Reading PA

   I think I rode 50 miles today.  My speedometer stoped working for a couple of days then started working again today about noon.  All the rain may have something to do with it.
   Got a late start this morning, on the road at 9:00 am.   I felt like I had cheated myself out of two hours of riding.  I hope from now on I can be on the road by 7:00 am.  There is not a lot of riding time as I need to quit about six because it starts getting dark.  I take about two hours of breaks  so that leaves nine hours of peddling.  I don't peddle down hills so I get extra breaks there.
   A big screw punctured my rear tire.  The tires blow up so hard it makes them more susceptible to puncture I think.  I had no success patching the tire and substituted a spare.  I don't think I've successfully patched a tire yet.
   Occasionally I reach for the gear shift on the bike frame rather than the handle bars where it is. 
The last time I had a gear shift on the fram was over 40 years ago.  I'm either forgetting I'm 60 or just forgetting, which is not good.
   I stopped at the Morning Call newspaper in Allentown PA but did not get to talk with a reporter.  I really need to call in advance and send an email with a press release but I don't have time for that.  Typically it takes me about five newspaper contacts to get one story.
   It was pretty flat riding today compared to Conneticut and New York state.   However I'm coming up on the Appalachan mountains and I feel like I'm getting ready to climb Mt. Everest. 
   I was looking at the shadow of my bike today, a dragon with a tail.  For a moment I imagined that I was the hero in my own adventure.    I'm surprised I made it this far and I'm also surprised how much I like riding.  I thought I'd only be riding about 6 hours a day but find I can comfortably ride 9.   When I was sixteen I typically rode eleven and twelve hour days while crossing the country.  It was also summer then and light much longer.
  This morning a cyclist asked me where I was headed and he showed me a bike path that  was about five miles in my route.   I love riding along the rivers and through all the farm land.  Rivers are all very high and near flooding it seems.  Weather was clear and warmed up to 70 today.  A few days of this is forcast ahead.
   I was going to camp out tonight but had tire trouble right as it started to get dark.  I lost my daylight window to find a camp site (tree to hang my hammock in)  so I stayed at a Holliday Inn where this computer is.