Anyhow, Josh and I covered around thirty or so miles with no places to find water or food. To make matters worse, as I met up with Josh ahead of me on a crossroad, a baby black bear went running across the road. Terrified, we went zooming away looking for a place to sleep before nightfall.
After Josh and I settled down at our campground, we had a small dinner. Well, I ate a huge can of beans while Josh boiled a small amount of pasta and ate it without any additives. I felt bad but he wouldn't turn on his vegan diet. The baked beans I had were made with bacon. Eventually, we went to bed.
Snoring roared from the tent next to mine as I gained consciousness. It was late. Rustling about like a fish out of water in my tent, it came to my attention that the snoring had ceased. Another noise had taken its place. Someone or something was rustling through my pannier packs.
"Ralph, what are you doing?" whispered Josh's sleepy voice.
"That's not me", I replied, petrified.
The goddamn granola. I forgot to take out the goddamn granola. Teeth gnashed upon the nuts as it rummaged through the plastic. We were sure a bear had stumbled upon the food. Motionless, the breathing in my tent became rapid.
"What do we do?" I whispered to Josh.
"I don't know. Listen, I got the bear mace."
"On the count of three, we're gonna scream, okay?"
"Okay"
"One... Two... Three", we shrieked like
hell, Josh with a low baritone and me with a high soprano. The feast continued uninterrupted.
Seconds went by and we tried again. The eating stopped for a moment, then continued. I searched my brain for everything I'd ever seen or learned about bears when suddenly... I thought of something.
Bears eat in slow bites, they're bodies and mouths are large. This biting sounded rapid, the sound of the crunching echoing inside a small almost rodent-like snout.
"Josh. Josh, I think it's a raccoon."
"...Are you sure?"
"Like 85% sure..."
"...You wanna check?"
"No..."
More seconds ticked away.
"Listen, I'm gonna peek and check. Get ready with the bear mace."
Josh's tent prematurely zipped open. My friend was ready to defend me, and I trusted him. Wide-eyed, I grabbed my flashlight, slowly unzipped the bottom compartment of my tent, and peered from beneath the rain canopy.
There was certainly nothing taller than 4 ft. but I couldn't see from my angle. Fully unzipping the entire tent flap, I prepared myself mentally for whatever it was. A goddamn raccoon eating my goddamn granola and giving me a goddamn heart attack. He dragged the remnants of the tattered granola bag into the woods and dissapeared.
Long story long, Josh and I went to sleep. But not after hysterically laughing away the built-up adrenaline.
In the morning, we cycled for a short couple of miles before we found a convenient store that doubled as a Greek restaurant. The man inside, Giorgi (spelling may be off) moved to the US around twenty years ago but still spoke with a heavy Greek accent.
Another man inside, Dennis, came from Cyprus. He'd been in America for a long time, and found lots of success with his brother owning a string of chain gyms across the United States. Most notably in Queens, NY. Unfortunately, all the money he made in business (and some organized crime) came with a lot of negative side effects. His wife is nine months in rehab and he was struggling to stay clean to create a healthy environment for his wife. He had moved to the small town of Layton to try and get away from all the fanfair. His life sounded like a movie and he talked almost exactly like Al Pacino from Scarface. Chatting with him for about an hour, we ended the conversation trying to find healthier ways of killing time.
"I'm telling you. I need to meditate. I don't know why I don't", I said.
"It's good for your brain, man. I won't deny that", responded Dennis.
"What about movies?"
"Are you kidding me? I think I've spent over $300 this past week watching movies".
Gladiator, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan. Every single movie I could think of. He'd seen it.
Josh and I had to get moving. I gave Dennis my number and told him if he was ever struggling, to give me a call. We said goodbye and wished him luck on the future and staying clean.
Down the road, we came upon a shortcut to Old Miner Road.
"Road Closed" read the sign. Trees blocked the path.
We went around it.
The road was hazardous. It didn't appear to have been maintained in a long time if at all. The path was about half asphalt and half potholes. Toward, the very end of it, Josh came hurdling down too fast. He's got a pretty grisly strawberry on his elbow from it but the champ's aight.
We didn't get very far today. Josh's arm hampered him a bit and we're at another hotel. Yeeahh, I kinda miss roughing it... but what the hell, there's a bar downstairs and there's a Burger King in town.
A wild deer appears...
"Don't go down that path down there... Josh will fall."
The shortcut to Old Mine Road was a rather dangerous path.
On Old Mine Road, one of the myriad of abandoned houses. Again, not entirely sure how old thsse buildings are. Didn't exactly look like they were from the 17th century.
In Port Jervis, I spotted that the library was a Carnegie product from Pittsburgh. It's strange seeing Carnegie's influence spread so far. I've seen a library from Carnegie out west before too in Kansas.
P.S. I picked up my new helmet! Yes, I have a new helmet! Ordered it in the mail before I left for the trip but it didn't arrive on time. It's here now. It's a turtle shell. I'll show ya later.
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