Day Eighteen- Done (Over 1370 miles)

August 7th-

Yet another fun day of ups and downs. I think the Devil had too much dirty laundry, so he kept an extra washboard in Nebraska. But before I get to talking about the trip, let's start with day break.

I got up late at around 9 am because I was enjoying the bed I got to sleep in. It had been about 4 days if I recall correctly, since I had slept in a bed. I showered using up the entire bar of soap they had supplied at the motel. I was sparkling clean. I started packing up all of my stuff and decided to ride a bagless bike over to McDonald's (no, they're not paying me to mention them so many times. McD's is like Jim; they're everywhere).

I bought three sausage biscuits with the plan to eat them while I typed back at the hotel room. I typed and typed for about two hours when I realized the afternoon, and my check out time, were drawing closer. I stopped writing and put everything on the clean functional bike.

I rode down the street and checked the air pressure on my tires. The tube in the front tire was having a reflux of air into the nozzle, which resulted in a tear and flat. I laughed. At that point I realized that there was nothing good that could come of being angry. So, I went inside and filled up my water bottles and returned outside to re-tube the front tire. It took about twenty minutes in the 95° weather. The tubes were a little light, so I filled them up to about 70 PSI (recommended for my tires is 50-75psi).

I went back inside to fill my water bottle again and overheard a guy trying to talk with the attendant about towing his car. The attendant couldn't understand the guys accent, so as the guy walked outside, I asked him what his first language was. He said, "Arabic." I replied, "Jaid jdn, atklm allgat alarabia.- Very good. I speak Arabic." I helped him move his car and caught up a little on my arabic while figuring out what was wrong with his car. He used my phone to call someone to pick him up and I went inside to explain to the attendant what had happened.

As I was inside, I heard a loud bang and saw my bike wobble. I thought someone had thrown a rock at my bike. I walked outside to see that I was not so lucky. Rather, the rear tire of my bike exploded due to the weight, heat, and pressure. Yeah! I just laughed. What else could I do? I went back inside and asked the attendant, "Do you have a phone directory?" He said, "What?" To which I replied, "I mean a phone book." A lady that was standing nearby had responed to that with, "I was about to say, are you feeling a little British today?" I laughed kindly as I looked down at the book and saw it read "Phone Directory." Hmmm... Well, I looked at the bicycle shops in the area and asked Matt (the attendant) which one was closest. He pointed to one of them and I asked how to get there. He told me and off I walked for half an hour with a exploded rear tube.

I got to the amazing shop and told them I wanted two new tires and a new tube. The guy working there talked me into better tires by offering me 20% off (I would've gotten them anyway). I let them change out the parts because I figured I had done it (possibly wrong) enough times. When they had finished, I asked where the nearest post office was. I decided I was going to mail out some of my extra weight. It turns out that the closest post office was on the University of Nebraska Campus.

So, I went to school. I went down into the student center and bookstore to the post office they had downstairs. I started unpacking all of my things to see what I could do without. About twenty minutes and ten pounds later, I was ready to make some tracks. I rode west for hours confident that my new tires wouldn't let me down.

I stopped for the night in a town called Friend. So, if you were wondering on the 7th if you had a friend in Friend, you did. I set up my tent next to an old train car that was sitting patiently in the middle of Friend's park. I went to sleep beneath the stars and water tower.

Daily Lesson: Peace of mind is worth a few bucks; every time.

Donate to help eradicate Polio (and put the Polio team out of a job) at http://www.rotary.org/en/endpolio/Pages/ridefault.aspx