Day 12 - The little things

9/6

After sleeping surprisingly well in the parking lot, I packed my things and started my trip early, around 6:30. But as many other times I found more interesting things to do than driving straight on the road.

I tried a car service place to see if it could pump some air into the back tire, but the valve didn't fit.. I talked for quite some time to the guy working there though. And after that I ran into a guy who was on his way to work. (He was on a bike too). I told him about my trip, and the current situation and he had a pump at his work only 3 minutes from there! The pump worked wonders and I could feel the difference right away. Like it was much lighter. I talked for maybe 30 minutes and he was very interested in everything.

I made good speed and reached the road I thought I couldn't ride, but fortunately I could. Only for some time because it soon turned into a intercity highway and I had to find different ways. I asked so many people, and I even went to two tourist centers in the station, but they were of little help. Don't think they get too many asking about how to get to Nagano on a bike. 

I did my best and guessed right almost every time. I also used the method of going away from places I knew. So just go towards the unknown helped a bit too. The scenery today was remarkable. I have uploaded the pictures to Facebook, the thing that is wrong when I use my phone is that it can't have the pictures in the post while uploading in. What.....?

Although it looked like rain for most of the day I didn't feel a single drop. But the mountains made the humid air feel like it might as well be raining. No need for sunblock or long t-shirts..

The ride into the city was long and a bit boring, but I was happy to have overcome the mountains for now. I took a shower in the public bath closes to the station. New experience acquired alright.

My body is handling the new lifestyle quite well. The only problem I have is my left shoulder and my toes.. The rest is something I can live with so to speak. But riding for so many hours a day changes something small to something big. No matter what you do, if you do it 100.000 times it's going to leave some kind of mark. On the other hand, getting to take two free bites of chicken in the convenient store is small, but valuable.

Nagano is quite big, so there are many things I want to see. Unfortunately I won't be able to see  everything. Some are simply too far away. But tomorrow I'll go to a famous temple and maybe a samurai city.

Distance: 170 km

Time: 8:45 hours

Condition: ready to sleep!! 

Quote: it's the little things.