Sophie's Choice...

AKA: A dilemma offering at least two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. I spent a lot of time riding the last few days thinking about some of the decisions we are faced with on this trip and the consequences and comedy that go with them.

For instance, when we reached Ft. Wayne, IN, Jeff and I were sitting at a diner near our hotel (and the 5 gentlemen's clubs around it) and Jeff suddenly looked up and said "Holy Smokes! We are in Ft. Wayne! I only planned up to Ft. Wayne!" Decision faced with: where to next? While the answer to this question literally changes every day, we have realized over the past few days of rain, wind, and brrrrrrrr 'cold' temps, we are not going to be able to tackle the 'Northern Tier' cycling route we had originally wanted to travel. That route would have had us going through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and some other cool states we haven't been to but would like to see. Decision made: take an improvised route in a south-westerly fashion until we run out of gas or hit the Pacific Ocean... or Colorado... or wherever we decide is the finish. We've tried to get a little better at planning ahead, but even today we were supposed to end up in one city... and here we sit in a completely different city and will not even end up going through the original one we planned to be in. Weird!

So back to Sophie's choice. The first and foremost is: Highways vs. Backroads. Often when we ride we are able to decide between taking country roads and riding along highways. The obvious downfall to riding along a highway is riding down a road with cars going 60+ MPH and hoping all of them notice that you are there. Another downfall is... that its actually kinda boring. The great part about riding along highways is that the roads are always pretty good (hence, we go faster) and there are NO DOGS! :0) Riding on backroads is more enjoyable because Jeff and I can ride closer to each other and chit-chat without worrying too much about getting mowed down by a car. HOWEVER, when we are travelling on a backroad, we are traveling in the land of crazy wolf-dogs... dogs with the power to smell you from 5 miles away and somehow magically teleport itself to within 6" of you... sometime without you even noticing!

My first flat

So its like... "Highway or Backroad?" Well, I'm a little bored with the highway, so lets do backroad. 5 seconds later... BAM! There are two wolf-dogs and their little mangy friend chasing you down the road. The weirdest part for me is Jeff's reaction to getting chased by dogs! Yesterday we were chased by no less than one million dogs, and Jeff was like "this is like a video game! The dogs come out of nowhere and I'm, like, on them!" I swear... I'm on the brink of a meltdown, and Jeff is having the best time ever getting chased down the road by random and huge dogs! What a weirdo! Luckily, we now have a method for how to deal with dogs when they chase us --- I ride like hell and Jeff rides up on the dogs and yells at them to "stop it!" So far its been working like a charm. Yesterday, one GIANT black lab LITERALLY came out of NOWHERE and ran up on my left side. I dont think I've ever heard myself shriek in terror so loud in my LIFE! Immediately I started pedaling like mad and Jeff rode over towards the dog. Almost instantly the dog started galloping and I could tell he was most likely not going to rip my face off at this point. Jeff looks over at me and goes "I said sit. I dont know why I said that, but the dog looked confused and then started running like he was playing." Lol.

Didn't clip out of my pedals fast enough

So... Sophie's Choice for today? Ride in the rain to a free place to stay, or hunker down at the motel and try to make it where we need to go tomorrow? When weighing the options, its easy to see the benefits of both. If we stay in the motel and wait out the storm we get to be warm, dry, and can relax all day without a care in the world. At the same time, staying put in the motel causes us to lose a day of riding... and pay for another night of shelter. If we venture out in the rain and can actually make it to our destination, the payoff could be a free night at a new friends home with a home-cooked dinner and breakfast. Plus, we're now 70 miles further down the road. Since the weatherman seems to have been on vacation lately (the forecasts are more wrong than I've ever seen!), we decided to roll the dice and hope for the rain to let up. This... unfortunately... did... not... happen. 40 miles of riding in the rain and we're now hunkered down at a different shady motel in a totally different town than we planned on being in. Hey, you win some and you LOSE some!


Its not even 5pm yet, and I'm pretty sure I'll be asleep in the next hour. I'm so tiiiiiiiiiiiired.