Life Behind Bars: We Have Ignition

I woke to my alarm today* did my stretches, downed a coffee, and was out the door by 5:00. Everything was already on the bike - three locking hard bags being one of the great advantages of a full dresser - except for my toothbrush, the drawers I was wearing yesterday, and the clothes I'm wearing today. And sunscreen, which just gets thrown in there anyway. And my mask. Don't forget the mask.

I'd just pulled out of the parking lot and down the little street that goes only to the hotel, in the pitch black, when I saw a shooting star pass across the sky in front of me . How cool. I smiled and hoped it was a sign.

The ride to Earth was not as quick as I'd timed it yesterday, for two reasons: 1) at 80+ mph on a desolate 2-lane road, you're *way* overdriving even your kick-ass LED headlights - duh. And, 2) as many times as I've been out in wide open spaces, I have NEVER seen the Milky Way. I've never had that perfect opportunity to look up into the night sky out in the middle of nowhere, far from light pollution. Since the clock doesn't start until I print that gas receipt, I thought it was a great opportunity out here in the peacefulness to pull off on a dirt farm road and do just that.

It takes your eyes a few minutes to adjust, and as fate would have it, the sun was already starting to affect the eastern sky enough that I did enjoy my brief stargazing but never did get to see the Milky Way.

Earth and liftoff went smoothly, and a quick detour a few miles further west to the New Mexico border gave me the necessary stretch to make the ride comfortably exceed the required 1,500 miles. Now I was trucking northeast at 85 mph into what would soon be the rising sun. I knew this, of course, and it's my preference anyway to deal with the sun in the morning when there's nobody out and it's not yet hot. Hammer down.

This entire ride, with the exception of a minor throat irritation that had me jumping to a worst case scenario, I've felt as good as I've ever felt. It's been amazing and kind of weird. At work, at home, or even on a road trip, you always get those drowsy afternoons. You get a stomach thing. On a bike for the entire day, you get cramps and aches. A headache. I'm in decent shape these days, doing my stretches every day, and except for a worsening burning vulcan nerve pinch in my left shoulder, which started a few days ago and has been manageable with repositioning, I can't tell you when I've felt any better. Almost waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I made a couple Route 66 tourist stops between Amarillo and St. Louis where they were convenient to the newer Interstate, and in 16+ hours, I made it 1,050 miles to Evanston, Indiana just short of the Kentucky border and just before midnight. This gave me my third Saddlesore 1,000 certification. I was alert, comfortable, and honestly felt like I could keep going through the night and get the 1,500 in 24 hours. Really. But, I was already a bit behind schedule on that, I didn't trust that I'd still feel that way at 2:30 am, and the other thing was, when I got to Moon (Pittsburgh) dead exhausted at 6:00 am, what would I do then? My plan was to get away from the city and check into a hotel. Not ideal first thing in the morning. So, I'm off the road in a Quality Inn. I've never been in a whorehouse in Laos, so I can't compare, but I personally have never been in a more disgusting place in my life than this room. Alarm set for 5.

*most of my posts are created well after the fact, especially when I need to hurry, but are given a fairly correct timestamp