As I was thoroughly enjoying my bagel on Tuesday morning, my attention tuned into the Weather Channel that usually remains background noise during breakfast as I try to fight my morning "stooper." There was a forecast for severe thunderstorms, capable of hail up to the size of a nickel, and winds up to 40 mph. Great...
I quickly finished my breakfast and rushed to investigate the weather forecast online. The storm was just West of me, but was about to hit Louisville, and then Shelbyville. I looked outside, and it had already started to rain, and we are not talking a sprinkle, either. Originally, my plan for the day was to make it a nice and easy 60 miles or so to Williamstown, KY, just south of Cincinnati, and then the next day I could go to Xenia, OH, and then just West of Columbus to stay with my boyfriend's sister. And as thunder started booming, I realized that I was stuck for at least a little while.
The rain and lightning was absolutely relentless. The hotel agreed to let me wait until 12 pm to decide if I was stuck there for the day or not before charging me for another night, and by noon, the lightning was still flashing. So, I really didn't have another choice but to stay.
Naturally, three hours later it started to clear up, and I was stuck as I wasn't sure what to do, because I had a few hours of daylight still, and I could still make some mileage that day. The forecast for the rest of the week was showers and thunderstorms. Unfortunately, I had already paid for the hotel for that night, and I had the option of staying, enjoying my recovery day, and splitting the next two days into two long days, or loosing money by trying to make some miles. I don't like wasting money, and I hadn't had a full day off in two weeks, so I stayed put. I went next door to Walmart and got a new toothbrush and a razor and lotion, and also some food. I was craving carrots and dip (I haven't had carrots in the longest time), so I bought some blue cheese dressing to go with them and so I could put some on the dehydrated Buffalo Chicken mix that I had waiting for me back at the hotel. This day was looking pretty darn good!!!
So, I enjoyed one of the messiest sandwiches ever that I created via microwave, (ciabatta bread, chicken buffalo stuffing, avacado, blue cheese, and american cheese melted perfectly... it sounds pretty good right?) I neglected to go ahead and refridgerate the blue cheese dressing, and about 5 hours later, decided I would enjoy the carrots and dip. Mmmmm. Not so much.
At 3:30 in the morning, I woke up with a twist of nausea in my stomach, and I knew, as I tossed and turned, that things were not going to end up well for me. And, sure enough, one hour later, I found myself violently ill in the bathroom, trying to rid my stomach contents of the blue cheese dressing.
I fell back asleep, and woke up to a really tough decision. The thought of food was nauseating, but I hadn't thrown up in a couple of hours. I also knew I needed to make some mileage today and couldn't afford another day off. So, I mustered up energy to get up, and forced down a bagel. I started talking to a lovely younger couple from Chicago. The husband had been up for the majority of the night concerned about the weather. He told me that there had been 37 sightings of hail and 7 tornado sightings in the county over night. "I just wanted to make sure that my truck was okay. That is how I lost my last one." I have to say, he had more energy after the one hour of sleep that he had, than I would have after 10 hours of peaceful sleep. And as we chatted, the Weather Channel was focusing on the storms going through the area. We checked the weather online, and I saw that I had a window of opportunity beginning at 10:00 am to make it near Milford, OH, so I could still make it to Columbus the next day. Otherwise, the weather would trap me in Shelbyville again the next day with more thunderstorms. As I have said before, the rain is okay to ride through, it is just the electric storms that I try to avoid, as I have an Aluminum frame. I truly had no choice but to get on my bike and ride as far as I possibly could, nausea or not.
It was a tough morning. I had a bit of tailwind, which helped, but the hills did not do much to help my stomach situation, as the heavy breathing really roughed it up a bit. I must say the the smell of worms after the rain is not one of the things that is not conducive to settling an uneasy stomach. Neither is the smell of roadkill, and it seemed as though there was a surplus of dead animals on the side of the road that day, and everything was extra "fragrant."
I was really just trying to hold down the food that I kept feeding myself, because I knew that I needed it for fuel for my ride. My stomach and my mind were at war the entire day. I just had to suck it up. It was totally worth it though, because I knew I had some exciting days ahead of me (visiting with my boyfriend's sister on Thursday and then my Aunt and Uncle from Michigan on Friday). The thought of seeing friendly, familiar faces put me on cloud nine.
I found Subway for lunch, and chose a sub other than Black Forest Ham so I didn't ruin it for myself in case I did get sick again. There was an elderly couple there, and the husband asked if I was part of the cycling event that was going on in town, and was curious to know what it was. We started chatting, and then he went and sat back down with his wife. As he was leaving, he came back over to me and said, "I need to thank you for fighting this, because I am a cancer survivor. It has been nineteen years now." He told me that he admired my courage, but my response was that it was his courage that should be admired:. All I do is get on a bike each day, while he had to fight for his life. A couple at another table said that they just lost their friend to a brain tumor. And again, I found myself just find myself speechless, and reminded again as to why I got on my bike again today. This disease affects so many people.
I knew that there was a chance of rain around mid afternoon, and as I left Subway, the dark storm clouds from the West started getting rapidly closer and closer. I had been making very good time, and was trying to ride as fast as possible to stay dry and beat the clouds. But alas, they were quick to catch up, and I found myself on the side of the road huddled under a tree as the thunder and lightning began. There was nothing I could but wait out the storm, and it didn't really bother me that I was sopping wet and getting cold, because I was so excited about the fact that I had just hit the 3000 mile mark, one riding day after I entered the Eastern Time zone. I realized that my journey is slowly coming to an end. It is hard for me to fathom that 3000 miles have gone by already, and that I have less than 1000 to go.
I can't say how excited I was to lay down for the evening, after yet another sub from Subway. I was exhausted. I had pushed through the day and 89 miles, and it was a relief to be out of the cold, in a warm shower, and then in a warm bed. I think I probably could have gone to bed at 8:30 if I hadn't been distracted by lovely conversation over Skype. I was just so looking forward to the fact that tomorrow I would be in a real home for the first time in six weeks.
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