Two hundred days and counting

Thursday was day two hundred on the road. My statistics for this one hundred days are less impressive than my first one hundred, in terms of biking and sleeping outdoors, but I've heard that I don't need to work anymore to impress you guys. Perhaps next spring and summer I will be hardcore once again, but I am quite happy with giving myself a break from the hard life. I celebrated my latest milestone with a ride out to a nearby state park, which was both lovely and quite peaceful, it being November and all.

Friday we went down to the Civil Rights Museum and 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where we and all of the other predominately white tourists were assisted by the entirely black staff.

Saturday we went to the Ave Maria Grotto to see all of the miniature shrines and whatnot created by Brother Joseph Zoettl over the course of about forty years in the early twentieth century. He made use of a lot of material that was either found or given to him over the years, and his work was so precious and detailed, my stepmom and I were all sewed up in horse pies.

So for all of my statistics loving pals: My total miles travelled on my bicycle in the first two hundred days of my journey has been 5477.1, but the miles that were actually loaded touring miles were 5124.7. The breakdown for days 101-200:

-2633.6 total miles ridden during 50 days of riding, for an average of 52.7 miles per day.
-2435.4 miles ridden loaded toward a new goal during 44 days of riding, for an average of 55.4 miles per day. The rest were unloaded miles ridden while sightseeing.
-8 consecutive nights sleeping outside
-37 total nights sleeping outside
-33 consecutive nights sleeping indoors
-30 nights I paid for lodging
-$795 spent on lodging