Stay the course!

If I had to tell you what the most difficult thing about travelling is...
I'd tell you that the glory of meeting people out in the world, after being lonely, creates a true ache in your heart when you leave.

Last Sunday (May 21st), I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, drawing to a close, the first leg of my trip. 1350 miles and 15 days from Vermont to Madison. I spent 6 days there, in order to spend my birthday in a nice comfortable place. Grace got there during my time there and we were able to spend our time wandering the city, finding good coffee shops, looking at bike stores, and eating good food together. But yesterday, I left.

What seemed to be the hardest day of my trip so far, yesterday i biked from Madison, westward in a state bicycling trail and connected with rt 18 which I planned to take all the way to the Mississippi and across the entire northern section of Iowa. about 40 or 50 miles away though, I broke. It felt as though everything in my body was telling me to turn around. "Go to comfort" "What are you trying to prove anyways?!" "You're biking the wrong direction!"

With a little over an hour spent at a gas station, calling friend, calling Grace, Writing in my journal and crying, I committed to continuing moving forward... Stay the course!

I feel confident though that I must cut my trip short. I can not possibly go through all of June and all of July without seeing my wonderful friend back in Madison, all the while I am alone and striving.

No one told me that this was going to be easy, and I told myself it would be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am feeling beaten down. I just want to get to Wyoming, Run my race, and take a train or bus back to my new home. This is too hard.

So here I am, in West Union, Iowa. Apparently this town is the border town between the "driftless" region and the flat lands. Driftless being the region that was unscathed by the glaciers, leaving it hillier than most of the land between here and New York, I'm still cranking out the miles though. 120 yesterday and I'll probably match that today. I'm too bored and lonely to stop for too long, so I just bike hard and let my feelings leave me in the form of sweat and heavy breath.

I know though, that I must stay the course.