We woke up early at the truck stop in the middle of nowhere and I went inside to use the facilities, get coffee and heat up oatmeal. The morning cashier was an oh-so-talkative 50-something crazy man. “You ready to ride them bicycles this morning?” “Yes, sir, after my coffee though!”. Then he came over, grabbed both my upper arms and said “Wow, do you lift weights? You dooo? I like a woman who lifts weights, that means she can do the chores and I can watch football”. He asked me and other customers questions like “You know how you can tell if you’ve been a trucker for too long? If you’re over 40, that’s how. You ain’t making enough money if you’re doing it past forty, might try something else”…and “you know what vegetable has the most pesticides in it?” (this one I chimed in with “celery!”), he said “Nope! Celery! Wait, you said celery… well, you’re right.”
We climbed 26 miles up hill in the morning. The next few miles were slightly downhill but really windy. I drafted behind Jacob so he got the brunt of it. He was a rock star!
We rested at a Dairy Queen in Ludlow. Thankfully the wind died down a bit when we hit the road again. As the sun began to set and we both started to feel better, I told Jacob “this is where we make hay”. So we kept going to a little town called  Daggett, where we saw a sign for “Peggy Sue Diner and campground”. Perfect!
We turned on lights to get us there but still it was too dark and cars flew by (it was shift change time at a factory).
We passed a Marines Training Center and the local dive bar. Jacob said “Why don’t you go in there, meet a marine, and find us a place to stay tonight?”.
We finally found the diner about 4 miles off the highway and ate a good meal with a fun atmosphere. I took a picture with James Dean. We asked around for directions to the camp site but it seemed that the closest one was five miles away in the wrong direction. No thanks… it’s late, we’re cold and there’s a motel next door. Done.
The only first floor room available in the motel was a handicapped one. Jacob said “Well I’ve been called that before so it’ll be fine”. It was fine except for the piddly shower. Low pathetic water pressure like the Seinfeld episode where they can’t get the shampoo out of their hair. After showering, Jacob said “That shower should be ashamed of itself”. But at least we were clean, warm, and logged 102 miles. We both felt good. Endorphins flowing.