Day 128

I woke up at 5 am. Packed up and said goodbye to Angela. It would’ve been great to have been able to spend a few more days together but we both had to keep going. I was on the road by 630. The sun was just coming up. I took a picture of the rest stop that I will remember forever. 
I chose to take the dirt roads again. I had about a 24 mile day ahead of me. 24 miles isn’t that hard for me anymore but it takes a long time to do. The issue that I was facing was to try to beat the heat. It gets soooooo hot in the afternoons so I wanted to get there asap. I went about 9 miles to Pierceville. It’s a small town with a huge grain elevator. 
I went by the elevator and a couple of workers came over to say hey and shake my hand. A woman came out of the office with a couple of cold waters. They all helped with directions for the roads ahead. I thanked them all and went ahead to a shady spot to eat some trail mix and take a break off of my feet. 
The next stretch was pretty cool. The scenery is beginning to look more and more like “the west”. I saw a lot of jack rabbits and a snake or two. I came up to a spot in the road that was soaking wet and muddy. I had to go through it. It was really hard but I made it. Mud was all over my shoes and Lieutenant Dan. 
I walked and soon after saw another muddy puddle. And another and another. The last one was a basically a lake. There was no way to get through it. I had to go off the road, through snake infested brush, to the railroad tracks to get around it. Railroad tracks are really annoying with a 12″ front swivel wheel. It was misery. But I had to figure it out. 
I got through and the road got better after that. I was beat though. I pushed on until I found a place to rest. A stack of concrete slabs stacked up next to the railroad tracks. I plopped down and hugged close to the concrete to get into the small sliver of shade that it provided. I realized that the rest of the day was going to be rough. 
It was hot as hell at this point. I rigged up my umbrella and was able to get some shade. I hadn’t used it in a while because it has been too windy to. It was broken on two of the spokes. So I was walking with a half broken umbrella going down dirt roads. I looked completely insane. I probably am at this point. 
The road turned to asphalt and I was very thankful to have a solid surface to roll on. There were a few more cars at this point. I didn’t care at all about what people thought of me. The half broken umbrella was saving my life. I came to an intersection to where I had to get back on hwy 50. I took the umbrella down because the big trucks would blow it away. I couldn’t close it because of the broken spokes. I tossed it into a dumpster and went onto 50.
I was cooking. Literally being baked by the sun. I finally came to a gas station with a subway. I went in to cool down and eat a sandwich. I checked in with Robin as I was just coming into town. Robin was going to let me stay at her house for the night. She was the woman who came to bring Angela and I pizza last night. 
I had 2.2 miles to go to her house. About 45 minutes. I figured I could tough through that. So I did. I took back roads through neighborhoods. A couple of nice people stopped and talked to me. I felt like I looked like a mess. I was drenched in sweat and was roasting in the sun. 
I finally make it to Mecca. Mitch, Robin’s husband, was outside waiting on me. He brought me in and showed me around. I got some ice water and cooled down while talking to him. I was so thankful to have this home opened to me. Mitch and Robin are amazing. They took me out to dinner, I was able to do laundry, we had great conversation all night. I went to bed around 11 and fell right asleep.