Day 33 - The Things You Learn On the Road (plus a Special Treat!)

Struggled with breakfast again this morning -wasnt feeling great! Headed off on my bike on to a dirt road almost immediately for no good reason (gps going nuts again) Before I knew it we had two flat tyres - Dean had to return for me with mum in tow. We tried to use an old one we thought we had fixed - but it only lasted about 100 metres - which explains the second one - lesson learned never: never buy patches from Walmart again. Haven't seen a bike shop since California! Finally on main road again - the going was a lot better! Stopped for food as soon as got to next town -historic looking Maysville-set out in a square around the large brick town hall building -a style which we saw repeated again and again! The friendly county clerk saw us off! After that the crosswinds started to die and conditions improved -still 1 mile slight hill up then down: up and down. It was steeper in the morning. It went pretty good all afternoon - very hot at about 100 degrees and humid now as well - no breeze helped the riding but made me feel even hotter.
I explained to mum and Dean that it was interesting reading all the billboards posted by the farmers listing info about their crops and the chemicals and fertilizers used on them -one section seemed to be a test area as each row was listed as something different. They laughed at me -but hey you have to think of something as you ride along!! It was also dairy farming country -we all smiled at the one cow standing in the middle of a pond to cool down! Anyway it was good riding so rather than stop again Dean bought me a burger from Jamesport -an amazing Amish town where you felt you were back in the 19th century. I ate it in Trenton which was a busier area. I saw Amish farmers driving their crops round in large flatbed drawn by two horses. All in all a good days riding! We stopped in Milan -another ghost town from the past, where we struggled to find anywhere to stay -mum insists on a hotel room rather than the van!!


A Special Treat!

We had a special treat this evening. Dean had been chatting with Ellen and her daughter Liz on Facebook -initially via the lupus page and the contact with Lincoln City with JB and Rebecca at the Pacific Grind Cafe (seems that Ellen comes from that area). Anyway they live about 30 miles north from Milan so very generously invited us to dinner along with dad and Liz's friend April. What an amazing and fun family- we all had a great evening and didn't feel like strangers at all. Cannot thank them enough for their support and wish Liz all the best for her wedding next year! Again Ellen reminds us of the reality of why we are trying to raise money for charities like the Lupus Foundation!