Day 12

Well, it turns out my proclamation about the rain stopping was a bit premature. It started up again, and continued, and continued, and continued, all through the night. Which was plenty of time for it to start leaking through the top of my tent, and for my bike to fall over after its kickstand sunk deep in the mud. It let up around 6AM, so I ran out to the bike to grab some food, but then the drops resumed again. It wasn't until 10:00 that it stopped long enough for me to get the wet and muddy tent packed up. And of course then it started again just after I left, so I got a complete soaking.

It finished for good around 11:00, and didn't start again for the rest of the day. I made it to Fifield where I found a picnic shelter under which to dry out and clean up my tent. There was an old man in a white car slooowly cruising around the park, and the first time he went by, he said "You don't need to have the bike under the pavilion, do you?" I replied, "I guess not", and left the bike right where it was under the pavilion. I saw him four or five more times, and he never said anything more, but constantly gave me the evil eye.

The rain may have been gone, but it was replaced by a totally brutal south wind. I fought it for 13 miles into Phillips, and then decided I'd had enough. It was already relatively late, the wind wasn't going to stop, there was a tornado watch all around the area (and they actually blasted the sirens when I was in the library), and a motel sounded like a really good idea for the night.

On the bright side, I put my orange lenses in my sunglasses, and wow, did that bring out the color in the trees!