Day 2

Location: Friend's backyard
Weather: Rain and Thunderstorms- WINDY
Temperature: 45-55 degrees
Hours of sleep: 8.5

NOTES
Nothing exciting here.
I had a ton of stuff to do with cleaning out my apartment and moving a few last minute things...which led me until almost dark.

Hammered to Mel's from the bike shop(which has become my "base station" of sorts") to beat the rain and setup.

Burgers and a Sam Adams. Yum

Faux Islands

Night 1 was awesome.
Thanks, everyone, for voting on my first evening out. It really was everything I hoped it would be, and it now fuels my excitement for tonight. I am so stoked to be doing this....waking up every day, knowing I have another adventure in waiting within the next 12 hours.

Sooo....last night. With less-than-stellar memories of my last tent experience in the rain, hail, snow, and thunderstorms 6 weeks ago in VT, I set out. I overpacked my Osprey with waaay more clothing than I needed and hopped on the bike. It would be a rainy, wet, 15-ish mile ride to the island I hoped to stay on.

Had a sweet tailwind all the way into Washburn, where I took a left on Gardner Creek Road. It started as pavement, but quickly turned to dirt and mud.
Although terrible for my bike, I have to admit... riding a dirt road on a road bike is probably one of my favorite things in the world. Bad part is, by the time I arrived at the "island", I was covered head to toe in light brown mud. I used one of my many pieces of extra clothing to towel off the caked up mess on my legs.
I put "island" in quotation marks, because as I stepped foot on it, I realized that it was just a lot of rocks with tall grass growing on it. The river still ran through it. Since it was impossible to camp on, I set up on the first good spot by the road that I could see. Daylight was done, and I wanted to get established.

A couple of sketchy vehicles went by around 11, which I didn't expect. This road was really rough, and ended only a half mile away. What were they doing out here? The first car stopped 20 yards past my tent for about 10 minutes. Thinking of the recent Amity murders(killer still on the loose), I watched, waiting for them to exit their vehicles in a rampage with their axes and hack me to death. Luckily, there was no encounter, but I did know this: they had to come back through sometime! I didn't really sleep until both cars came back through around 11:30 or so...After that, I zonked out HARD.

Woke up at 5am, packed up, and was on the road 45 minutes later.

I took my time coming back into Presque Isle...stopping at the Washburn Foodmart for some Nutrigrain bars and some coffee, and stopping to take some pictures of the amazing display of Lupines out on Parsons Road. Unfortunately, the light was very low, and the camera couldn't quite capture it the way I hoped.

Thanks again, for voting. You gave me an awesome experience!
Tonight, I'll be hiking/running somewhere....not staying on the side of a road, waiting to get killed.

Have a great day!
krp

The Sad Part

The sad part....
Isn't that I'm leaving my little hole in the wall after 8 months there- it's that packed, my apartment doesn't look much different than it did not packed.

I move all my junk to storage monday morning, and then I am officially homeless.
Perfecto.
"And the road becomes my bride". Thank you, Metallica.

Oh, I have decided to up the ante on this little experience. What true mountain man vagabond has a vehicle? Get rid of that.
It's in Turner, awaiting sale. Money in the bank.

Also, the beard won! I said polls would close on the 30th, but it was a landslide in favor of, and I wanted to start emphasizing the new poll.
Don't forget to get your vote in on the side bar for my first night out...We're only a couple of days away now, so I need to know whether I'm staying by a field, on a mountain, a river island, or by a lake!


Have a good weekend!
krp

FAQ

Since revealing my summer plans, I'm not surprised to learn that there are a number of different reactions.

There are people that:
Love the idea.
Hate the idea.
Think I won't go through with it.
Want to do it themselves someday.

All of these reactions, however, yield the same questions.
In no specific order, here they are, with my best attempt at answering.

When does this madness begin?
Sometime before July 1. It depends on my condition post-race this weekend.

Where will you stay?
I've been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have offered up their lawns, backyards, and even extra rooms during inclement weather. While this option might be appealing, I will make my best attempt at keeping it a wilderness experience. I also plan on "stealth camping" once in a while.

What?! You aren't gonna shower?!
You forgot I am a triathlete. This means going to the pool and gym. It has showers. I'm not going to be that gross. My hope is that you won't even notice a difference in my appearance, except maybe a little more tan...oh, and maybe the beard, if it wins. Polls close June 30! Get your vote in on the sidebar!

Aren't you worried about wildlife?
Look, the only beast out there is me. Just kidding. I will be taking the necessary precautions of avoiding bears. There are lots of them up here. I'm going to do my best to avoid bringing any food at all to where I settle down for the night. I'm not worried about wildlife. I'm excited at the opportunity to see a ton of it.

Those are the most frequently asked questions.
This blog is going to be really cool, not gonna lie.
It'll be slightly interactive, with some multimedia facets. There will be some video blogging, pictures, and brief daily updates. There won't be any large reports, unless I go on an epic trip, which I do plan on doing here and there.
I envision this as something you might read while drinking your coffee in the morning.
So brew it up, cue it up, and get your dose of the outdoors, TentMan style!

Thanks for following!!
krp

PS: don't forget to vote on the sidebar! Keep it real, or keep it shaved???