Running into some problems...

So I've encountered some problems over the course of the last few days. They started in Nebraska, carried on throughout western Iowa, and haven't stopped since reaching South Dakota. I really can't think of a way around this either. I think the problem started in Nebraska City, when Bruce and Joan took me on a stormy night and treated me to a local Italian buffet. Then, I ran into two random guys in a Council Bluffs, Iowa park- Randy and Rod. They wanted to have a big group camping night on Friday night at a popular campsite so they came on Thursday to pay for two nights to assure their spot for Friday. Anyways, they arrived to the park just as I did and insisted on paying for my camping spot as a mutually beneficial arrangement where I held their spot for the one night I was in town. Anyways, I casually mentioned my blog to them, and to my surprise they came back to the camp around 10pm, presenting me with a paper bag. I was confused. They said, "Take it, it's fuel." Still confused, I looked in the bag and found a bunch of bananas, two pounds of pasta, four cans of tuna, peanuts, and even pistachios! Everything I had mentioned in one of my posts- plus pistachios which happen to be my favorite! Then just yesterday I met a family at another campsite in Salix, Iowa- Al, his wife, Steve and Lindsay. As soon as I arrived, they called me over and passed me a plate full of ribs, three baked potatoes, and a beer... then in the morning had me stay for a huge breakfast cooked over the fire! And tonight another family has taken me in- giving me yet another meal. The problem is... I'm toting all this food with me and don't seem to ever have a chance to cook it! Don't worry Randy and Rod, I'll get to it one of these days.


The picture above is of Bruce from Nebraska City, me, and my bike. I realized I haven't posted a picture of myself yet... hopefully the votes for "Forest Gump" don't skyrocket after seeing this visual. It seems that everyone along the way, without any sort of prompting, asks me after hearing my cross-country plan, "Are you Forest Gump or something?"

Here is a picture of one of those tornado ravaged buildings that I came across and was told a tornado had hit 2 days previous to my passing by. This one was from Reserve, Kansas.


I have to tell one last story tonight... this was the closest I've come on the trip to crying due to my circumstances. As I was just across the river from Omaha, Nebraska- famous, of course, for being the birthplace of Linh Nguyen- I was riding on some city trails the day after some torrential rains. I was warned about the trail being muddy, but another cyclist came from the direction I wanted to go. After he told me the trail was in decent shape and I should be fine, I proceeded forward. I saw some silt/mud over the trail, but I just got a "go ahead" from another cyclist, I should be fine, right? So I decreased speed and started through the little mud puddle. Little? Whoa... the mud soon was over 1 foot deep!!! I had to dismount and walk/carry the bike as best as I could through about 25 feet of this mess. When I finally made it out, I wanted to cry for subjecting my poor bike to such harsh treatment. Here's a picture of that sad sight:



I'll share more a little further down the road!