[Sorry about sending that last email twice. The batteries in the PocketMailer died and it decided to resend the email when I put fresh ones in.
We're plugging right along even if these emails aren't. Brad and I are presently working our way down US 50 in West Virginia. DC is only 200 miles away, and we should finish on Aug 16. and be back the 18th]
We started around 09:00 from Williams, IA after waiting on the rain. It'd probably stopped around 06:00 but we wouldn't have known it. The tent was under a tree and every time the wind would blow the water on the leaves would fall down onto the tent letting us think the rain had started again and that we could go back to sleep guilt free.
The overcast weather made for nice riding and the light headwind didn't slow us down much but kept everything nice and cool. We spent most of the day riding through fields of corn and soy beans.
About the only thing we had to slow down for was road construction. They were extending a freeway across quite a bit of our path and there were detours abound. We bardged through most of the closed roads with only a wave to the flagger. We were't able to ignore a couple of the closures and were sent down gravel roads with asphault trucks behind us.
The mid-west has high clouds that make the best sunset and that night there was a gorgeous one. Just as it was finishing up the fireflies came out. I could almost convince myself that the grass along the side of the road was a bed of bright green coals and the hundreds of fireflies were embers rising up from it. Almost made me forget the tortures of the previous two days.
Pulled in Brandon, IA in the dark and rode around looking for a place to eat
and camp. I rode up on two kids making out in the middle of the street and
shouted "Hey! Can I ask you a question?" They looked like two deer
paralized by headlights. "Is there a gas station or anything like that open
around here?".
"In Independence" the guy offered.
"How far is that?" I asked.
"About 15 minutes..."
"Not for them, stupid" the girl scolded.
While they couldn't tell us a place to eat they were able to direct us to the city park. We ended the day at 95 miles. Getting into Chicago by the 26th of August would still be a push, 80 mile days at the minimum. It would be workable but we'd need to stay focused.
andrew
Posted by drewish at July 23, 2001 12:00 PMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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