During the route meeting, I was starting to feel really nervous about getting on the road and the quote of the day was from the girl that had died two years ago on our route by a car. All of the things combined with biking towards the Atlanta traffic was a little overwhelming. But I didn't not want to miss out on the day.
I departed with Kat, Cassie and Travis. The red lights kept separating us so it ended up just being Kat and me until we caught up with Amanda and Melanie. I didn't realize how scared I was until I pulled over and started crying. The traffic wasn't that bad but cars were still passing quickly and closely. Kat, Mel and Amanda were all so sweet to me about calming me down. Amanda agreed to stay in the back to help with the car anxiety which helped a lot. We got to the top of the hill and I had to pull over again due to nervousness and started dry heaving. So to take my mind of it, Amanda decided to distracted me by taking a tractor photo.
I decided to keep going because I was determined to finish the day. But around mile 25, there were rumble strips for the car which made them really loud and left minimal room on the road for cyclist. A car clipped by closely and I decided that I need to get off the road because I was so nervous I wasn't riding safely. Melanie called Ethan and Eliana and Lacy waited with me.
They decided to distract me with hay bale photos which were a lot of fun. Also, haybale is really sharp so my legs actually started bleeding (I clearly have all the luck on the trip). I struggled getting on top hence the photos.
I got in the van with Ethan and were joking around that we would make being in a car scarier than the bike to help get me back on the road. Maybe 5 miles after that, we were crossing a railroad track and I looked left. And there was a train heading our way. The Ching-Ching-Ching train noises started as the arms to block cars go down. I must have just had a lot of anxiety built up because I screamed, "put me back on my bike!" But we made it to lunch stop. Everyone checked in with me and gave me hugs. I will admit I was a little embarrassed that I got upset. It was nice that people reminded me I had been hit by a car two days ago so it was perfectly okay to be upset and scared of cars. Marcus gave me earrings made out of his bike chain from last summer as a good luck/feel better charm. I call them my force field protectors. It was so sweet of him to do that and I did make me feel a lot better.
I ended up sticking with Ethan. Rachael and Kendra were in the van too due to health issues. Right as we were planning to leave, the trailer jack broke. Ethan had some super quick thinking and we used the car jack to pump it up to hitch the trailer. Immediately, I went back into intern mode by calling around town to figure out a new trailer jack. We ended up finding one at a local Home Depot and they gave it to us half off!! Next, we had to find an urgent care clinic for the other two. It was a busy day in the van.
We got back to the Boys and Girls Club in Norcross (our host for the night) and had to fix the trailer hitch. I'm really becoming quite the mechanic on this trip. Our showers were at the YMCA and were so nice!! Hot water!!
After showers, we were shuttled to a surprise dinner that was at a restaurant! They served us fajitas that were so delicious and filling.
When we got back to the host. Kat, Eliana, Marcus, Dan and I scoped out the best room that was hidden away like the Room of Requirement. We ended up having a therma-rest fight because they are kind of like big balloons.
Also my tan lines are getting pretty intense.
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