Flirtation
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Last night I set the GPS to "Route to Home". It produced a route of 656 miles.
I'm up early to see if the bike repeats yesterday's performance, but all is well. Crusader is eager and strong for the challenge.
This morning the plan is to ride that route until we're tired, we're home, or there's an acceptable amount of mileage left for tomorrow. Our original plan was to be home today, but we lost the equivalent of two days' riding so we're on Plan B.
We ease through Nashville Saturday morning traffic, climb and descend the Cumberland Plateau, ease our way through Knoxville, and we're done with cities. After being in the desert for a week and a half, the East Coast humidity seems stifling. It's amazing how quickly I get used to the dry air, although it does cause minor nosebleeds. The humidity takes a toll on both of us.
At about 400 miles, we stop for a break and reassess the day. Kitty flirts with riding home. "We only have 269 miles!" she exclaims. "You'd really like to ride home, wouldn't you?"
"Well, 269 miles in the morning seems easier than after you've already been in the saddle for 8 hours and are thinking of four more hours! And in the interest of full disclosure, let's do some math. Half of 656 is 328. We've ridden 73 miles over halfway. I'm not recommending it, but if you want to go for a new personal record, I'm up for it."
"Oh, well, when you put it that way... yeah, let's get a place for the night."
So we shut it down in Roanoke, VA, 200 miles from home, having ridden just over 470 miles for the day. Trip mileage stands at just under 6,100 miles.
We expect to be home tomorrow by noon.
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| Spotwalla track for the day (marker #174-196) - starting to overlap with outbound leg |
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| Spotwalla track for trip to date - starting to overlap with outbound leg |
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