes while he filled out his Powerball cards. He offered to drop me off on his way. I gratefully accepted. We rode and talked about everything from politics to religion. I don't think we argued once. It seems to me that it is possible to talk about those two topics civilly.

I didn't take many pictures of the things we passed by because I was engaged in the conversation, but it was beautiful. He dropped me off in Heber City, CO.

I walked into the Holiday Inn Express and showed them a letter my mom had given me to explain the whole situation. The lady working at the front desk, Jackie, gave me the best deal possible without a question.

I brought my bike and things up to the room and seperated out everything that was wet and dirty from the rest. I washed my clothes, wrote some things down, and got ready for bed. I set my alarm for 7 am so that I could enjoy the first rush for breakfast and get some writing done thereafter.

Daily Lesson: Just because you can't ride, doesn't mean you can't ride.

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