Today's Miles = 70.2
Average Speed = 10.7 mph
Maximum Speed = 43.5 mph
Total Miles = 1583.7

With my bike repaired and my body rested I lingered in my motel room as late as I could before checking out to take care of my in-town errands. I had to ship my old wheel back to Colorado, and that meant once again transporting a spare boxed wheel on my bike. When I picked up my new wheel yesterday the box was so large it seemed at first to be an impossible problem. But by letting my flagpole skewer the box, moving some of my gear to the front, and opening up the spare bungee cord I had brought I was able to get the package precariously perched on my rear rack. All I need is a couple more cardboard boxes and I'll start looking frighteningly like one of those homeless bicycle guys.

There really isn't much to say about the ride to Marshfield. Nothing on my bike broke, no cars tried to run me off the road, and I didn't meet anyone new. The terrain had opened up to become mostly hayfields on gently rolling hills. The scenery was beautiful and I started thinking about how other than the few places where litter and trash had marred the landscape, everything I've ridden through so far was beautiful.

It seems like in all the travels I've done in my life, from Europe to Mexico, from the mountains to the oceans, from the deserts to the forests, that I've never come across a piece of natural scenery that didn't have a beauty to it. There is something about the world we live in, or at least in the way I see it, that can always be appreciated in the natural order. It is only when Man strips the land, or scars it, or discards his trash upon it, that this beauty is diminished.

Just outside of Marshfield I crossed paths with David Clark again. Although we aren't riding together we are moving at roughly the same pace and hitting the same stops. David was leaning towards finding a motel in town for the evening, while I opted for the city park. The park was pretty crowded when I arrived, with the local Girl Scouts having a talent show and tents and trailers sprouting up for an Indian Pow-Wow this weekend. The park superintendent pointed me to a quiet corner behind a pavilion where I found I had a power outlet and good cell coverage that enabled me to finally catch up on my email.