Oklahoma!

(written yesterday, Saturday, July 12.)

Today was 92 miles, the first 54 of which were directly into the wind. Misery on 2 wheels. I rode the first 32 by myself, constantly berating myself for the difficulty of not being able to ride faster than 14 miles per hour without a full fledged asthma attack. When I found people at a grocery store at mile 32 and they were equally tortured, I instantly felt better. No, not rejoicing in other people's misfortune, but just happy to realize I'm not the weakest cyclist in the free world.
The last 40 miles though, heading into Oklahoma, were totally awesome - wind at my back, the landscape changing with every passing mile. Up until now, this trip has mainly been constituted by states and sites that I have already experienced - and seeing them from a bike has been new and awesome - but crossing into Northern Texas and then Oklahoma, which I've never seen before, was incredible. I took pictures of nothing and everything, and just generally rode with my mouth gaping open.


Tonight was McDonald's night and I now want to puke all over the place. I arrived there absolutely starving, but a McGrilled Chicken Sandwich, Fillet o Fish, Big Mac with Cheese, McLatte, soda, milk, and a sundae with extra hot fudge later, and I officially want to die or purge my stomach - whichever comes first. McBarf. Starting tomorrow I'm going to start eating better - it's amazing that I've managed to gain so much weight while biking 80 or so miles every day. It's kind of gross and moreover, I just want to feel better biking. I'm sluggish from tired muscles, but I think better nutrition would also help. It's hard when only carbs and junk food are abundant and I'm constantly more hungry than a starving dog, but I just need to pay more attention to what goes down the hatch regardless of inconvenience...
I kept my spandex on for way too long after the ride today (we didn't get showers until 6 pm and I didn't want to change into my clean clothes without showering), and now I think I'm going to have major butt rash problems. Cause and effect, once again.

Tomorrow morning we head to Memphis, TX after another McDonald's gorge. Neither the bike nor the meal are particularly appealing right now, but hopefully after a good night of sleep I'll feel better.

I've been kind of homesick the last couple of days. I don't know exactly what home I'm sick for, so I guess it's more of a loneliness that I feel. I'm constantly surrounded by good, hilarious, fun people, and I really like all of them...but sometimes other things from real life are still overwhelming and I don't know exactly where to put those thoughts in the context of this trip.

I can't wait to keep heading west; uncharted territory is exciting, and the fact that we've already made it almost halfway across the country is mind-boggling.