September 27, 6:00 PM

Fear, self-pity, remorse to the point of wanting life to end - that was last night. The injury to my ankle (or foot) got me down and those emotions took over. The injury, after a flash of intense pain as I was limping across a parking lot, healed up. The fear and remorse remain. Fear of traffic, of being alone in the woods at night, of being caught camping illegally, of thieves and thugs. Not so great a fear that I will stop, but there, constantly. The self-pity and remorse were related to the injury, and abated with its healing.

I covered only 70 miles in the last two days, and I'm not feeling bad about it. I must learn to lay back.

I rode beside the Delaware all day, in New Jersey again. I'm camped beside it now, about five miles south of Frenchtown, a few feet off the D & R Canal bike path, which is smooth and flat and runs through a bosque on the east bank of the river. The river flows over a shoal here about 200 meters wide, and sounds like a fresh mountain brook. Supper tonight: ½ cup of yogurt, ½ pound of shrimp salad, a bagel, a banana, and two 650ml cans of Sapporo, which partially accounts for my lifted spirits. The sun has set, and I left my flashlight in the bed-and-breakfast in Winstead.