Home Stretch
At the moment, I'm in a Travelodge in San Luis Obispo...the night before last, I was at a Super 8 in San Simeon. Tonight, I'll be at the state park in Oceana, a mere 15 miles from here. It was either that, or a 59-mile ride with a 980-climb at the end of it to Lompoc. That didn't seem like it would be much fun, so I opted for a short day today and a shorter ride to Lompoc on Saturday. Then, 35 miles to El Capitan State Park on Sunday, unless I feel like pressing on another 16 miles to Santa Barbara, which I very well might.
So there's a distinct possibility that I'll be finished with the trip on Sunday, or Monday at the latest.
I'm not at all sure how I feel about that. I've been ready to be done with this for a while, but now that the end is fast approaching, my feelings are almost too complex to put into words. It's been such a long time...I have no idea what it will be like to not live this way. It's a bit frightening.
Also a bit frightening is the return of the old medicine ball in the chest...I think, but I'm not sure, that I can attribute this to too many sugary sodas over the past couple of days. I say this because my mind is fairly calm, but my body is ready to jump out of its own skin, and the only thing I've done differently lately is have drinks that are loaded up with high fructose corn syrup...I'm planning to use my mom's glucometer once I reach Santa Barbara, to see if there's any correlation between my blood sugar and certain body sensations that mimic anxiety.
So, today, I get to do a short ride and then, basically, hang out in a state park all day, which is not really ideal when I'm jumpy like this. If there wasn't a big climb between here and Lompoc, I'd do the 60 miles, but I know that with the climb at the end it'd be a long and miserable ride, with another even higher climb to do first thing the next morning.
Now, I've got to get packed up and checked out...
