Day 9

I woke up at around 8:00 am. As I gained consciousness, I realized there wasn’t a minute to lose. I scrambled to throw on my clothes, then put on my shoes. I grabbed my toilet paper roll and ran over to a log I had seen the night before. Pfew. Made it.

I read a few Economist Op-Eds before getting to work packing. I left at about 9:00 am, giving me just four hours to cover the next 23 miles to my friend’s house, where I said I’d meet her at 1:00 pm. That should have been plenty of time. I didn’t account for the wobbly tire though. It slowed me down a lot on the trail. It felt like I was always lightly squeezing the brakes, and I worked against that, walking up many hills. The steepest ones were at the Settler’s Cabin park in western Pittsburgh. It wasn’t even fun riding down the hills on the other side, since I always felt that the bike might lose balance if I went too fast.

I plotted my route directly to the nearest bike shop for repairs. On the way, I stopped at a Harbor Freight for Loctite and a torx tool for my bike panniers. My thought is that if I glue the screws into place, they’ll be less likely to fall out later on the trail, preventing the need for future repairs. I took the bike to a Trek bike shop. They estimated the repair cost to be $100, but were able to get to work almost straight away, and I got the bike back later in the afternoon.

While waiting for my bike to be done, I went to Central Diner next door and had a chicken avocado melt sandwich with fries and an orange juice. It was a great meal, and served in a good quantity relative to the cost. If I ever go back to Pittsburgh, this place will be a must. I also stopped at the nearby Hobby Lobby to buy a Thank You card for my friend. Nearly every card had a proverb inside, and I didn’t want that. I just wanted a simple thank you note. The best one I found was this weird patterned one with a cactus. But hey, I love cacti, so I guess it’s fitting. I also got a package of Toffifay to go with it. It’s a type of hazelnut toffee chocolate sweet that is fantastic. After I was done shopping, my bike was ready, so I paid and carried on to my friend’s house.

I had let her know of the issues, so she wasn’t surprised when I showed up around 2 pm. I actually went to the wrong address up the street first, which was awkward, but it eventually worked out. After initial greetings, I got my clothing in the laundry and got myself in the shower. It was really nice to be clean, and a lot of particulate dirt and leaf bits came off. I looked around for computer repair, but didn’t find any that were open or were able to provide quick turn-around service.

I spent the afternoon just chilling out, talking. It was what I needed. We had homemade chicken wings for dinner, and stayed up late talking and listening to music.