August 4, 2019
Day 0 - Morton, IL to Adair, IA (Driving)
My original plan for getting to Nebraska was to get up really early Monday morning and drive to Lincoln . . . then bicycle twenty miles to a campground. My wife convinced me that driving part way the day before, rather than taking my Sunday afternoon nap, would be a better plan. So here I am at a very pleasant city park, after driving 328.5 miles.
Backing up, there were some frustrations on Saturday. I had hoped to be ready with the bike completely loaded before evening. My plan was to ride it to breakfast and church the next morning, to make sure fully-loaded works OK. Also, having everything on the bike makes sure I don't forget anything before I load the truck. For once, it looked like I could get to bed on time. All my bags were packed; now just load the bike. As I was doing that, the off-balance was making the bike want to tip over. "That's OK. I'll just finish loading and it will stay upright." Well, it didn't! This bike always did want to tip over. The kickstand is too short.
My first thought to fix this problem was to extend the length of the kickstand. I jammed a four-inch length of pipe on its end, and that stabilized it, but there was no way to hold the pipe on. My next thought was to use the Greenfield rear kickstand off my tri-speed, but then discovered that the coaster brake arm on this single speed was in the way of getting the rear kickstand mounted. Thoughts turned to moving the brake arm and its attachment from the chain stay to the seat stay. After I turned the brake arm around, that worked. With modifications using a hacksaw, I got the rear stand mounted. It took four+ hours, but the bike is stable.
I made it on-time this morning to breakfast at the Downtown Diner, then church. Back home, my wife took a pre-trip picture before I changed clothes. We had our usual carryout lunch, then I loaded the truck. After a goodbye, I was on my way at 1:26pm.
I arrived at this park in Adair at 6:42pm - all driving time except for one ten-minute stop for gas and two bottles of Gatorade. Shortly after getting the tent set up, I started in on this report. Kris, wife of my friend George, will be uploading text and pictures from the emails I send her, and I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful for the many good wishes and prayers for my safety I've received from co-workers, friends, and family. Thank you!
Jeff
+ A note: plus signs bracketing captions indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +
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