CMAN ON TWO WHEELS

We left Atlanta and the hotel at 7 this morning (Eastern time) and after 11 hours of driving, we arrived in Dallas.  Home at last! The drive went well, just long.  No accidents to avoid like yesterday, just some congestion in particular the nearer we got to Dallas. The Mitsubishi Outlander Sport I rented did well.  Not to sporty, but it cruised at 80 quite easily. Now the dogs are happily chewing on their bully sticks while we catch up on things around the house.  I think we're all going to sleep well tonight!

I picked up the rental car this morning.  We packed it up and headed out just after 11am. After driving just over 8 hours, we've made it to the other side of Atlanta and are spending the night at a Courtyard by Marriott. 531 miles down and 768 to go.  Hopefully we'll be home by 6 or 7 pm tomorrow night and I'll get to see my puppies!

After 147 miles (today), I pulled into my parent's driveway! And, with that, I've ridden from my home to my parent's!  Woohoo! 😁 More to come later. 

I was too tired to post last night, but I made it to Lexington, VA.  I got a good night's sleep and am headed out again. This time to Charlottesville, VA.  Today is the last of the mountains and I'll cross over the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then it's all downhill to my parents. (Well, there's rollers, but still downhill.) I'll post up more this evening. 

I'm kinda dilly dallying around right now because it's cold outside. It's a balmy 61 degrees and that's cold (to me).  I just updated yesterday's blog post. After reading it this morning, I thought of some things I didn't post and, frankly, I didn't like the post. I guess I was more tired yesterday than I thought I was.  Anyways, enough lounging around and time to pack up the bike and head out. 105ish miles ahead of me. 

You wouldn't know it by the sun this morning, but rain is coming both here and in Radford (where I'm heading next). So, after getting caught in the rain two days in a row, I'm taking the day off. That's alright, the legs are feeling tight and a day off couldn't hurt. And Damascus is a nice little trail town. 

I'm 30 miles in for the day. It's been sunny and the roads amazing!  Heading to Berea about 45 miles away.  Just gotta say Kentucky has been beautiful!

Pop tarts eaten, check.  Orange juice drunk, check.  Time to head out. 116 miles today. Hope not to get rained on. 

I made it to IL and eventually Carbondale around 2:30 this afternoon.  Wicked tired and in need of a day off.  Gonna take tomorrow off.  More to come later. 

Another short day ahead of me. 91 ish miles.  Going to try to take the Mississippi levee road. That'll flatten things out some I hope. 😀

And, man, the hills were tough this morning. More to come later. 

I'm all packed up and have had the breakfast of champions - Pop Tarts and orange juice.  Got 88 miles today from Eminece to Farmington. All in Missouri.  About 55 miles in, I've got a 5 mile climb up to the palteau of the Ozarks. That should be "fun".  Well, time to be off. 

Eminence, here we come. Only 106.5 miles today. LOL

I'm headed to Marshfield, MO today and am about 18 miles in.  I started to write a blog post last night, but was to tired to think. I rode 140+ miles yesterday. 132.9 to the bike shop to get my bike looked at and another 7.8 to the hotel. And, trust me you watch those .1 miles when you're as tired as I was.  Hopefully I'll be able to post some ride reports tonight. Yesterday was tough, but beautiful and today has already had some pretty scenery.  Have a great day!

Weather between here and my next stop (Joplin) isn't looking very good.  Thunderstorms and lightning.  I'll ride in the rain if I have to, but I have an aversion to lightning.  Also, they're forecasting possible rain overnight and into the morning in Joplin. So, it looks like I'll be spending another day in Tulsa.  I should have enough days in reserve for things like this, so it's not a bad thing. When I start seeing the forecast last night, I looked at the weather along my route for the next 6 or 7 days.  It looks like after today (and maybe a little rain leaving Tulsa tomorrow), it'll be dry. (that's a bit scary looking) (you can't see it, but the rain is really coming down) (don't let the lighter area on the horizon fool ya)

I'm just getting back to the hotel and wanted to send in a quick update. If you were watching my track this afternoon, you might have wondered what I was doing when I didn't stop at 125 miles.  I was feeling pretty good and decided to ride the last 55 miles or so into Tulsa. Crazy, I know. 185 miles for the day! Since I was going to be in Tulsa anyways, I'm going to take tomorrow off and chill. I'll also post up some pictures and write up the last two days. So, stay tuned. 😀

I'm about 17 miles in with another 108 to go and it's breakfast time. Pop tarts and orange juice. It's really pretty out here. I missed a great picture that I would have liked to upload here.  I came over a rise and the sun was shining over farm country with fields on the left and bailed hay on the right. Was really amazing.  I'm looking forward to what else I'm going to see today. 

I'm off!  See y'all on the road.