Day 71: Dayton to Walla Walla (25 miles)
8/05
My alarm goes off at 4:00 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 4:10 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 4:20 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 4:30 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 4:40 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 4:50 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 5:00 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 5:10 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 5:20 am. I hit snooze. My alarm goes off at 5:30 am. I get up.
I rise to find that our Durham companion has already gone. I wonder if my alarm annoyed him so much that he ended up just leaving without saying goodbye. C’est la vie.
Morning-Lila and I have a breakfast of jelly and English muffins before leaving. Our primary goal was to travel the 25 miles to Walla Walla without Lila having a flat. In Walla Walla there was a bike shop where she could buy some.
On the way to Walla Walla Lila and I synced up our music so that we both listened to Miss E… So Addictive by Missy Elliott. It was a fun album to share.
Leaving town was somewhat mountainous so I got a leg up on Lila. During that time I finally listened to the latest MIA album AIM. It’s not my favorite thing she’s ever done but there are a few cool tracks on it, including one where the beat is made from the clanging of sword fighting. My favorite track was called Bird Song. The track is composed of a kazoo riff that mimics a bird call and a bunch of inane lyrics about birds like “I’m rich like an ostrich.” Its strange what appeals to you when your brain has been cooked for about four days straight.
I got to Walla Walla before Lila and I was charmed. It’s a cute college town with smooth roads. Knowing Lila was headed to the bike shop and would have to spend some time there, I found a coffee shop to hang out in. I let her know where I was and we agreed to meet there once she had her tubes.
When she arrived I was halfway through my strawberry smoothie. I could see in her eyes that she wanted to stay in the dark, AC filled coffee shop. She didn’t want to bike in the heat. Neither did I. I tempted her with the notion of staying in Walla Walla at a WarmShowers spot. She gave in to temptation.
We hung out there for a few more hours to charge our phones and drink cold things. We got lunch across the street. Lila, still wanting to do something that day decided to go to a winery a few miles down the road before meeting our host, Anitra, at 5. I decided to stay at the coffee shop because it was so hot outside that the dogs were melting.

Around 4:30 I got a text from Lila saying that she was headed to the WarmShowers host’s house and that she was 30 minutes away. I packed up my things and left so that we would arrive at her place together. On the way there I put on the only MIA album that I hadn’t heard, MAYA. I had been avoiding it because I had heard that it was a divisive album (some people loved it, some hated it). Much to my chagrin, I found that I was in the latter camp.
When we arrived, Anitra welcomed us inside. She told us that she wouldn’t be able to stay very long because a friend of hers was taking her to a bluegrass concert. She said that we could have anything in the fridge we wanted and that she’d be back around 9.
As soon as she left I took a shower, ate some food, and fell asleep. You know you must be pretty exhausted when a senior citizen has more of a night life than you do.
