The house was empty when I woke up around 10:30. John and Ester had gone off to church so I showered and had breakfast then waited for them to come back. In the kitchen there was a note for me that Don had called with the numbers of his friends Herb and Joan in Shelbyville, the next town down. I was definitely his pet project, and it was kinda nice. The two returned around noon. We ate and chatted a bit more before I headed off again.
Not much happened on the road. It was pretty much a straight shot, the road had a nice wide shoulder most of the way, and the scenery was serene as always. It wasn’t until I got near town that things started to get hectic.
I ran into a local cyclist, who seemed a bit drunk, but gave me sane directions for a short cut toward town which I took. Down that road I got my first “get your ass out of the road” comment which was odd since I was almost up on the grass. Once I got to the bridge going into town I thought I’d try Herb and Joan.
No answer at the home. No answer at the work number. I tried Don back to see if he had actually reached them, and no answer there either. I was already in town so the woods had thinned a bit, but I found a nice spot under the bridge that looked nice. Going to investigate it, though, I discovered it was occupied already, not quite like the gypsy camp in Georgia, but one tarp and bedroll is enough for one site so I moved on.
I finally reached Don and he confessed he had not reached them. He wondered if they may have gone away for the weekend. Seemed logical, so I left my phone on in case they called me back, but set off to find a place. No sooner did I start looking than a sweet young girl pulled over and said I could camp in her family’s backyard. I accepted and set off to find her home with her directions.
Two gas stations of directions later and many a long and twisty road I got to her street. I couldn’t really remember the house number so I described the girl to a guy who was working on his car and he didn’t know what I was talking about. I looked up the number I thought it was and there was no house there. The sun was waning in the sky so I gave up quickly and B-lined it straight back to town. Right when it was beginning to look dismal I was crossing a different bridge over the same Duck River as before and found a nice little hideaway where I set up and bedded down for the night. After a very filling dinner with only one eating I passed out for the night content.