November 15, 2016 – Sunny, 80 degrees

Miles Today: 57

Miles to Date: 18,969

States to Date: 46

The excitement of the new President-elect, my Seattle vacation, and achieving a full year of cycling has eclipsed reporting on some of the best cycling of my trip. For three days I’ve enjoyed perfect Indian summer weather; cool mornings, warm afternoons, gentle breezes, and variegated foliage just past peak that laid a crisp carpet along the side of the road. The air is pungent and heavy, as if I’m cycling through miles of fresh laundered sheets billowing on the line.

I wear a baseball hat underneath my helmet to keep the sun off my forehead (sunscreen on your forehead sweats into your eyes and stings). Cycling is very hard on hats. I went through four before I found the perfect hat in Seattle last year – a durable camouflage model whose message complimented my spandex. I wore it for 12,000 miles, only to leave it behind when I returned to Seattle last week. I pedaled one day without a baseball hat while on the lookout for a suitable replacement, and got a wicked headache and sunburned brow as a result. I spotted a perfect replacement – a black McDonald’s visor – and inquired about buying one. Not available for purchase, but the manager gave me one. When I arrived at my host’s that night, he presented me with an official Surly cap “so you don’t have to wear that McDonald’s thing.” Within an hour I went from no hat to two. Such is the luck and life of a bicycle tourist.