The weather slowed me in Illinois, and my equipment has been giving me trouble in Indiana.
After I wore a hole clean through my rear rubber (leaving Illinois) my phone then started fritzing. The Verizon guy said it's probably because I took too many photos and used up most of the memory. So currently I am uploading said photos to the cloud, a slow process that is costing me a lot of mileage, but hopefully one that will fix the problem.
After all, I use this phone not only for photos and updating this blog, but also to find restaurants, crosscheck maps, and keep an eye on the wind and weather. It is the source of most of my information and when it isn't functioning I am riding a bit blind. Granted, I can improvise (and have) when the phone was down or out of batteries, but I don't like to be out of contact for long.
I guess I don't mind taking things easy today, being that it has grown mighty cold out, but honestly the cold hasn't really bothered me yet (so long as I am pedaling with the wind).
On the plus side the Verizon guy gave me a free, rechargeable external battery (and was awesome to talk to) and the people of the town of Advance were very nice company (My phone died, so I went east until I saw their water tower, steered for it, and used the computer in their library to reorient myself).
In other news, I have also upgraded my visibility. I have gotten a bigger, brighter blinker for the back of the bike and have a bright construction worker vest covering my pack. There were too many people getting too close for my liking as they came up behind me. The vest seems to have done the trick, but I still stay off of state highways now as if they were the interstate (because they might as well be the interstate at this point).
The guy at Dunums gave me a huge discount on the safety gear. :)
The sleep sack still keeps me toasty warm at night even at single digit temperature. :)
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