Friday, June 22, 2007

6/22/07 9:33 PM Creston, Iowa

Today dawned darkly for 2 reasons -- it was cloudy and the stove was
broken and I couldn't make any tea! Our old Coleman multifuel store
was acting up and it finally stopped working this morning. As Ted
packed up the tent I took the stove apart to try to make it work. I
ended up breaking it pretty conclusively. With that we left, heading
east. After about an hour we came across road construction that closed
the road (unmarked). The foreman refused to let us pass even if we
walked our bikes along the fenceline. Our only option was to turn
back and add ten or 15 miles to our trip or go around them. We ended
up going around them through the adjacent field and it seemed easy
until we had to cross a deeply cut stream with a lot of mud at the
bottom. Somehow we got the bikes across but I was in muck up to my
calves and I only luckily held onto my shoes. With very dark and
uncharitable thoughts towards the unhelpful foreman we got our bikes
back on the road after washing up in a bigger stream without mud.

We had lunch in friendly Corning and had our faith restored in people
following very helpful encounters in the library and grocery stores.
Besides, a full stomach can make a big change in your outlook.

Creston is a large town complete with traffic and a Wal Mart
Supercenter. Much to my surprise we were able to buy a replacement
stove there, slightly bigger but useful nonetheless. As we left the
store the skies were menacingly dark so we checked into the new Super
8 motel next to the Wal Mart. It was wise move as storms have moved
thru all evening. We had a light day today in terms of mileage.

Ted: On Wal Mart, and much needed tea.
If there is one thing I cannot wake up without, it is tea. I came to
this rather unpleasant conclusion this morning when our stove quit on
us as a result of using motorboat fuel. It was as if my mind had been
in the sauna for too long, it was foggy, if not useless. So we went
without tea, and the day was awful. From stream crossings in ankle
deep mud to sub 50 mileage, it was bad. We ended up going into wal
mart. The amount of...stuff, mostly cheap, and plastic. They did,
however, sell all but one thing we needed, and we left somewhat more
fortunate.

Miles today: 48

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear about the stove and glad you can remedy the caffeine deficiency asap!

Much love,
Mom/Laura

Unknown said...

Oh, yes. I wanted to share I tended 1 &1/2 of the bee hives today. I made a mistake with the second one and a comb dropped off the bar. They were none too pleased with me and I got stung twice on my right hand. Lots of buzzing bees.
All's well, but I called it quits then. I did remedy it as Shilale (sp? sorry) had said to, but still felt pretty badly about it.
They await the return of their master-keeper!

Love,
L~