I had a fun ride. Leaving to the west, the state is widening the hwy from 2 to 4 lanes. Part of it is already open. On out they are building a bridge and clover leaf exits onto the intersecting hwy. I took a gamble that they wouldn't be working today and headed out that way. I ended up with about 5 miles of my own personal 2 lane hwy. Then I rode the unopened exit. The next hwy is not a safe ride but there is an old road that runs parallel. But when it ran out I checked out the hwy and decided against it. No shoulders, too much traffic. So I tooled around some backroads for a while. I concentrated on relaxing my upper body during a climb. I've finally figured out that a death grip on the bars does not help.

I saw a deer, some goats, rabbit and an orange tabby cat. Fortunately very little roadkill.