In the morning a nice local boy told us all about his dog huckleberry. "My dog huckleberry does this, and my dog huckleberry does that, and although he's only this big, he ain't scared of a dog this big." We set off amid thunder and lightning. A few miles out it thankfully stopped.

I broke another spoke today. My rear wheel was failing. Too many miles and too much weight. It may seem like a lot of weight but I'ld highly recommend carrying extra spokes, a spoke wrench, and even a sprocket removal tool. I would have to replace six or seven spokes before Peoria.

Between New Hall and Atkins there was a bridge out. We happened to meet the farmer who lived just across the creek. He told us about the shortcut through the corn. Patti wasn't too happy when I started quoting "Children of the Corn" as we ducked through the fields. The farm kids were surprised to see us pop out of their Daddy's corn field. We explained that a neighbor had given us permission and they laughed it off.

Based on the same guy's assurance that the dirt road straight to Cedar Rapids was good we took it. We were anxious for another Marriot stay. It started to rain while we were on the dirt road and it got muddy. Just as we got into town I got a flat and broke another spoke. We'ld been working hard lately, the bikes needed fixing, and our equiptment needed some maintainance. We reserved two nights when we finally got to the hotel.