Day 8 - Durham to Chapel Hill cont'd

TRIP: 31,000 Calories, 633 miles =

The bike got 633 miles per gallon!

Day 8 - 522 Calories, 10.4 miles = 618 miles per gallon

This was a rather tame day in terms of riding, but I felt incredible excitement at reaching the magic number, and the trip back to New Haven was an adventure as well. I woke up at nine thirty, swam through a heap of Cheerio's, and headed over to Duke to speak with some old friends. Pam Hanson and Connie Simmons work in the Engineering department and we chatted about the trip and marriage. I must have looked crazy to them, dressed as I was and huffing a bit from the ride in, but we quickly settled into our old routine. Could I be more vague?

Then it was off for the final ride, a jaunt west along Old Erwin, which took me all the way to Franklin St. and into Chapel Hill. To my dismay, the 31,000th Calorie was spent right as I got to the corner of the UNC campus. Here's a picture of me after using the whole gallon.

I stopped by Barnes and Noble on the way home, and picked up a Fast Bikes and a copy of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in anticipation of the long Greyhound ride back to New Haven. Still misty-eyed with Blue Devil pride after the UNC scandal, I commisioned a cameo in Cameron, asked the answer person how many miles per gallon a bike gets, and began preparing for the journey back up North. It was 7 PM, and the bus left at 9:25. In the time between, I bought contact solution, 2 burritos from Cosmic, dragged a huge bike box from The Bicycle Chain to the Greyhound station, and completely dismantled my bike (fenders, rack, seat, handlebars...) and put in in that box. The second-to-last person to get on the bus did so just as I finished taping it all up.

Here is a video from 8:40 PM, blazing to the station while carrying the mammoth box:



After 600+ miles by bike, the Greyhound ride home was unfathomably rapid- There was no wind, just still, dry air, and the idle chitchat of the other passengers. It didn't matter if my eyes were open or closed-even if I slept, the scenery still rushed by. I was free to look at my radio when I changed the station, and I could even go to the bathroom while on the move . The layovers afforded me a nice chance to stretch out, but I just couldn't get a feel for any of the country we covered.