Day 1 started on time meeting Jeff in Morris, Il at 7 am. We arrived in Iowa City at precisely 10 AM to meet up with Jason and Brian. The came in closer to 10:45. We hung out there for a while to wait out a few storms in Mo. We left about 11:45 and ran strong until we got to Oskaloosa, IA.
My luggage rack weld cracked and fell off just outside of town. We tried to find a welding shop to fix it but they were all closed. In desperation I asked a local at a gas station if he Knew anyone who did welding. Clayton called around but anyone he knew who did welding wasn’t available. He finally revealed he had a wire welder at home but didn’t know how to use it. He invited us to his “house” 10 miles outside of town to fix it. After traversing a road that could have been fro Afghanistan from all the potholes initial we got there, borrowed a grinder from a neighbor ANC Jeff and I commenced the repair while Jason and Brian spent their time fighting off a coup,e of female admirers. I think the locals took enough pictures of us to make us part if the family.
After professing that we had no “weed” and were not police, we were back underway after about a 2 hr. delay.
We had about 125 miles of clear running before the rain started. We changed into rain gear just in time and ran about another 50 miles to spend the night in Colombia, Mo. The goal for today is the Fayetville, Ar. Area.
