I’ve got to figure out routines. So far, it has been all about the miles, or lack thereof. How much do I do at night to prepare for the next day? What is my morning routine? What about lunch? Dinner? Sightseeing? I think I had the right idea the first day. I just sort of lost control toward the end. The second day was out of control almost from the beginning. I also need to make sure I pack with routines in mind. It does not make sense to burry something that I might use for lunch or pack something the night before that I need in the morning.

The hills are killing me. Well, that’s not exactly true. Gradual inclines are easy enough, even more so than expected. The steep inclines and even medium inclines, however, are brutal. We don’t really have hills in New York City, unless you count the bridges. The most common “hill” would be about a 100 foot incline over a half mile or more.

On the other hand, with the extra weight, even a slight decline allows me to build up speed quickly and easily. The last two or three miles today were all downhill. I coasted at about 30 miles per hour.

For the most part, today was a better day than yesterday. I was mostly on state and federal highways, which generally don’t have the steep inclines that the local roads have. It was an absolutely perfect day for riding, mostly sunny with temperatures in the upper 60’s. I started to relax into the ride more and to enjoy the ride rather than simply focusing on the miles.

I came across an old cemetery. It was started in the beginning of the 18th century. Most of the graves I saw were of people who died in the 19th century or early 20th century. The older part of the cemetery must have been at the top of the hill, where the graves were mostly illegible. A note about its history mentioned that slaves were buried under the driveway.

The state park I had planned to stay at tonight only allows camping on the weekends until Memorial Day. Fortunately, there was a commercial campground across the highway. I don’t plan to ride tomorrow, except maybe to a grocery store down the road. The original plan was to take every fourth day off for the first couple of weeks while I get used to things. I just expected to be a little further along after three days.