September 9, 2002
Spokane Day Off
No Miles  No Map

My first vacation of this trip!

Spent the morning stocking up on needed supplies such as vitamins, skin moisturizer, and that weird green paper which fits so well into my wallet, then mysteriously disappears. After that I found a nearby spacious park to take in the perfect September weather.

My brother’s eldest step-daughter — or maybe I should say my step-niece? — drove to my hotel and took me out to lunch at a semi-fancy Japanese restaurant. Her name is Jessica and she is in her early twenties. It was one of those slightly nervous, getting-to-know-you meetings that was helped by a stroll in what was my second park of the day. We had a pleasant enough time; it was nice having someone to talk to after six largely wordless days cycling across the state. Afterwards, I got in a visit to my neighborhood Dairy Queen, then had a long-anticipated nap. (I’d fallen behind on my sack time and needed to catchup.)

When I awoke (to a surprise call from the parents), my old adversary, Mr Migraine, had settled in for a visit. It takes a combination of at least two triggers (out of the four or five I know of) to cause an occurrence. One is accumulated stress, something I’ve had in abundance this past week. Yes, I’m having possibly the experience of a lifetime, but it has been replete with grueling challenges. Another likely culprit is my lazy diet — those D.Q. hamburgers are probably not the ideal food for cross-country cycling.

In any event, the more severe migraines can last almost twenty four hours due to the long fade-out. I can function throughout it all, but at the height of the throbbing (usually somewhere in the middle of the grand event) have precious little ambition for anything even remotely strenuous. All I can do is take something with ibuprofen (such as Advil) to try and soften the blow. Rarely do I knock it out completely. Such was the case here.

I found myself feeling a bit depressed later in the afternoon. Besides the monster headache, the hotel was definitely on the crummy side, plus the next day I had to go “back to work”.

Distances
    Today:     None — Rest Day. 
    To Date:  321 Miles / 517 Kilometers

• Washington