I had a great time in Toyota City. This is a very modern clean looking city that has obviously benefited from the sale of Toyota cars and trucks to the world. This was another stop at an old friends house. They treated me really nice. My friend even gave me a bicycle tour around his neigborhood.
Just before i got to Toyota City my bike stopped shifting gears correctly. So every time the climb got real steep i had to get off my bike and put the chain on the little gear by hand. In Toyota I ended up finding a really nice bike shop with some very kind people. The shop owner was working on my bike within a minute of me arriving. If you pass through Toyota City look up TORH cycle gallery. The shop has been there for almost 100 years. They are also very talkative and full of stories. I like these kind of people. There are not enough of them here.
The next day I left Toyota City at about noon and headed for a camping area at the base of route 421 mountain pass. I misjudged the distance. I thought it was about 40k. Turned out to be about 70k. At around 6pm I realized that I wouldn't make it anytime soon. I was in the middle of nowhere. I ended up camping under a bridge just like a homeless person. While I was setting up my tent, my bike fell over and my back rack broke. So now I had to figure out how to fix that.
Sleeping outside is actually harder then it seems. You never really get good sleep because you`re always listening for sounds. Mosquitos tore me up. I hate mosquitos. And i was starting to hate camping. The ground was all rocky and my tent stakes wouldnt plant .
I saw an old lady sitting outside. She saw me and started laughing. So I took her picture.
So do you have friends at various points all the way to your destination? You said you slept under the bridge this time like a homeless person. Have you been staying at campgrounds previously? Be careful and get some repellant for those mosquitos.
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