PowerCycle

04/01Never ignore a hole in your rubber. The piece of glass that punched through the rear tire left a hole in it that I should have patched up with something because sure enough a rock found its way in and caused another flat. The leak was slow so I kept riding and filled it up every couple miles. Carmi was going to be my destination anyway so I grabbed a cheap motel and repaired the tube.

I’ll head over to Walmart tomorrow and pick up some more patches and hopefully another tube since I only have 1 spare. I’m not sure what to do about the tire. Maybe a tire liner would be enough to keep things from getting in? I hate to buy a whole new one. In the meantime I stuck a thin piece of cardboard between the tube and the tire. I stopped at the Sheriff’s office and asked one of the guys outside if there was a bike shop in town but it was a no go.

To get into Illinois I crossed through the town of New Harmony. Apparently it has America’s first free public school and was the first place where boys and girls received an equal education. I’m not sure if the picture below is of the original school though. I couldn’t find any markers/signs. Very neat town in any case.

Crossed over the Wabash River on Hwy 14. The surface of the bridge wasn’t in good shape but that hardly mattered when I got to the toll booth and had to pay my first bike toll! It was quite a moment for me. I handed over my $0.25 and chatted with the 2 guys inside about my trip for a couple minutes.

The sun was out all day but I think tomorrow is going to be a wet one.

GPX Track