March 30: Uh-oh...

     Only 130 miles or so to the coast... and disaster strikes! As we biked east out of the tiny town of Lee, FL, I heard odd sounds coming from my rear wheel. Terrible rubbing noises, grinding sounds, and bumps. I hopped off my bike. Andy and I spun the rear wheel and watched it wobble in a wide arc. We took the wheel apart right there on the shoulder of Route 90 and pulled out flattened half-bearings and shards of steel (that were, at one time, also bearings). We tried putting the wheel back together using the remaining good bearings, but it continued to wobble and grind. My bike was un-ridable!
     The nearest bike shop was thirty miles North in Valdosta, GA. The good thing about Valdosta being due North was that we neither gained, nor lost, miles in our East-West journey. We'd been wanting to visit Georgia anyway. We called a mini-van cab from Valdosta, big enough to carry both of us and two fully-loaded bikes to town.
     The next morning we rode yet another mini-van cab to Valdosta's only bike shop... only to find that a new rear wheel was in order, and that new rear wheels to fit an early-1980's era bike are rather elusive things. The Valdosta Bike Center couldn't help me... but Western Auto (yes, Western AUTO) saved the day.
     Despite being called Western Auto, Western Auto sells bikes (along with lawn mowers and refrigerators). Somewhere in the dark recesses of the back room they found an old, dusty 27" x 11/4" rim. They replaced it, and (after procrastinating in the store for a couple of hours while it poured rain, thundered, and lightninged) we were back on our way. I still feel a special bond with my old wheel (after all, it carried me over 3,000 miles!), and decided to haul it with me in hopes that it can someday be rehabilitated.
  Our troubles were not quite yet over. Andy took a spill on a set of wet railroad tracks crossing the highway. He fortunately had only minor road rash, a ripped rain coat, and two squished bananas to show for it!