We woke up at our regular time, but we were really dragging. The hills yesterday were still being battled in our legs. I also had a drum thumping deep in my skull, so talking me into a rest day was fairly easy for taters. I finished packing (last one) and noticed everyone was trying to sneak a bit more sleep. As a team we considered a rest day, however being the last day of cool weather meant we wanted to at least make some progress. We decided to make it a short day.

I realized today that the road construction made us miss another attraction. We were unable to go to the local tiger sanctuary. Dang. Laura and Taters would have liked that.

I should point out, we did have 1 team rider who was ready to roll..........as hyper as always. No coffee even!

I spotted Roger on my trike before we started. He claimed he was moving it closer to the door for me, but I think he was making the brakes stick.

Laura smacks katie to wake her up. Actually Laura was helping her with sunblock to make sure she didn't miss any spots. Laura has upgraded to SPF 100, and has seen a huge improvement in effectiveness.

Half of our day was on brand new blacktop. Eventually we passed the construction crew, so the road degraded. Chuck gave this steam-roller a taste of shame as Chuck blew him away in a drag race.

Actually, the fresh blacktop was fun, and traffic was light because cars didn't want to deal with it. After passing the crew traffic got heavy and road turned terrible. The shoulders slowly became too dangerous to ride, and we had to fight for our lane with traffic. It wasn't safe to ride the edge of the lane because drivers in this area have no problem passing right next to you without moving over. We took control of the lane and forced several drivers to wait; it made for a long rest day (especially with the poor driving in this area).

We had a typical bar lunch (great fresh lemonade) at Baders Place in St. Mary's. The 2 bartenders were really nice; thanks ladies! Chuck ordered deep fried cream style corn..........I did not like it.

Taters and Laura were passed by a dumb dump truck driver right before Perryville; he didn't move over. Laura and Taters had a decent shoulder to ride on, while the driver sat at 20mph riding just behind them without giving them any extra room and not passing. There was no oncoming traffic, and it was easy to see for a quarter mile that the passing lane was clear. I suspect he was just gawking at our touring bikes, not realizing that it was making the riders nervous. The shoulder abruptly ended at a 6" drop off onto very soft gravelly sand. As the "very aware of her surroundings" biker that Taters has become, she did not swerve into the lane, knowing the dumb-truck driver was sitting there. She dropped off the shoulder and gently laid her bike down on the soft gravel shoulder instead of risking a worse injury. Taters dropped herself in an area safe of all traffic being sure to put herself clear of any danger; it was a very smart thing to do and plopped onto her butt and side (as recumbent riders do when they want to gracefully crash).

She was a bit embarrassed, but she said that she immediately knew it was the safest option. Fighting for the lane was no longer an option, jumping back onto the road would have been dumb, slamming on her brakes that hard was already maybe too late, and trying to ride through the sand would have been futile. She calculated the best and safest option, and did the right thing.

A few tiny scratches from some rocks in the sand needed to be cleaned up, but nothing that will be visible in a couple days. Taters has become an excellent biker in traffic. She knows where every single car is and where the cyclists are; she knows what drivers are supposed to do; she knows what common driver mistakes to watch for. I am very proud of her and I fully trust that she makes the entire team safer. She likes to ride behind or in front of me in the cities, we make a good team in traffic. If I miss something, she knows and calls out our signal. I definitely feel safer with her near me.

Taters calls out potholes she thinks I may have missed, crossing traffic, road debris, signs, animals, everything. She also doesn't hesitate to go through an intersection when she has the right of way, making sure to point to a car that the others need to watch for (because she suspects that the driver might not have seen all of us, or is considering a dumb maneuver). Her instincts are excellent, and she does a great job at keeping me defensive. Good job taters.

We went through our first roundabout/traffic circle today. Taters and I went first, Chuck pulled up the rear and secured the lane. Chuck was still upset with a motorist earlier, so he had no problems being the traffic cop. In the end, the circle was so much fun that we did it again (it had nothing to do with backtracking to find a non-smoking hotel). I can see how traffic circles can be a problem for cyclists. This one was narrow however, and it was quite possible to control the lane and traffic. The slow speed limit also helped.

After a quick fluids stop at Hardees, we went to the hotel, tossed some laundry in, and headed for the pool to relax. Laura took advantage of our first hot tub. She thinks her leg muscles are getting too big and she says they look gross (she thinks overly bulky muscles are ugly). Both girls have huge leg muscles now. Katies legs look almost as big as her waist!

Even Roger swam.

The hotel let us lock our bikes up in a conference room. Thanks Super 8! If you are in the Perryville area, stay here!

Chuck splashing katie.

Katie getting splashed. Don't worry, she started it.

We stopped for a quick gorging at a Chinese Buffet next door, and went back to the room for showers and bed. I have machine cleaned laundry for the first time in the trip! Twice I have forgot to include my laundry when we had washing machines. Oh well, I am getting good at doing it by hand.

If none of you have heard much from Taters today, she went to bed before 7:30 (though she did wake up a few times to send some text messages).

28 miles, 721 miles total

Google Earth KML File