"I was talking love and he was talking hate."

Well, it's been a rough few days to say the least. I'm just past Prescott, AZ and haven't been moving forward. I was stealth camping in Kaibob National Forest and was hit with a brutal thunderstorm... for 26 hours, non-stop. I didn't leave my tent for that long and as soon as it let up, I packed up my soaking wet, muddy gear and left my campsite (which was absolutely AMAZING... before the storm... pictures below). It took over half an hour to drag my full-loaded bike, through the intense mud, less than 200 yards to the road. When I got there, it immediately started to hail. In a panic I scrambled to get enough mud cleared from my brakes and tires to let me ride. The hail was gnarly, the lightning, thunder and deep grey skies were intimidating and as soon as I could I busted ass to the nearest hotel. After getting to my room, the skies unloaded. The snow started and later that night I was incredibly thankful for getting out of the forest. I've been in Prescott for two days now. The rain has not stopped since I got here. I met an older man, called himself T-Bone. He's been riding an old Gary Fisher (picture below) on tour for over two years, and has logged over 13k miles. Awesome! Must've been 55-60 years old and is touring, fully-loaded, with not a penny to his name. Pretty cool story. Told me to keep an eye out in California... people aren't afraid to steal your things! Ill always remember him saying, "I was talking love and he was talking hate, man, I just let it be."