1999-10-25 Now I know why there's a Sabbeth every seven days. The human body is not designed to go more than six days at a time at the level of physical excertion that I've been at for more than six days without a break. I basically did ten days straight, and now I'm dead. I'm not really tired or sore, just a deap down exhausted. I pushed myself these last two days just to get to Atlanta, so please excuse me if I'm lacking in whitty remarks. I'm fried. There is not a yard of level ground in Atlanta. It was horrible! And there is no "side of the road." It was way up and then way down and then way up and then way down while being honked at and passed by cars for miles and miles. I am so glad to be at my destination. Forty miles short of Atlanta, I noticed my back tire felt funny. The tire wall had actually ripped and the tube was pressing through. Well, luckily, I had foreseen such a disaster and had a length of rubber hosing with my tools. I packed the rubber around the tube, and it held the tire together all the way down here. I am glad it made it, because I wasn't sure how long such a fix would hold. I will definitely need to replace the back tire (not the rim) and probably the front before leaving Atlanta. I was actually wondering about their quality before I left. Now I know. So that makes one ripped tire, two flat tires (probably related to the ripped tire), my rear shifter had to be reset, one of my pedals lost a screw and had to be fixed, and my brakes are already significantly worn. All in all not too bad. For those of you following my route, it is as follows: From Fairmount, GA, I followed 411 south and went east on 140 (hills, mountains, scenery, la di di, la di da). 140 brought me all the way to Roswell, and the I followed 9 all the way into Atlanta. I am near Georgia Institute of Technology now. P.S. Opossum are definitely catching up.