4/16/2015
Rode 102 miles
Rode approx. 7:30 hrs
Had a great fast pace drafting off Dutch again, got in 60 some miles before noon!
My phone rang, “hello.” “It looks like you are almost back to where you started.” “Shit!” We had made a wrong turn as we raced down the road, the scenery flying by in a blur as we peddled, in a tight group, with purpose. Our legs spinning as fast as we could move them, the push and pull of the pedals propelling us in the wrong direction on a loop road back to where we came from.
A storm was closing in on us. A local farmer pulled up to us in a red pickup and said “follow me”. We went with him and he offered us shelter and drinks. We talking to him for awhile, gauged our position and situation, then decided we would head back.
The others started back at a sprint. I stopped to adjust my rain jacket hood. Of course, it was still raining. By the time I adjusted my rain jacket, they were out of sight. I looked for a short cut on the map, decided to take a dirt road, well mud rode in its current condition. I 
came out in the ghetto, but was 10 miles ahead of them.
To make up for the extra miles that we went in the wrong direction, I took a road that the map said not to due to drunk drivers, heavy traffic and a lack of shoulders, but I had to try and make up for the time lost. I stopped at a liquor store to take off my rain jacket, it got really humid. As I was pulling my arms out of the red jacket, a guy gets out of his car with an empty 40. He talks to me for a bit then says in all seriousness “be careful.” “I will try”‘ off I go. I met back up with Stephen and Dutch, we pedaled across the Mississippi before calling it a day.
Adventures Of The Average Joe 