I’ve said that other days were hot, but this felt like the hottest day yet with a heat index of 103-108. I got out the door at 11, telling myself I only had 50 miles to ride and not wanting to leave the air-conditioned confines of my motel room. Well, you can guess how that ended up. I kept staring at my bike computer not believing how slow I was going. After 30 miles I pulled into a deli to get some refreshment and the guy behind the counter took one look at me and said I should hang out inside on a stool for 30 minutes. I chose the metal stool since I was so sweaty and sat down. Within 10 minutes there was a circle of water around the entire stool, not to mention a small pond on the stop of the steal stool seat. I didn’t actually know how hot it was until I called Darlene, my host for the night, to tell her when I’d be at her place. She mentioned that there was a heat advisory so I had to look it up and right at the top of the Weather.com page – “urgent heat warning, don’t go outside unless you have to” message in call caps from the National Weather Service.
I made it another 12 mile and had to cool off again for a while on the side of the road and then did the last 8 miles to their place. It’s a beautiful log cabin style house on 7 acres with a garage converted into a massage office for Darlene’s practice. I got to sleep inside it with air-conditioning 🙂 As soon as I was done with my outdoor, dual shower head shower, Darlene’s husband Ken brought out a tray of hamburgers, watermelon, pickles and brownies for me to eat for dinner. They already had plans for dinner, but wanted to make sure I was taken care of. How cool is that?! Thanks guys. Their dog Russell kept me company during dinner on their deck.
After that I went to the Moon Lodge (pic), a screened in room on the property that Ken built for Darlene from recycled dock wood. It’s painted purple, with carpet and two comfortable chairs inside. I tried updating my blog from there, but was so sweaty from the heat that I had to retreat into the massage office to finish it off.
Once Ken and Darlene were back we hung out in their living room for a couple of hours talking. Darlene is an avid cyclist and had actually just gotten back from a loop up in South Carolina going through many of the same places that I did. She also joined in on a ride with a group of young women that were riding cross country visiting schools to give presentation and leading bicycle rides for students as part of a Safe Routes initiative. Ken is also interested in cycling, but plans to wait until their daughters are a bit older before joining Darlene on her adventures. I think it’s really great that he is so supportive of her cycling.
We also talked a bit about hunting since Ken has a blind set-up behind his house to hunt deer (his yard is that big). There is some work involved with the actual hunting, but the real work starts when the deer is down and you have to drag it out of the woods. He was telling me about having to haul a 200 pound dear a mile through the woods and then hoist it onto the roof of his car to strap it down. He fell into a dead sleep in-between the two tasks for three hours. Talk about earning your food. I can see the appeal of hunting closer to home.