delay day

that's right, it's delay day. what does that mean? it means nothing went as planned.

first, though, a few observations/requests:

1) please people; drive on the right, pass on the left. it's not that f@#king hard.

2) whoever told me the PA turnpike would be vacant of trucks because it was too expensive (you know who you are) is a big fat liar. what was the first clue? oh, how about the sign that said "heavy truck traffic" when i first got on the thing.

and now, the day:

i actually got to sleep in relatively for me, until the ripe old time of 7:30, when i got up and got about my day. i think i already mentioned earlier the tire adventure, so i'll just gloss over that. i got new tires and got to hang out a bit with an old friend i was unaware lived so close to falls church VA until i called him on a whim, and then i was on the road (finally). i got going around 2pm.

now, it was a late start, granted, but i was actually in a good mood. i was having a horrible time until i got to the actual dealer. once i got there safe and realized i was able to get new tires the same day (and in only a couple of hours) i cheered up considerably. i got on the road tired but content. how tired i was, i didn't realize until i got going. i didn't make it out of maryland before i had to stop and get some coffee (i drink coffee on the road. it's cheap, available and very tasty when you're cold and tired). it was also a little colder than i originally thought, so i switched out my gloves. after that, however, i was chipper and ready to roll.

things went fine for a while after that. i got some miles down on I-70 before heading into pennsylvania and jumping on the turnpike (which is also I-70, as well as I-76). the drive was actually quite lovely, despite being on an interstate. western PA has some very nice country, up in the hills among the forests. the low clouds intermingling with the trees presented a very peaceful image, and i was in high spirits. it was drizzling on and off, but that's not much concern to me, since i'm used to that type of weather, and i was geared for it.

this kept going for a while and, unfortunately, so did the rain, increasing from a drizzle to showers. when i stopped for dinner at one of the travel stops, i was a little cold and a bit wet as well. after eating, i knew it was only going to get colder and, hopefully not but possibly, wetter, so i geared up as much as i could. i went balls to the wall and put on every piece of warm gear i had. it consisted of:

-the liner for my pants (which i honestly thought i would never use on the trip)
-both my long sleeve shirt and my pullover
-a garbage bag cut to go under my coat for wind coverage (this worked awesomely, by the way)
-my light jacket
-the cooling vest, dry (thought another layer couldn't hurt)
-my outer jacket

throw in my balaclava for good measure, and i was warm and happy. seriously, i was perfectly comfortable on the road and ready to get to cleveland. unfortunatly, three things happened all at once. 1, it got dark. 2, it started raining heavily. 3, the road got torn up (construction). the construction had been happening on and off, and resulted in iffy road surfaces all throughout the turnpike. when you combined that with the rain and darkness, my visibility turned to almost nothing. if one of these factors hadn't been present, i might have been able to keep going. but the way it was, at the best of times i was going about 5 mph under the speed limit with my brights on and still barely making out the road. not the best way to travel.

so when i saw an exit for a hotel a few miles before the ohio border, i reluctantly accepted my fate and decided to let my mom stop worrying (i'm sure she had a suspicious, nagging feeling of dread the last hour or so). so i'm in beaver falls PA (i had to ask at the front desk) for the night, running my clothes through the dryer and hoping my gloves will dry out by tomorrow (they weighed about 3 times heavier than normal). because though my pants worked great and everything under the garbage bag was dry, my coat once again did zilch for any type of water-resistance. i guess after you've had a coat almost 10 years it tends to wear out. who knew?

the plan is this:

i'm continuing on to cleveland tomorrow, to hang out with my good buddy and go shopping for a new coat. i've heard that scotchguard can work as well, but i need more than a temporary solution since i'm also commuting via bike this winter to work (fyi: during the winter, it rains a lot in seattle). i'm spending tomorrow night in cleveland before continuing to head west on wednesday.

this puts me officially one day behind schedule. that's ok, though, because i needed to add a day somewhere if i didn't want to beat my brother to his house in walla walla. i'll be a day late into chicago and omaha, and then take 4 days to walla walla. looking at the map, i'm thinking my approximate stops can be around badlands SD (riding through the park in the morning), sheridan WY (where i may have a place to stay, thanks to a good friend's family), then through yellowstone the next day to butte MT or thereabouts, and then to walla walla. this does cut out craters of the moon but, to be honest, i'm not too bummed about it. i've heard it's just a bunch of potholes in the middle of nowhere.

and, to be honest, i'm starting to get a little homesick. i started to realize today just how big of an undertaking this is, and how much time i'm spending on the road. i'm still enjoying myself, but i think that when i get home i will be very ready for it. COTM would add a significant amount of time/miles to the trip, probably adding an entire day, and i just don't think it would be worth it.

so that's the new plan. hopefully these past few days of little problems and delays won't become habit. of course, if everything went to plan it wouldn't be an adventure, would it?

rftc,

scott