Day Eleven (30.4 miles, 412.7 total): When The Wind Blows

Scritch, scratch, slide. Scritch, Scratch, Slide. Ella is jumping on the mattress then running across the floor and sliding. She slides, then she runs back over and starts again! The sun is coming through the windows so I check my watch. 5:58AM. What is this dog doing this early in the morning?! She comes back again and I catch her, but she's too squirmy and slips away. Slide! I don't want her to wake up the other cyclists so I get up to let her outside. I'm sure they are already awake anyway. Ella jumps around in the grass for a few minutes before she decides she wants back in. The fluff ball decides she is going to take my bed and lays on my sleeping bag. I put her on her own bed and she leaps right back onto mine! Oh well I'm awake anyway!

I walk to the bathroom and get changed for the day. After I get changed, I open the fridge and finish off the last of a gallon of juice I had bought the night before. Soon Howin was up cooking the last of his bacon, which smoked up the room, and Celia was off to get breakfast across the street. I finished packing away my gear and ate a few bananas. Ella reluctantly put on her harness and ate the last little bit of food in her bowl. Celia was out the door by 7:30AM and Howin and I stood around talking about the routes some more. Around 8:00-8:15AM, Howin headed east and I hit the road west.

Knowing it was going to be a short ride today, I was in pretty good spirits and started at a quick pace. The first hill was tough as always, while my muscles got warmed up. At the top of the hill leaving Utica was a really nice cemetery overlooking the trees. I stopped for a few pictures and headed on down the road.

So far, so good. Its a warm day, but the sun isn't too high in the sky yet. I speed through the rolling hills passing by miles and miles of farmland. The farms seem to have grown and the houses now all seem to have ponds. Eventually I roll up to one farm boasting NO ADMITTANCE signs all around and the entrance holds a Tyson company logo. Great a chicken farm. And that's when the smell hits me. The odor is the demon love child between death and bad sweaty gym feet. I gagged a little bit when the stench seeped into my nose. Then the headwinds came.

Miles and miles of flat country side with a few hills here and there. This perfect cycling section just became an enormous wind tunnel. The smell drifted away momentarily, before ANOTHER wave hit me like a brick wall. Chicken farms on both sides of the road. Perdue and Tyson. Obviously they didn't want anyone to see what was going on inside, but I honestly didn't care either. I just wanted to roll on from those farms. The chicken farms are actually kind of funny from the outside. It was like looking at barns for midget animals. Rows and rows of these neatly kept buildings. The winds were making it very difficult for me to leave that awful aroma behind. I dug my heels in and pressed on against the wall of wind.

On the bright side my speaker was charged and blasting some tunes! A few miles later, the smell wafted up one last time. It was a giant Tyson Chicken Hatchery. I pedaled as fast as I could for the bridge up ahead. Considering the wind, I wasn't moving very fast, but I made it! A green road sign stood like a lighthouse in a storm SEBREE. I was close now. Just a few more miles and I would be home free! I think the winds didn't like that idea and picked up just a little bit more. But with the thought of air conditioning to beat the rising heat, I charged on. WELCOME TO SEBREE! Success!

I ran into  Dollar Store in town and bought a Gatorade and a box of Oatmeal Cream Pies. The lady at the counter was kind enough to point me in the direction of the church and I left with my prizes. A few minutes later I ran into Celia who had stopped in a small restaurant for a bite to eat. After a few minutes of chit-chat we were off to our destinations.

I arrived at the First Baptist Church to meet Bob the owner, I believe, for a tour of the building. He was extremely nice and even told me a few alternate routes for the next few days. I enjoyed a real towel for once, instead of my pack towel, and nice clean showers. The church is huge and the downstairs where I am staying has a great set up. I'm about to go scavenge for food, so now I will leave you. Thanks for keeping up with Ella and me and we hope you continue to do so!  Thanks for all the comments, they keep us cruisin'!