Tonight's lodging

Tonight finds me camping in Enders State Forest, outside Granby CT.  I have to admit I'm bummed with my progress so far.  Before the trip.  I had hoped to be in NY state tonight.  I scaled that back to my friend's place in Lakeville, CT, but fell well short of that (to be fair, lakeville was 110 miles away this morning). 
The going has been tough.  Tornadoes and rain and hot and humid yesterday, windy as all hell today.  And of course that wind was right in my face.  So, the weather has made it difficult.  The bike is also a bit slower than expected, especially on hills.  It is carrying more weight than previous trips, and the bike itself is a little slower than my Trek (in exchange for strength and reliability).  So, on a normal unloaded day ride on my trek I'll usually be around 15-17 mph.  Loaded trek from previous trips was 13-14 mph.  So far I've been stuck in the high 11's.  That's not terrible, but it makes for less progress than I had planned.  And the psychological toll of going slower than I think I should is tough too.  The wind, of course could be a big factor.  Give me just a little speed back when the wind stops and I'm right where I want to be.  We'll see.  I'll keep my chin up.

I'll also mention that I've had three flat tires so far, although its really only been one.  Yesterday I had a particularly nasty one that took a chunk out of the tire.  I was able to patch it and it made it through the day.  This morning just as I was starting it blew again - actually went right through the patch because the tire was damaged.  So I changed the tube and put a little shim between the time and the hole in the tire.  Later this afternoon the new tube blew, right through the shim.  So I changed to a new tire (beautiful blue walls - wish I had them on originally) and patched the tube.  That made it through the day....hopefully much longer.

Anyway, tomorrow's goal is Newburgh, NY, 81 miles away.