danville, il

Today wasn't that much fun. It was cold and my feet were numb most of
the time. Maybe one day I'll design some bike booties that work. I
pedaled and pedaled under the featureless gray sky. It's impossible
to tell what time it is by the sun because it's all gray and dark.

It was a bad day for dogs. I must have been chased by twenty of them.
Mostly I'm going fast enough that I can escape, or I yell at them and
they stop. There seem to be many more here than out in the country.

As I felt more emboldened, I thought I would push it by taking a video
of the next dog encounter. Sure enough, as I crested the next hill, a
couple of medium sized dogs came at me. I fumbled with my camera and
started recording. As soon as I started, about five more dogs came
running out from behind this house. I pedaled as fast as I could but
I was still in low gear from the hill, and I couldn't shift because I
was holding the camera. I shouted at them and almost crashed.

These weren't even regular farm dogs. This shack was out in the woods
and the guy was probably brewing meth. So these were foaming tweaker
dogs who probably hadn't been fed in a week. I was legitimately
scared for quite awhile after I escaped.

I got a motel room tonight on a commercial strip north of town. There
was a Wal-Mart about a mile up the road. I had to get some new socks
and some food, so I walked up there. As usual, there were no
sidewalks, just a curb with cars whizzing by. I've noticed this in so
many cities that I've passed through. If I want to walk down the
street, I have to walk through yards, car dealerships, and cemetaries.
By walking, I feel like a trespasser or something. Walking a little
more might be a good idea for some of the folks I see. But it's
dangerous and unpleasant to walk, so I guess I wouldn't recommend it.