Last night in Chester was quite unusual. Our motel was straight out of the 40's and reminded me of places my family used to stay on summer vacations. As I mentioned earlier, I was upstairs. So, Jane and I had the windows wide open to let in the breeze. The birds woke up about 4 am and the trains never went to sleep. Despite all, I managed to sleep well. Earplugs help. I misread my watch, though, and got up at 5:38. Since b'fast wasn't until 7:30, I dressed and crawled back in bed for a nap.
The ride today was another 60 miler along straight/flat US 2. I think we follow this all the way to ND and maybe all the way to Fargo! The country side, though, is lovely even if it is flat. Today, we continued to see the Sawgrass Mountains to the north and picked up the Bear's Paw Mtns on the south, so there are mountains to see on the far horizons. The wheat fields go forever alnd from the air must look like a checker board. There are huge areas of green followed by huge areas of brown which are fields that have been left fallow. The prairie dogs were out early this AM - chasing one another or being chased by hawks. They dig huge holes in the ground - much bigger than the chipmonk holes back home. More farmhouses and wheat silos were noticed today and the houses actually all seemed surrounded by trees. Otherwise, there are NO trees - just fields and silos. I have yet to see a missile silo; not sure what I'm looking for anyway, but others have seen them.
My pics today consisted mostly of the wrought iron town signs. Some salesman/artisan made a living selling signs. . . . About 10 miles from a SAG stop my back tire went down. I had the bike upside down and was about to remove the wheel when two angels rode up - both competent SAG drivers. Lynn, Jean and I (probably mostly them) changed it fairly quickly. Since neither of them could locate the culprit inside the tire, I took it all apart later this aft and still couldn't find a reason for the flat. I do have two good size cuts in the back tire to which I applied a dot of super glue. Tomorrow, I'm going to check the old tube and patch it. . . . This nice man stopped to offer his assistance. He's from Ottawa and riding across America.
My good friends Mary and Joann (Group #1) had supper with us again tonight and also Gloria, founder of WomanTours. It was fun to hear from Gloria about how she came to start the company twelve years ago. Joann was on the 1st XC tour and Mary was on the first transam tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment