Early Thursday afternoon I made it to Rocheport, about 51 miles from my starting point. At this point I had been riding in the steady rain for about 30 minutes and had to go inside to the bike shop to ask where the free camping was, the worker told me about 4 miles west on the right hand side... I thanked him and went on my way...
I filled my water bottles up and headed out the campground that was located pretty deep in the woods and set up camp while the rain and wind were only getting stronger. I then cooked food and attempted to start a fire with what little dry fire wood there was, but that didn't work. I was wet, cold, and the weather was not getting better (around 4 PM) so I decided to crawl in my tent and call it a day.
As soon as I get in the tent, I noticed quite a bit of water, I just assumed it was from some of my wet equipment and shoes. I then rolled out my sleeping bag and was getting ready to change into my dry warm clothes before I noticed there seemed to be more water coming in. Sure enough, the tent leaked at all the seams that were on the ground. By the time I realized it my sleeping pad was wet along with my sleeping bag and knew that with the temperature dropping close to freezing ( I could already see my breath and steam coming off of my clothes) that I knew I would need a way out. Thankfully, my dad wasn't busy, so he came and picked me up.
Had it been maybe 20 degrees+ warmer it would've ended differently but I was already wet and it was only getting colder so it was about the only thing I could do. So.. A new tent with a bathtub floor is in order and probably a new sleeping bag!:P
This is the song I had stuck in my head all weekend by one of my favorite bands of all time, Thrice.
