WOW! :)
Continuing to ride, through lots of miles and adventures...
Rode a bit yesterday morning, before my bike chain broke! While fixing it, my chain repair tool broke! I fixed the tool using another tool that I recently got. Now I'm fixing my own tools! When I started this trip, I couldn't even change a flat tire for myself! :)
Speaking of flats, later in the day I got the seemingly inevitable flat. I'd been getting sore anyways, and the heat has been intense, so I somewhat welcomed the chance to sit in the shade and work on the flat. However, the self-sealing material failed to patch the hole, and my two remaining patches didn't work either. I found out in the nearby gas station that the very small town had no bike shop or hardware store, and the nearest one was quite a distance away. I kept on struggling for a while, eventually getting to the point of using duct tape and a rubber band to hold an old tube together! :)
After working on several creative approaches for a little while longer, a vehicle pulled up. A neighbor had seen me struggling, and drove me back to the house to do some repairs.
Together we worked on the bike for a while, with loud rock blasting on the radio. Thanks to my generous host, we finally got a new setup going, with a different rim, tire, and tube. It's kind of a temporary fix, but at least it got me beyond that town, and to the aforementioned town with a hardware store!!! :)
The next day, today, I woke up and went to the hardware store. They had a tube of the right size and type for my bike. Now I'm in Tarboro, NC, rolling again for who knows how long?! :)
Along the way, taking in lots of scenery, doing some thinking, meeting plenty of folks, eating, drinking, and making merry…
Rock & Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
We really give a hoot!