His helmet of states that we visited

AKA Captain Spunky

Looking to start some trouble

went for the subtle look

went for the pinhead look

Evening all,

I didn’t take any more photos today but will post a few more from the Helmet decorating contest that we held yesterday.

Today we started an hour later since we were only riding 46 miles or so. I felt pretty good and pushed up to the lead pack of riders. the morning was cool and the terrain was rolling  but we had a bit of a headwind. The SAG was at mile 23 and it didn’t take us long to get there. In our lead 3 was Harry, Richard M (one of the new riders who has STL roots) and myself. As we were leaving the SAG, w were joined by John F who didn’t feel a need to stop. I should mention as well that the 3 of us had passed Larry and Patty at about mile 15 (they started a few minutes before us) and I was surprised at how well Larry was riding. Patty told me that he said as another group approached, “Let’s make them work for it!” – I heard they never did catch him – Bravo!

The other surprise was that Harry was having an exceptional day. Early on in the desert, he had been riding very strong but ad some heat issues and then settled further back in the pack. Today he looked very strong and pushed us extremely well. He was happy to finish in the first group.

The overall ride to Indianapolis was mainly rural and only about the last 3 miles did we hit much traffic. The hotel is located on a very busy road and I think we have to ride through the bulk of the city tomorrow. I really enjoyed today’s ride because many of the streets were shaded, not a lot of traffic, the hills were gentle and the scenes was nice.

Outside of saddle sores – i have no complaints. there are only 12 more days of cycling by my recollection and if everything holds in place, we will be in Boston in exactly 2 weeks.

I think it is rare to throw 20 plus people together and have every one get along so well. I have spoken to many other sand we all say the same thing – we all like each other very much. I constantly see examples of their generosity and thoughtfulness and have witnessed no arguments. The outside world has largely remained the unreal world although we do catch up on the news, sports, stock market on occasion. The “real” world has consisted of a tightly-knit group of folks on their own Vision Quest -to cross America on bike. The unrealized outcome is that we have found new life long friend and have gone on an exploration of self – what we are made of, what are values are , and where we are going.  This reminds me of a quote from T. S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started … and know the place for the first time.”

Tailwinds

Chuck

T