"You guys are threading the needle." - Day 15

Travis was so exhausted from yesterday that he passed out on the couch and slept most of the night on the couch but made it to the bed by around 5 am. We didn't wake up until 8, leaving an hour for us to get "continental breakfast" which consisted of bread, butter, peanut butter, jelly, cinnamon rolls, and no more than 2 tiny cups of orange juice. Still, it was good.
We set out on a frontage road because I-90 was under construction and made great time on account of the huge tailwinds and flat terrain. I didn't eat for the first two hours and was hence famished when we stopped to refill water 40 miles in. I bought a box of donuts (1,500 calories) and trail mix (1,170 calories). Both were finished before 4 pm.

Travis and my dad crossing the Missouri River

We continued towards Mitchell with Travis flatting once. Later I got both of my tires on one pothole which left us wanting for one tube. I had to use a stick-on patch which lasted 15 minutes before flatting a mile from the first exit for Mitchell. Dad went ahead to get tubes and a glue-based patch kit, while I fixed it again. We made it into the city on my freshly repatched tube, got some Subway, and decided to push 30 miles on to Salem.

We were making great time and still had four hours before the sun would go down. I led for the final 10 miles into Salem, really pushing hard to repay Travis for setting such a grueling pace yesterday. Our average was probably about 22 mph for the final 5 miles in. Dad got a motel, we showered for the second day in a row, got burgers and beer and then prepared to hit the sack.
Looking at the weather in the motel, it was a wonder that we haven't been rained on while riding yet. My dad had been watching the weather from home as I updated him on our position and he said that we've been threading the needle in terms of avoiding the storms. Hopefully it keeps up!

We've done 402.7 miles in the past three days, so we're up to where we wanted to be at 100 miles/day. We're going to try to get to Des Moines early on Thursday, push really hard the 170+ miles to Davenport on Friday, and then take Saturday off. Zoom zoom.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
7:18:06	133.9	1613	18.3	33.4