Day 14

First, I want to say happy birthday to my dear mother, who just might be reading this. Hope you have a good one Mom! I wish I could be there, but it's just a little bit too far for me to drop in for the day, I hope you understand!

Anyway, the bed last night was great. It's also nice to be able to set up "camp" and know that you won't have to pack up again for a couple days. I cleaned some clothes, and even shaved a bit for the first time since starting the trip, in order to look slightly more presentable. I still have weird tan lines, a bit of peeling skin from a mild sunburn I got on the first day of the trip, and my legs are a little nicked up from whacking them into things and from bug bites. But overall I feel just fine physically. I seem to be pretty good at self-medicating. On the way down, I've variously experienced numbness in my left hand, soreness in my right lower back, a stiff right knee, and a sore on my butt (from being stupid and trying to wear padded shorts. Never again!) But every one of those afflictions lasted only for a day or two; somehow when I'd become aware of them, they'd actually go away instead of getting worse, which I'm both surprised and thankful for.

Seems I've been eating a little bit too. I made sure I woke up early enough to take advantage of the continental breakfast here, and I mean I really took advantage of it. They actually do a great job with breakfast here at the Fairfield, and it's very easy to get yourself a complete meal if you want, or two or three complete meals in my case. I think I had about three muffins, a hard-boiled egg, two bagels, two Krispy Kremes, a bowl of cereal with milk, a banana, and a bunch of apple juice. Then around noon I headed over to the Kroeger (I should probably get a Kroeger card!) to pick up some supplies. I came back to my room, and ate a 6-inch sub sandwich I'd bought there. Then I had a peach I'd been carrying around for a couple days. Then a banana. Then literally half of an 18 oz. bag of Oreos. Then another banana. Then three-quarters of a bag of trail mix. Finally I felt a little full, so I took a nap for a couple hours until the concert started.

While I was watching the first band, it struck me as a bit odd to be sitting around essentially doing nothing, and I was actually hit by a desire to get back out on the road. Apparently I missed it already. I had no idea that I'd feel like that so quickly after starting my "break", but it certainly is a good sign for my motivation for the rest of the trip. It's probably not such a good sign for a couple weeks from now, when my trip will be over for good, but maybe I'll feel differently by then.

I met Peavy and Mike Terrana from Rage, and told them I rode my bicycle 1000 miles to see them play. They said I was putting them under a lot of pressure, but they'd try hard to make sure I wouldn't be disappointed!

During the show I went down the gyros place and got a gyro there, and then after the show I went back to my room and had another banana, and all but five or six of the remaining Oreos. I guess it's just a lot easier to eat vast quantities of food when I'm not busy riding a bike all over the place.