In the restroom in the hostel I found a scale, which according to James was relatively accurate. Since I've been eating junk food for days, I couldn't imagine having lost that much weight... I was wrong though: 14 lbs. (approx. 7kg) lost since the start of the trip, not bad at all :) I treated myself to a breakfast of three donuts at the donut joint next door, which James recommended. The donuts were great and the coffee at the coffee house was great as well. After taking pictures with James in front of the shop and saying goodbye to Andrew and Caitlyn who were also about to leave (Hap and Diane left much earlier) I set off.
As the number of towns along the route grows thin, it is becoming more and more tricky to plan comfortable distances each day. I plan to do only 50 miles today and do slightly over 100 miles tomorrow. This choice appeared to be wise as the weather today was brutal. A very strong southwest wind of 25 mph with gusts up to 38 mph in combination with temperatures in the mid 90's with high humidity (heat index above 100). In addition due to my late start I was riding during the hottest part of the day, so it was working very, very hard for each mile.
Eventually I reached Nickerson, where I stopped at the shop to get a cold drink and some snacks. I planned to camp in the city park here tonight. In the store I ran into Diane, who told me they were staying at the local senior center. I could stay there as well and Diane even offered to cook dinner for me as well. We ended up having a nice evening with good (and healthy) food and interesting conversations. The forecast for tonight indicates heavy thunderstorms with heavy 2 inch hail, so I'm very glad I ran into them and have a roof over my head tonight.
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