29 miles.  Maja’s Birthday!!!!

We had planned on a short day today since we had a package to pick up from REI, stuff to mail back and a quick visit to the local bike shop to see if the mechanic could fix a problem Maja is having with her rear shifter. Well … the REI package arrived a week ago or so and the post office has a 4 day hold policy so it was sent back!! We did manage to get the tent etc. sent back to PHX via UPS so cross that off the list. We got to the bike shop early hoping that someone could look at the shifting and Jason, the mechanic, spent 45 minutes or so straightening a problem with the cable and shifter then noticed that Maja’s chain had an issue so did some repairs to that, too. She took the bike out for a test drive and Jason tweaked things then announced that he wasn’t going to charge us anything! “It’s how we treat travelers,” he said!  Kindness of strangers department yet again.

Returning to our hotel to pack up, I found that my brand new rear tire was flat!  Over 3 weeks on the road without any tire problems and now 4 flats or so in the last 3 days. I pumped the tire up enough to limp back to Jason and he installed a new one that we paid for this time!

Our ride was uneventful and very short. We have been sitting in the local grocery store for an hour (they have wi fi) waiting for our Warm Showers host to get home.  We are bringing some food and a birthday dessert tonight to the raucous celebration!

Tomorrow we’re back on the road for real and hope to be in Fargo (oh jeez!) for the 4th.