I'm actually not equipped to camp in temperatures below... Like 5-8 C, and with the wicked North wind blowing it felt like 1 C. The proprietor said I could sleep in the barn, but the barn was really drafty with it's flapping tarp walls, so I pitched my little bivy tent outside.
The only warmth was I the kitchen area. I wished I could just put my mat down there to sleep.
I wore as many layers as I had along, tights, pants, two long sleeves and a t-shirt, and woollen socks and crawled into my down sleeping bag. But after sleeping about hours the cold woke me.
All I could think to do was grab a few large bath towels from the bathroom and use them to cover me more.
That worked, for a while. 3 hours later I woke again. This time I dragged the whole tent into the barn, hoping it would be even just a bit warmer.
Needless to say I had a bit of a rough night and was quite happy to get up at 5:45 am and find warmth beyond my sleeping bag.
There was a little space heater in the bathroom so I cranked it up while I boiled water to make up a hot oatmeal concoction I had along as well as a good cup of tea.
I was allowed to use the eggs, so I boiled a couple.
Things started looking better when I got warm and watched the sun rise outside.
Peach, the proprietor, said she had worried about me all night.
Too bad worrying didn't actually help me in the least!
Got packed up again so I could get an early start on my rather daunting 133~km day.
Lots of layers.
It was a lovely morning, albeit cool. Listened to music for the first 1 1/2 hrs, just so I could be encouraged, worship, and take the focus off myself.
Things I observed:
There are CO roads (county or country roads) and FM (always think of a radio tuning, but it's Farm roads).
I should've tried counting them, but I'd say about 25 loaded logging trucks went by me as I rode! A little intimidating, but most gave a wide berth. It was cool to see that when they were empty (coming from the other direction), they folded up the back end so they took up less room on the roads!Lots of roadkill. A wild pig, two housecats, a dog, a raccoon and a few other odds no ends :(
There seems to be an abundance of trailer park style homes.
I'm also a bit shocked at the abandoned and damages buildings sitting as they are. It makes me sad.
Concrete Hwy's are really... Annoying. There is a constant hum.
The last stretch was 35 Km's of Hwy 96, and it was mentally very hard, not to mention the physical discomfort of tender knees and sharp shoulder pain. I finally just pulled over onto a side road to take a break. Had a piece of special chocolate my sister had been sweet enough to send along, and sat in the sun and wrote... Well, this blog post :) that refreshed me for the final stretch.
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