Sort of.... it has finally taught me not to be abusive and totally negligent about my own needs on such a demanding trip. I really do not know what happened but I did suffer some kind of physical breakdown, whether it was heat, heart or hydration related. I did not stop due to a smart decision, I stopped simply because I could not continue. I first stopped on the side of I-80, changed some of the gear I was wearing and tried to continue but I didn't make much distance at all before stopping and giving the PA emergency network a workout (911).
But so as not to make this story too morbid, allow me to digress a bit- while in WA, Chet gave me the Pacific Northwest version of a lucky rabbit's foot and it looks like this:
It looks like a whitetail deer hoof but much, much larger. It is an elk's hoof (which is why I call it Mr. Elkhoof) and I strapped it to the back of the bike for the ride home. It is much more lucky than any rabbit's foot (look at the size of it) and it seems to ward off all members of the deer family (the proof is that I did not hit a single forest rat on the way home. In addition to that, it seems to have strange and mystical power much like KiPass.
It is a long story but my bike was towed from where I left it (via ambulance) to a local impound yard. When picking up the bike the next day, Bob (tow company employee) asked me what in the hell that was strapped to the bike. Apparently he was down on his knees running a nylon web sling through the wheels WHEN SUDDENLY he looked up and was staring right at Mr. Elkhoof- it surprised him enough that he jumped back and fell down. All hail the elk foot.... So now I have my all- powerful talisman to mount to the bike and ward off any and all evil that KiPass itself cannot deal with. By the way, it worked on the EMT too because he was kind enough to grab as much of my gear as possible (including all GPS's, SPOT, the entire top box, etc.- what a great bunch of people!) but he said he wasn't comfortable picking up 'that foot- thing'. ROFLMAO
Brian
So has this convinced you to not push as much during high heat summers?