Lucky for me, the storm that was warned of last night stayed south and hammered Omaha and Des Moines. I left the Sac City Motel to gray skies and cold temperatures that were below 50 degrees. After a mile east on the old 20 I turned back to the busier highway and faced the winds that were bringing the cold from the north.
I continued down the highway appalled at the number of dead frogs on the shoulder of the road. During two rest stops at section boundaries I talked to the farmers who lived down the road I was stopped at. Both wished me well on my trip and told me they'd pray for me. After a stop on Quinton Rd.-the worst road in the whole state (named after my brother)-Lindy from Sioux City stopped me on her way home from Ft. Dodge. It was awesome getting to see her once again on the side of a busy highway! We noticed the cars all magically seemed able to move over a lane now that I was with a lady in an Army uniform. I bid my final goodbye to Lindy and continued east.
Kim, who I met yesterday, would be home at 6:30 from her job as the librarian at the Sac City library, so I had about an hour to kill in town before she got home. I decided to head to local bar where a good chunk of the town's population was located for the evening. After a can of Coke, which the bartender generously gave me on the house, a lady there gave me ten dollars to spend on a meal. Since I would be eating with the Nelsens in just a bit, she said I could use it for a meal down the road. It was here that I learned the Iowa State Cyclones would be playing the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday when a guy with a Hawkeye hat refused to sit on the only seat available at the bar, an I-State stool. I left the bar and headed a block over to Kim's house at 6:30.
When wheeling the cart into the garage Kim's husband, Jeff, noticed that part of the aluminum frame connecting the front tire to the cart was cracked almost all of the way through. A very similar looking fracture decommissioned the first cart in Twin Falls and it was a pretty scary discovery. Using a good amount of duct tape and some iron braces we made the frame a lot sturdier. These are the type of fixes that last either ten minutes or ten years according to Jeff. I'm hoping we can split the difference and have it last only one and a half more months.
After the repairs I enjoyed a great evening with Kim and Jeff, and their kids Ben and Emma. Sleeping on their couch was amazing and the small heater running to keep the living room warm was a constant reminder of how lucky I was to be indoors during this crummy weather.
I continued down the highway appalled at the number of dead frogs on the shoulder of the road. During two rest stops at section boundaries I talked to the farmers who lived down the road I was stopped at. Both wished me well on my trip and told me they'd pray for me. After a stop on Quinton Rd.-the worst road in the whole state (named after my brother)-Lindy from Sioux City stopped me on her way home from Ft. Dodge. It was awesome getting to see her once again on the side of a busy highway! We noticed the cars all magically seemed able to move over a lane now that I was with a lady in an Army uniform. I bid my final goodbye to Lindy and continued east.
Kim, who I met yesterday, would be home at 6:30 from her job as the librarian at the Sac City library, so I had about an hour to kill in town before she got home. I decided to head to local bar where a good chunk of the town's population was located for the evening. After a can of Coke, which the bartender generously gave me on the house, a lady there gave me ten dollars to spend on a meal. Since I would be eating with the Nelsens in just a bit, she said I could use it for a meal down the road. It was here that I learned the Iowa State Cyclones would be playing the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday when a guy with a Hawkeye hat refused to sit on the only seat available at the bar, an I-State stool. I left the bar and headed a block over to Kim's house at 6:30.
When wheeling the cart into the garage Kim's husband, Jeff, noticed that part of the aluminum frame connecting the front tire to the cart was cracked almost all of the way through. A very similar looking fracture decommissioned the first cart in Twin Falls and it was a pretty scary discovery. Using a good amount of duct tape and some iron braces we made the frame a lot sturdier. These are the type of fixes that last either ten minutes or ten years according to Jeff. I'm hoping we can split the difference and have it last only one and a half more months.
After the repairs I enjoyed a great evening with Kim and Jeff, and their kids Ben and Emma. Sleeping on their couch was amazing and the small heater running to keep the living room warm was a constant reminder of how lucky I was to be indoors during this crummy weather.
Duct tape can fix anything
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