Day 37: E-Town

125 miles. We rick rolled today. Left pretty early and said goodbye to Bruce. We met four people on the road from Holland who were very nice. Once we were 100 miles in, the storms started. It was raining pretty hard and there were a few light shows happening, but it was starting to clear up at the same time. So we pushed towards Elizabethtown, IL. Only six miles from the end Michael broke a spoke climbing a hill. Thinking it could be fixed as easily as the last one Tim rode ahead to figure out where we'd be sleeping for the night. It didn't take long for Michael to realize that he was not going to fix the spoke unless he could get the rear cassette off first. That required a special tool or at least a wrench, hammer, and possible vice. Fortunately, he was stopped in the driveway of a nice lawyer, Jack, who was just leaving with Mary Jo. They saw Michael and asked if there's anything they could do. He tried convincing them he was fine and that "somehow it'll work out" but thankfully they didn't buy it. They gave him a ride into town and even set him up with the town's best mechanic, Buddy. It was very late at night and Buddy's shop was in another town 6 miles away. So Michael's bike stayed in Jack's car for the night and Jack arranged to pick him up/drop him off at Buddy's shop in the morning. During this time, Tim is in town wondering what in the world is taking Michael so long. Michael's phone has truly died this time, 5 days ago to be exact, so there is no means of contact. Even if there was service. Plus, he found out the Rose Hotel is booked and the Rose River Inn was charging $125 a night for a bed and breakfast. Although, it is a beautiful place to stay at. The forecast called for thunderstorms all night. Sue, the owner, was far too kind and dropped the price to $75. As Tim is about to reluctantly take the room, she offers her garage for both of us to sleep in for $10 with a shower. Thank you so much Sue! We really appreciate all that you did for us! Somehow not to long later we were eating tombstone pizza at a bar watching the NBA Finals. Wow, E-Town is great.

Camping out in Sue's garage