Day 53

38 miles
Sleeping in was spectacular. I loved it.
I hung out around the State Park. I wanted to take a shower. It was 4 quarters for 3 minutes. I had 3 quarters. Oh well. I would have wanted more than 3 minutes anyway.
 I packed up after awhile. I stopped at a nearby convenience store. It was a little misty out. I just relaxed. I saw a couple of touring cyclists and spoke with them briefly. I smiled when I saw the Nutella stuffed in their pannier's mesh pockets. The touring staple food was in such an easily accessible pocket. It only made sense. I ate it every meal. And truth be told put on foods that most people wouldn't dream of doing.
I got a call from Lily at about 11 am. I met up with Matt, Paul and Lily at the nearby grocery store. The Flaming Wheels High Road Bike gang was reunited. After some shopping and rejoicing we headed back into town. Paul headed to the bike shop, the rest of us headed to the library. Paul neeeded a new chain and cassette (that's the gears on the back tire). I was sure Upstate needed some new parts and care as well, but it since I was only 10 or days from the coast I figured Upstate could wait.
 We had a goal of 50+ miles for the rest of the day. This was ambitious considering it was about 3:30-4 when we set out again.  The road was curvy and the shoulder narrow. There were numerous trucks zooming by us. It was a little too close at times. I of course was always at the back of the pack. So I was surprised to see Paul waiting at a cross roads. He wanted to veer off on a side road to follow the Adventure Cycling maps. It was longer but it would take us off the road with the trucks almost clipping us.
The ride was easy and mostly flat and Paul slowed to my pace so we could talk during our ride. The alternate route proved to have some beautiful views. It was especially gorgeous watching a storm roll in. We donned our rain gear. The storm was brief. And we continued on. It wasn't too long before another storm was rolling in. I stopped to put on my rain gear again. But as I was ready to pedal on I felt the rain. But it hurt. It hurt a lot! I took cover in the trees nearby. Paul followed. The marble-sized hail was coming down plinking hard against my helmet. I was beginning to think I'd end up with bruises or welts from the constant pelting against my skin. Paul spotted a wagon trailer nearby. He crawled under it. I followed. We were under for a few minutes before it finally stopped. After taking a few pictures to document the event we pedaled on.
We ran into Lily and Matt a short time after. They had taken the other road and had been waiting for nearly an hour. They were worried about us. They hadn't run into the storm at all.
We rode on, but it was getting late. We decided to search for somewhere to camp for the night. We stopped at a little store in a "town". Towns seem to be a school and/or a post office and a store out here. We asked around. We were presented with a few options, but eventually opted to find our own place to camp. We came across what seemed to be an abandoned State Park station. We thought it looked like a good place to camp despite being posted as closed. We were worried about animals and moved all our food far away from us. They regaled me with their tales of Glacier. I was a little sad that I hadn't gone with them. But remembering my headaches and the way I enjoyed the mountains I was glad I went solo.
We agreed to get up early. I was asleep around dusk with another headache.