Towers and rims

Every town has a water tower. In the Midwest, I typically spot the water tower about 3 miles before we get to town. When I'm hot, or hungry, or thirsty, it's a good feeling to see the tower. It means relief is coming soon.

On our tandem, the stoker controls the GPS. That means Viktoriya already knows exactly how far it is to town and doesn't get excited about water towers.

Our first scheduled stop this morning was in the town of Tower Hill. Every town has a tower, but not every town has a hill. We don't much care for hills. Luckily, we had 5 flat miles to warm up before we got to climb up to Tower Hill.

The Nokomis towers were visible for more than 5 miles before we reached town.

We spent the entire day on Illinois Rt 16. Most of the time Rt 16 ran next to a CSX rail line. Wisely, they don't mow the area between the highway and the tracks. In many places, that area has a ditch with an inch or two of water, even though it hasn't rained lately, and lots of prarie flowers and shrubs. It makes a nice habitat for birds and small mammels. Red wing blackbirds were especially common along the tracks. Here's some pics of the corridor along the tracks.

Memorial day is approaching. Many of the small towns are decked out with flags.

It was a good day until we got to our hotel and I decided to clean up the bike. While I was cleaning some road dirt from the wheels, I discovered a couple of hairline cracks in the rim of my rear wheel. Because of the weight the tandem carries, we have a 40 spoke wheel. Calls to bike shops all along the Katy trail revealed that no one has 40 spoke rims in stock. Tomorrow is Sunday, the next day is memorial day, so trying to order a rim is going to be a challenge. I don't mind riding on the rim for a day or two, but getting a quick repair seems unlikely. Stay tuned to see what happens.

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