When one goes riding on the MKT trail, or the KT trail, (or any trail for that matter), one must remember that coming back often takes longer than going out. So you should turn around a little before halfway through your allotted time. More like a third of the way through, if you plan to stop and smell the roses on the ride back.
Gonga learned this the hard way.
After biking for five days straight, he realized that spring break was over the following day and he just might need to return to Columbia in time to get to work the next morning.
He thought about turning around and biking all night in an attempt to make it home on time. But he at least had the sense to realize that one night of frantic peddling would not make up for five full days of leisurely biking.
Thankfully, he had the bright idea of climbing up the embankment of the next bridge he met and begging for a ride from passing motorists. He had no idea what road he might be on, or if it would take him closer or further from Columbia. He just hoped he could figure out a way to contact his boss and tell him where he was before he turned up missing the next morning.
Semi-truck drivers can occasionally be compassionate to weary sojourners. And since Gonga looked particularly woe-begone with his bike crumpled on the shoulder next to him, one driver finally pulled over.
He laughed hard, and long when Gonga finished his story. And he kept laughing the entire drive back to Columbia. (Thankfully Gonga had stumbled upon a road which really did lead home, and thankfully the driver was going that direction.)
Gonga tried to ignore the laughter. He finally decided that it was the price he had to pay for his own stupidity and suffered through the remaining hours of the trip in silence.
When he stumbled through the door of The Textbook Game early Monday morning, he decided not to tell his boss exactly what had happened. Just let him think he had stayed up late enjoying his last scraps of break. After all, that’s what he had done, right?
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