Mechanical Failure

So I finally got into the mountains. I was eager to get there and once there, I only wished that I was done with them. It reminds me of being a child wishing that my beard would grow so that I could shave like a “real man”, then as soon as you have to shave you wish you could go back to when shaving wasn't necessary. The day was hot and sunny. Some of the climbs exceeded an hour of standing in the lowest gear. I stopped on one such climb and took a nap under the overhang of a closed craft shop. I slept comfortably until the angle of the sun change enough to make the shade narrower than my body. So I've taken to cat naps in places were I can find shade and few people come by to bother me. These little siestas actually are one of my favorite things to date. I continued up into the mountains after i was properly rested. As i was getting near Clayton GA I realized my rear rack was shaking a lot more than it had previously. The bike was wobbling and it took a great deal of added core tension to keep the bike going in a straight line so i stopped again and took off my rear bags. After a few minutes trying to find the cause I found that two of the welds had broken and the aluminum platform had sheared clean through, on the rack. I used some cable ties that i had, to stabilize it and a strap from one of my bags. I then tied my messenger bag to my seat. The next thing was to call my brother who always has access to the Internet, and find the nearest bike shop. It was some 45 miles away in Hiawasse, the town that Bryson hitched to in “a walk in the woods” and ditched Mary Ellen. All this made it possible to limp the rest of the way to Clayton. As i got there it began raining. I decided to stay in Clayton rather than continue on, which i had planned on. The following day I got up to be disappointed that it was still raining. My departure was postponed until after 2 when the rain stopped. Most of this time was spent under the front of an Ingles supermarket were I continued to read Bryson's book. Finally the sky cleared and I began my arduous trip to Hiawasse. It was almost all climbing for the first hour. I was still continually frustrated by the bicycle shaking side to side. I'm sure people driving by must think that I'm the worst cyclist on the road. As I got to lake Burton, of course it began raining again. Probably one of the funniest sights you'll see is a grown man riding a bicycle screaming at nothing. To say the least I was very frustrated. So I stopped at a lake overlook where there was a gazebo with picnic benches. The rain actually never materialized, but I've gotten a little gun shy since it could be ten miles before there might be another place to stop. So I took one of my naps, and then continued on up the hill. So I climbed until I found a overlook with a nice view of the valley below. I stopped for about 15 minutes where i met two people. One, an Obese man who expressed how it was unfathomable that one could ride all the way up the mountain. The other was an eccentric husband and wife couple who were looking for a place to put in their canoe, on the lake that wasn't a private slip. Of these two groups I tried to find out how the road to Hiawasse was, as far as terrain. I got that it was just like that leading up to were I was. This news was not what i was hoping to hear. If the climbing was to continue i thought it was going to be very hard to get to Hiawasse that night. Luckily they were both wrong and it was actually about 80% downhill. Along the way I passed by were the Appalachian trail crosses US-76. So I stopped and took a picture. I had this real urge to take my stuff off the bike and start hiking, since my legs feel so much better when I'm walking. I managed to get to Hiawasse then managed to miss the rode for the bike shop by two miles, before I asked directions and returned. I arrived too late to get the new bike rack. So I'm waiting until 10 am when the store opens. So this brings to an end the first week of my trip.