Day 5: Thursday

Depart: 5:49 A.M.
Time in Motion: 4:09:55
Distance: 66.52 mi.
Average: 15.9 mph.
Temperature: 60-85° F

Finally, I had a decent night of sleep in the tent. The sound of passing trains woke me in the middle of the night, but I promptly fell back to sleep.

Once again, I joined Ed and Vi for breakfast. In addition to the retired couple, I visited with a vending machine repairman from Lakewood, MN, named Ray (pictured above). Once on the road, Ray and I rode together for fifteen miles or so. Eventually, I pulled away from him. We saw each other a few other times along the route when I stopped to take snapshots of the scenery. For example, a farmstead silhouetted against the rising sun .

Today was filled with nice, rolling hills and a few long climbs. Scattered amongst the hills were sloughs and prairie potholes, all filled with an abundance of waterfowl .

After pulling away from Ray, I did not see another biker for the rest of the ride. I was too early. Along the route, I only saw one rest stop. And it was not even completely set up. While at the rest stop, I took this snapshot:

It briefly rained when I neared the small town of Tuttle. The wind picked up and became an awesome tailwind for the last few miles into Wing. When I saw the sag wagons come in, I realized that tailwind was brutal to people who were behind me. They were fighting against what was a strong tailwind for me. The wagons were full.

When I arrived in Wing, I signed the guest book on the edge of town. I was the first to sign in, and the second biker to arrive. I assume Jesse was the first, because I know he was ahead of me.

When I arrived at the school, our campground, the luggage was still in the trucks. The locals asked me what the procedures were for luggage. So we told them to lay out the luggage in long lines so we could all find our bags. One or two workers were on hand to help unload. So Jesse and I pitched in to unload luggage.

Before long, one of the local workers saw a neighbor working in his yard and yelled for help. He dropped what he was doing and pitched in. Before long, a large crowd had assembled to empty the trucks.

As I wandered around the small community of Wing, I visited with many people I have come to know through the years. There was Tim Driscoll, my former roommate's boss and CANDISC veteran. And Dave, my former Wal-Mart boss. The list of people I know on the tour grows longer every year.

The town of Wing is surprisingly well equipped. They have a small cafe, the Chat and Chew, which is well known for its German cuisine. Next door to the cafe is the four-room motel . And just down Main Street you'll find the Wing Theater .

Wing did a nice job. The school had all the services we could want and the camping area was nice and clean. Everyone was friendly, and the dinner they put on was quite good. At one point, they even had karaoke. As I walked back to my tent after brushing my teeth I heard Rory Schell, the tour's mechanic, singing "Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys." Entertaining, for sure.

There are only 100 miles left now and only one more night of camping. The week has flown by.