On Monday, I headed out again for a normal-length ride. Eureka was my lunch stop – a convenience store. Practically all the convenience stores in the area had fast food type table INSIDE the store. It was no wonder, if the 100 degree heat and extreme humidity were typical for summer.

In the afternoon, I stopped at a car rest stop and lay down for about two hours under a shade tree. It was hot even in the shade. When it cooled down to about 100, I continued.

the rest stop was on highway 54, just a mile or two before the 105 junction.

At Toronto, I read 104 on a wall thermometer. Some local boys on bikes helped me to find the local lake, and gave me all kinds of advice– watch out for copperheads, where to get water, where to get food. I picked up a package of honeybuns at a local store, and headed to the campground.

Toronto Reservoir State Park was hot and muggy. At 10 PM, it had cooled down to 85, but with the humidity, even that was difficult to bear. If only there had been a 5 mph breeze, everything would have been fine. The woods shielded me from any such wind.

As it was too warm to set up a tent, I laid my pad out on the grass. Insect repellent was mandatory without a tent. The profusion of life forms was amazing in that tropical jungle. The general problem with repellent was that it clogged my pores, and made me even hotter. I had a choice: burn or be bitten.

In that one place, I saw about a dozen major varieties of beetles, ants, bees, wasps, assorted non-biting gnats and mosquitoes, an enormous cicada, regular, horse, caddis, and dragon flies, and at dusk– my first fireflies! They were magical! When I first saw them, I gave them no thought, thinking that they were sparks drifting off someone’s campfire. There was a frog perched on the bathroom wall. A well-fed frog, no doubt.

There were showers at the campground, so I would take a shower to cool down, and would be fine lying down for the next 30 minutes, then be miserable again. I took several showers that night. i was completely alone – apparently locals were smarter than to camp there at that time of year. i could have gone completely naked, if it weren’t for the bugs.

The low temperature for the night was 75, at which point I set up my tent. The mosquitoes weren’t biting, but their whine in my ears was infuriating.

I heard a rushing sound like a Coleman gas lantern, but then, realized that there was no one else nearby. The sound turned out to be tens of thousands of gnats swarming thickly about a park light. It was quite a shock to be camping again, after relaxing in motel rooms for so long.