Tuesday- A nice, hot ride

Wasn't a bad ride this day. I was trying to balance taking an easier day with my need to get to Clear Lake as early as possible. I had prepaid for a massage appointment, and it was at 3. Since it was a relatively short day, I thought this would be no problem. The ride into Wesley was nice, but towards the end, I felt the bike "wiggling" a bit, especially when I stood up to pull hard. Eventually, I figured out that the cargo rack on the back had lost its bolt on one side (probably on one of those rumble strips I couldn't avoid). I was lucky that it hadn't fallen over enough to run into the spokes, which wouldn't have been fun. I figured it would be no problem to get fixed at one of the bike repair places that they set up in every town. Wesley is one of the smaller towns of about 500 people, so it turned out that there was only one bike repair place set up there- the Trek guys. They didn't have the bolt and nut I needed, so now I was worried. I asked one of the citizens about if there was a hardware store around where I could but a bolt and nut. He responded with, "Let me take you there- I'm not sure if he's open, but we'll find him"- and off he went. As we walked, he told me that this was an amazing crowd to have in town- they had all worked all day the day before to get ready, working until 7PM. Next thing I know, I've got the Lumberyard being opened for me ( the place to buy bolts here ), and we find the bolt, nut, and lockwasher I need. Before I can even start to dig my tools out, he's handing me all of them from his workbench. Help is everywhere.
I enjoyed the towns today, and stopped in at the hardware store in Hutchins to get more bolts- it occurred to me that there was no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again, and I might not be so lucky next time. I got 2 sets, then between Hutchins and Britt felt a wiggle again. The other side had snapped off- half of it was still there, but not holding anything. I replaced that, then stopped in Britt to go to the hardware store again.This time, I bought 4 more sets, just in case. No more problems with those bolts, though. But then it started getting hot.
Along the way, we have endless towns of friendly people. One town had laid carpet over the railroad tracks for us. Free water was everywhere, though a lot of people buy the $1 standard bottled water to support the local organizations that are doing that as a fundraiser. Lots of good food, and the "week-long party" reputation is holding up, though I'd say more like a week-long festival for me.
The last segment, we turned into the wind, and uphill, and thus began the long, slow death march. I'm always amazed at how much a little wind can take out of you, and I was on a mission. Had to get to my massage appointment, and the speed I was going with a headwind wasn't going to do it. I pushed hard, but ended up just worn out and still late. I showed up late, took a quick cold shower, and got a half-hour out of my scheduled hour massage. That did wonders for me, though my legs were still sore.
A group of my Iowa friends had agreed to drive up to Clear Lake and visit me on the ride. They showed up just after I had time to get my tent set up and finish getting settled in. The music act was going - The Elders- and it was a lot of fun watching them. We headed out, though, for some dinner. It was great to head out with them and catch up after all of this time. I think we decided that it had been at least 15 years, and probably more, since we had seen each other. Lots of news and stories to catch up on, but they are the same great guys I've always known. We had a nice dinner in some air conditioning, and then they dropped me off back at camp. We vowed to get together more often.
As I settled in for bedtime, I could hear the concert down on the lake quite clearly. Spin Doctors and some other bands were playing for quite some time, and it sounded like a good time. Then the fireworks started- only that turned out to be more lightning from a storm moving in. I hadn't planned to put the rain fly on the tent, but I went ahead. As it turned out, my tent had held up great to rain in my backyard a week ago, but that apparently finished its perfect waterproofing. I had several small leaks, and ended up with a lot of wet stuff. Quite a bit was protected (everything's in Ziplocs), but the mattress and tent itself were definitely wet. No fun to pack up in the morning, but I just dried them as best as I could, and shipped them off to the baggage truck.