Edwin, just ousted from Jeff’s group (a story for a future day) showed up and we shared the camping area. Last night’s storm didn’t amount to very much, though Edwin got caught in some rain on the ride in. I slept well, actually much better than in the motel, the night before.

It was looking like this was going to amount to an uneventful day, until I tried to cycle away from the rest area I was eating lunch at. It was then when I noticed my front tire was going flat. I took the tube out and was looking for the source of the leak, when a man and his wife walked up. He said he had a floor pump in his vehicle and would I like to borrow it, since it is easier to inflate a tire with a floor pump as compared to a hand pump. I said sure.

As we were talking he said he was from Michigan, part of which I am going to pass through. At this point Mark, that is the man’s name, started giving all kinds of suggestions for getting from Muskego, MI, to New England. He mentioned bicycle highway 35 several times, so I’m going to have to look into that. Finally, we shared contact information, I may well ask Mark and Sue for more ideas when I get closer to crossing Lake Michigan. I have not yet found cause of the leaky tube. I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me. Mark and Sue also mentioned that 10 miles of route 200 ahead were nothing but dirt, as all the pavement was tore up.

View from the rest area.

With a reinflated front tire and 20 more miles to ride till Sand Springs, today’s destination, I set off. After about 10 miles it began to sprinkle. I stopped to put on my rain pants and decided I should use my booties again. My rain jacket was already on. It’s a good thing I did put the wet weather gear on because it rained for the rest of the ride.

Sand Springs is basically a connivence store and gas station, with nothing else for 20 miles in either direction. Edwin was already there and told me camping was free and that we could stay in the dome.

I bought a frozen pizza from Kimberly, who was running the place. She put it in the pizza I’m the oven for me. When it was done, I ate the whole thing. I also bought a snickers bar and paid for a shower. Altogether a very homey environment. Edwin and I split the cost of a gallon of water, as the water here is not fit to drink. Kimberly also warned us that it wasn’t a good idea to stay in Mosby, a place just before the rest area because the man that ran the place was bonkers. I texted the info back to Jeff, who had not gone by there. I asked Kimberly about the road construction and she said we could easily hitch a ride over that section of road, either with one of the escort vehicles or with someone just going that way.

I suspect I’ve already had some bad water on this trip as my stool has been consistently very soft, almost from day one. So much for my bad theory that you could trust the water almost anywhere in the USA.

Inside the dome.

68 more miles today plus the existing 1071 equals 1139. Under 200 miles left of Montana, though there is that 10 miles of road construction to deal with.