I am tired. Tired of climbing. Tired of semis and RV’s buzzing me. Tired of pedaling as hard as I can and only going four miles per hour. All the time, I am tired. All the rest days don’t seem to help, at least not for long. The only thing keeping me going is the fact I have less than 600 miles to go, but I can’t do 600 miles at four mile per hour.

I keep thinking it will get easier. After Dolores, it will get easier. After Cedar City, it will get easier. After Ely, it will get easier. It doesn’t get easier. Now, it is getting cold, which just makes the ride that much more miserable. Even with wool socks, wool sweater and wool hat, it is cold.

I am getting close to the end of this journey. I don’t know what I am going to do when I finish. I thought I would have some grand revelation about what to do with the rest of my life, but after 4700 miles . . . nothing.

Eureka may be the end of my journey. I’m not sure I can go on. There is a common bit of advice in bicycle touring when someone thinks about quitting in the middle of a tour. It’s okay to quit, but don’t quit after a bad day. I’ll keep going at least until I have another good day. I might make it to the west coast before that happens.

It was a slow, cold, miserable day. When I finally reached Eureka, a young man asked me about my travels. He and his wife have thought about doing a similar ride. Despite my day, I found myself encouraging him to do it. Maybe that’s a sign that I need to keep going.