Day 24

40 Miles
I woke up and decided I would take my time and make it a short day. I treated myself to a sit down breakfast of waffles and eggs, oh and sausage. I washed it down with my sports drink of choice, chocolate milk. After breakfast I headed to Target to look for some bike gloves and shorts. My cargo shorts had ripped and my gloves were wearing through. The shorts were getting too big anyway, or rather, I was getting too small for them. I didn't find gloves, but I did find a really great pair of lightweight all purpose shorts. I also found a great shirt I could ride comfortably. I used a gift card to make my purchases. (Thanks Meg. You're the best, most supportive boss ever.) I did a load of laundry before I headed out into a sun filled day.
My ride was easy and mostly flat. The wind was at my back. I enjoyed the river view and the rolling hills and farmland that I was riding through. I also enjoyed the turtle crossing sign. Surprising to me, I saw more dead turtles than any one kind of mammal on my trip. There weren't any dead turtles near the sign. I guess maybe the sign worked.
I found a nice campground by early evening after just a few hours of riding. I set up camp. The campground had quite a few people there. The campers were curious and asked me about where I was coming from and where I was going. Being a good way into my trip now, they seemed more than impressed. Two guys from Wisconsin talked to me for quite awhile. They offered me a beer and, as I don't and have never consumed alcohol, I declined. They offered me coffee in the morning before they headed out fishing. I felt bad declining again, but I don't like coffee. They probably thought I was blowing them off. I wasn't, I just didn't need anything they offered. Nice guys though.
I further secluded myself after dinner. While eating I bit down too hard on something and ended up with a terrible tooth/headache. I took several painkillers and retired to my tent long before the sun had set. It took ages before the pain subsided enough that I could sleep.