Friday July 23

Today was an 88 mile day which turned into 108 after a ride around town looking for a hotel. There is a tractor convention in town so all hotels are booked and downtown looks like a parade of trucks and trailers. This was the most smelly ride yet. Farmers obviously using lots of cow manure ! Big trucks carrying cow manure by the tons. When they pass you the smell hangs around for the next mile or two . The road was bumpy with occasional tail wind. I left early heading out of town into the wind . At about 25 mi a guy pulled up beside me - proceeded to take the pull into the wind. We clipped along at 19- 20 till we got to a coffee shop in Clara. 10 or so folks came in for pastries and coffee. Sorry for the food details but food is a real focus everyday.
Our route included gravel - not for too long - RR tracks - several miles of no shoulder, a big hwy for 22 mi., some new pavement which was wonderful. The roads had a sparkle to them - diamonds come to mind- as the guy i was riding with and i shared some life / death stories we decided the ride was to be called "life stories on a crystal highway." The scenery was corn fields, soy fields and sugar beets, very flat, but you could see from one farm house to another. Yesterday there seemed to be miles between farm houses. elevation gain was only 1070 for the entire 88 miles. The corn fields made a great cover for those necessary stops along the ride.
We went through a little town of Olivia, corn capital! , and unfortunately there was a big building for Monsantos research. I got nauseated at the reality of that company.
Meeting beginning for tomorrow . More miles than predicted . Weather 70-80 percent thunderstorm tonight , light winds . Tomorrow 20- 30 % chance tomorrow plus winds . Tomorrow is another 100 mi day to get around road construction but on roads with no shoulder and busy.
The sag trailer busted a hub today !
Lots of good bye's to those leaving the tour this weekend. Eric and Dorthe from Denmark , Phillip and Trish from Austrailia and many others. I will miss them. The 5 of us plan to stay in touch. each friday we have an awards night . People are given either touching gifts or gag gifts for something that happened during the week. Ex. A gal was given an article on the legality and liability for peeing on the side of the road - especially in sight. You can be charged with indecent exposure... Article from the Bicycling magazine , not sure of the date of the issue .