Heading West

After over one month of traveling I left the Outer Banks today and turned around to go back westward. It will make it easier to ride in the morning, without the sun in my eyes. Well, not that I am much of a morning person. Given that I haven't encountered temperatures way over 100 Fahrenheit (40 Celsius), yet, I'd rather ride I. The heat than get up so early. And while its kind of sad that my trip is half over, I am also glad that from now on, every ride will take me closer to home. I do miss home. My friends, my bed, living a normal live with more things than fit on my bike. But then, I wonder if I will ever be able to live a "normal" life again. How will it feel to be in the same place every day? Wake up in the same bed, see the same people, ride on the same roads. Will I be happy that way? How long will it last until I feel the need to leave again? There are still so many roads and so many places in this country I haven't seen. What kind of person will I be when I get back? Will I still be able to talk to my friends, will we still have enough in common? Will their lives have moved on in a different direction than mine has? I hope that nothing will have changed but I've been in similar situations before and I don't have the best feeling about this.

But well, I'm still on the other side of the country and I have a month and a half left to figure everything out. 

I do need a break again, that's for sure. Riding over 200 miles four days in a row, in this weather, does take a toll. And I will have a break staring tomorrow. In the Smoky Mountains. With, as far as I can tell so far, another couple of lovely people who will make me feel like home and make it hard for me to leave. And I can't wait.

I'm glad that I have left the humid heat behind. Today it was almost chilly when I had lunch. Fresh air, finally. Even though I got rained on a bit. And the ride today and yesterday was so beautiful. Mostly back roads. Through green and lush forests and tiny villages. Trees and green grass as well as pretty wooden houses with porches. But also poorer areas with trailers and lots of car wrecks. And an abundance of churches. There can't be more than ten people per church. And they have funny things written on their billboards outside. And the weirdest billboard, not next to a church, just a normal advertising billboard was the one that read "Dirty Dicks Crab House". My eyes are pretty good but I could not find an apostrophe, no matter how hard I looked. So, that place sounds like a brothel you really shouldn't go to.