First, after another DQ lunch (where they had smoked brisket!) all of a sudden the bikes didn't want to stay strapped on the trailer anymore. The back two were coming loose of it's moorings and bouncing around. Fortunately, not all the way off and we got them tied back down well.
Then, we decided to take a detour around DesMoines to get away from the road construction delays we had run into on day one and just south of Ames, a tire on the trailer blew off it's tread and we had no spare. We stopped at a fix it place in a little town but they were not able to provide a tire but pointed us to a place near Ames that would. We limped the 30 miles to that place and had them replace two tires of the four. I almost bought a spare too but decided that we wouldn't need it after we fixed the two worst tires. That was a mistake...
We jumped back on the interstate heading north but about 60 miles from Mason City another tire blew it's tread. It was now to late in the day to get any help from any tire place in the small towns so we slowed down to try and get to Mason City. At about 40 miles out the whole tire blew and we were running on the rim. We decided to keep going on the rim because we were going to have to buy a new rim with a new tire anyhow. Eventually we got to the Fleet Farm in town, bought the new wheel and got it changed. Jim and Keith decided to unload there bikes while I was shopping for the wheel so they could get home sooner than later.
We had a time of thanksgiving to God for the great week and bid farewell in the parking lot. We finally made it home at about 11:00 PM.
Wrap up:
It was a great trip with great roads, great weather, great scenery and great fellowship with great Christian Brothers.
Praise the Lord!
