But the shelter served its purpose. I stayed dry and didn't sleep too badly, and no one came to bother me. I sent to sleep with it raining and woke up to it still raining. I decided since it was a short, 35 mile day, and I was tired of being wet, that I was going to wait it out. I ate my breakfast and did a fair bit of my lacking up without leaving the previous warmth of my sleeping bag. I stayed in it all the way up until noon, when I finally accepted I wasn't going to get out of facing the rain again. Once I accepted it, I found peace in embracing the innevitable. I got around and headed out into it once more.
It wasn't nearly so bad as the day before. And after some start and stop it died completely for the last couple hours of the ride. Especially with today being significantly shorter, it was easy going over all. Though I will say the first couple hills climbing out of Decatur are a bit steep, and reminded me I am not in the shape I was when last I climbed a mountain or biked up and down the cliffs along the coast...
I'm staying with my friend Steven Cain's parents tonight. I got into Dakota City and texted my him a picture of the house next door, asking if it was the one, because I couldn't see an address. ...Next thing I knew, I heard his voice, and was rather surprised to find him calling me over to the right house. He, his brother, and his brother's girlfriend were all all here visiting his mom for her birthday today. I got to hang out with them for a little bit before they headed back to Lincoln (and I was able to get a selfie with Steven to commemorate unexpectedly seeing him one more time before leaving the state). It was a nice surprise. His parents are also really great people who made me feel right at home. I've been fed, provided with a beer, socialized, and as of just now I even have clean, dry clothes. Heck, they even helped set me up with a stay down the road. I couldn't possibly ask for better.
...And I guess that means I ought to be thinking about sleep, because tomorrow will come soon, and it's a big 90 mile day. I am not at all in shape for it. But the weather should be perfect for it, dry, warm but not hot, and as calm a wind as you ever get around these parts. I might exhaust myself, but I should be able to make it happen.
Oh yeah, before I forget... If you should ever question that it's a small world, Brett Flemmimg of EVT in Portland used to work at a shop here in town and the Cain family knows him. I'm using an EVT mirror. Because Matt, manager at The Bike Rack, where I worked, also knows Brett and had been given one of his mirrors to try, and he swore to me it was the best out there (which, in as far as I've seen, it probably is). When people talk about seven degrees of separation for anyone in the world, I believe it, considering it seems to take about two to three for anyone in the state. There are connections everywhere you look.
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