DAY 106

June 28, 1999

Lots of things to do today, my list is as follows:
    • Fix wire for bike computer
    • One of the wires on my bike computer was pulled apart when my bike was shipped to Key West. It has stayed together with the bare wires twisted together until yesterday when it came apart while riding through a rough section of road where they were doing road construction.
    • Attach handlebar bag – make it more secure
    • My handlebar bag is attached with a plastic clamp and has been sagging with the weight of my camera and 3 lenses. I came up with an idea while riding…to put holes in the top left and right hand corners, put in some metal grommets, thread a piece of rope through them, and secure it to my handlebars. You’ll have to see the photo I took of it. It actually worked great.
    • Buy lots of food to last one week
    • The best place to shop is Overwaitra Foods. They have an excellent selection with lots of bulk foods. A much better selection of bulk foods than the health food store, and much cheaper.
    • Clean and maintain bikes
    • We took our bikes to the only car wash, it is a pressure sprayer on the side of a Shell station. We thoroughly cleaned our bikes, being careful not to spray the hubs or bottom bracket.
    • Do laundry
    • After washing our bikes we rode to the laundro-mat with our dirty clothes in our panniers. We let the bikes dry in the warm sun while our clothes were being washed. We then wiped them down and lubed everything. Wow, looks like new again!!!

We met 2 couples outside the launder-mat, Dominique and Marie were French. They began biking from the tip of South America 2 and a half years ago!! Wow, what an adventure!! Yesterday morning they had an encounter with a black bear. Marie was cooking breakfast when she turned to see a black bear had come up to 3 meters from her. Dominique tried to scare the bear away, to no avail. The bear stood and gave him an angry growl. So needless to say, Dominique and Marie got the heck out of there while the bear devoured their food, tore up their camp, and tore up their tent. Both of them were very scared and wanted to purchase some pepper spray in case of another encounter. They couldn’t afford the $50.00 for a can so I gave them the one I had strapped to my bike. Dominique was very appreciative and thanked me several times. I was just glad I was in a position to help.

The other couple didn’t talk much. They were driving an older model, foreign, 4 wheel drive sport utility vehicle. It looked very rugged. Something you’d see driving through the wilds of Africa. Since English was not their primary language, Patrick spoke to them mostly since he is fluent in German and Spanish.

Back at the motel room, I fine tuned my front and rear derailleurs. After several tries at adjusting them, I quickly became confident and was able to get my bike shifting perfectly. Then I inspected every detail and made sure every nut and bolt was tight.

Today's Pics

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