July 16
With my first overnight behind me, but my home and shop on the way to the ACA route, I made a stop at home to do the highest priority things that remained undone. Changed out the front tire for a new one, picked up some paperwork that I would finish during the early days of the ride, and more. I got rolling again around 3pm. At this point there were still items on the checklist that had been triaged off it instead of checked off, but the clock was ticking and I needed to get riding to reach Michigan comfortably by end of day August 4th. My day's destination in Petersham was along roads I've ridden several times in the dark (usually in the opposite direction). As it got to be 6pm, I began communicating with my B&B to let them know I wouldn't be arriving before 9. I called them again at 10:30 to tell them where I was. They then began expecting me as imminently as though I had been in a car. As I neared the end of their very long driveway, my phone rang. The proprietor was calling for a progress update, and was happy to hear I was there. Me too. To my surprise, I then spent several hours unable to sleep, and working on paying bills and doing other chores to do with launching the expedition.