Righting a Wrong

Track Track Track! 

Well, I did something I could only shake my head at. I hopped on a bus. I thought  I could swallow that pill and live with the decision to cut off 50 miles. I figured who cares? I already rode cross country.
What does it matter now? I'll tell you exactly why it matters now:
If I start now, who knows when I will do it again? Who knows when I will take a short cut again? I was afraid that it would be with me.

Don't read this as taking a shot at the guys I am riding with or anyone who hitches a ride (except for cheater girl because she raised money for charity and then didn't even do what she was supposed to). This is a personal feeling I have. I'm not going to judge people who catch rides (except charity riders). To be honest,  I WISH IT WOULDN'T WEIGH ON ME. I wish I could swallow that pill. BUT I CAN'T, it's not who I am.  I might as well be a sack of shit for taking a bus ride. I sold my soul. I cheated.

I didn't sleep more than 30 minutes that night.

I labeled someone else a cheater for hitch hiking over 700+ miles.  I was just as bad as her for taking a ride 50 miles.  I felt like a piece of shit. I felt worthless. It was the worst thing I had done (in a day :) ). I set out to ride Seattle to San Diego, and I just cut the course....
Was I endangered? No
Was the weather awful/dangerous? No
Was I injured? No
Was I in need of supplies? No
I was just a little bitch who was tired and wanted to get to my destination, so I took a bus ride.
Most people think that I am crazy for letting it weigh in on me, but the way I see it, moderation is for quitters. I only know full force. When I do something athletically, I am going to do it the right way. I took a short cut and now I'm paying the price. There was only one thing to do: backtrack those 50 miles I had cut out, and turn an easy 54 mile day into a 134 mile day, possibly losing out on a warmshowers place and sleeping under a bridge or in the woods somehwere.

My day started crossing this bridge, which is over 4 miles long with no shoulder:

Bad ass huh? Too bad that's not what it looked like for me:

With this type of fog, little-to-no shoulder (maybe a foot or two), traffic was so pissed! I got yelled at three times, drivers would slow down to give me a piece of their mind:

Trucker: "Get off the road you fucking asshole!"
Shaun: "You like Ke$ha as well?!?!?! We should talk about it sometime!"

Car: "are you fucking crazy dude?"
Shaun: "Katy Perry is in town?!?!? Get the hell out!!!!!

Car: "You're going to get killed"
Shaun: "No it's a cardigan, but thanks for noticing! "

I needed to track 134 miles in a matter of 9 hours of sunlight. Fat chance, but I set out anyways and told myself no complaining or negative thoughts because right now you are nothing. I really just put my head down, the same 12 songs on my Spotify (crazy I know, but I needed to get in a rhythm fast, I do crazy shit to motivate myself).

I got back to the bus stop I was at yesterday, I sat down for five minutes and told myself never again, don't be a cheater:

Google maps sent me on some awesome "roads:"

I rode well into the darkness but finally made it, I got a lot of text messages asking where I was going since I was back tracking, just a tad!

I figured the ride was going to be awful, but it's been the best route I have done so far. I've seen more bald eagles then I could count. Unfortunately I didn't see any bears or elk that I was told would be out and about on a lot of the back roads I was on. 

Noted on lesson, just ride unless it's unsafe.