Day 23: The White Line

73.97 mi 26.0 max 6:33.35 avg 11.2 mph

Today's adventure began with a trip to the ER. For the past two weeks, I've been intermittently plagued by little critters who ought to be obliterated with a wire bottle brush. Some of my good friends in camp have done their best to help me cope, but I finally decided to seek some intervention from the outside. Better living through chemistry!

Of course, that put me an hour behind everyone else, and made me DFL (dead last) until checkpoint, at the Frosty Freeze. Lisa & Eric were there - Lisa, Eric's girlfriend, could only do one week of the trip, so she chose the one with the most heat & wind of the whole summer. They invited me to stay with them, but I had to keep moving. Last night, Brian & I had talked about RAAM, and I'd asked him if he'd ever dealt with headwinds like the ones we were experiencing. He told me that he'd just tucked and put his head down and watched the white line on the road (the van following called out which way to veer if there was junk in the road). So, today, I tucked. Instantly, I could go 1 to 1.5 mph faster! It made a difference.

Although I spent the day alone, I had a really, really good day...it was me fighting the wind. I don't remember if I thought about much of anything besides the white line. It was kind of brain-numbing. It was smart to look up occasionally...if for no other reason than to see houses coming at me occasionally, or HUGE pieces of farm machinery passing me.

I did see a fawn today, and was within six feet of it. It looked really skinny...I hoped it still had a mom. It was probably only four months old.

We're staying in the Miller High School tonight. Some of us are sleeping in the BAND room, which is air conditioned. It's too bad there's no string program here - but quite honestly, I'm not the slightest bit interested in starting one. #1: The cycling would be dull. At best. Straight lines & flatness & wind. #2 The kayaking would be non-existent. #3 There are no mountains to climb.

There were a couple of instruments lying around the place, though, so Steve and I entertained a small crowd with a flugelhorn and a french horn, playing such classics as The Star Spangled Squeaky Banner. One final note: don't let your gummy worms sit in the sun, or they'll meet the same fate that Dave's did...