Tuesday, May 28, 1996
Day 17
Cody, Wyoming to Byron, Wyoming
Today's Miles: 44
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 1046
Degree of Difficulty: Very Easy
Terrain: Flat Farmland
Find of the Day: Don and Elvira Bell
Ken and Adam were missing for over 7 hours, today. I'll let them fill you in on their side of it, then I'll come back and tell you "the REST of the story"...
From the Journal of Adam Iobst
If you have been waiting to find out exactly what happened to my dad and I, you are not alone. We probably still have all of Byron, its surrounding neighborhoods, and half the police force in the area looking for us! Here is the story...
"Adam, coffee's ready!" My dad's words rang loud in my head, interrupting a very nice, deep sleep. I slowly but surely got up and out of the tent. To my surprise, Mark had already left and Lee was soon to follow. I quickly whophed some muffins down and got dressed for the day. After some bike cleaning, my dad and I were off.We got 500 feet before I realized that I had a flat back tire. "No problem, my dad has a pump", so I thought. Soon the van came by and asked if everything was ok. We assured them that everything was fine, but everything wasn't. The pump was broken and I ended up carrying my "light" bike a mile to the bike shop in town. As I walked I tried to keep my mind off the pain of the metal digging its way into my right shoulder. I tried to avoid the cracks in the side walk, but that didn't last long- sorry mom. Anyway, soon I made it back to my dad and the bike shop.And to make a long story a little shorter, we purchased a bike inner tube and with the help of the support van managed to fix my bike. We were off once again, so we were two hours behind Mark, THE DAY HAD BEGUN! Finally the breeze was just right and the sun was warming my back and........fizzzzzzzz, my dad's back tire was flat. We were amazed at our luck, we both frowned (I took a picture of my dad here) and began to make the necessary repairs. This time the pump didn't work at all. We dissected that pump for two hours before we had a plan. Eventually both bikes were in operating condition and we were off (again).We decided to scrap the day and take the van to Byron, where we were supposed to eat lunch. With nothing else to do, we thought it best to start peddling toward Byron while waiting for the van. We peddled, and peddled, then peddled some more. No van. What happened? It was now around two o'clock and we hadn't seen the van in over four hours! We stopped in the next town to pick up a spare inner tube. (This is where things really get screwed up)The guy at the bike store told us that some tall guy from Bike America (a.k.a Dave- he really is a big dude) was just in the store and that he was on his way to the hospital. This threw a new twist into our predicament. Now either Mark or Lee was in the hospital! Or so we thought. We spent another hour in the town looking for the hospital, finding out that no one had heard of Mark or Lee, and looking for the van. Which only worsened the situation, as it turned out.Later down the road we found Chuck and Lee in the pick up truck, only then did we realize that Dave was at the bike store, but he was looking for us! Not the hospital like we were told. Pedaling into Byron is something I'll never forget. There must have been a dozen people on the corner to greet us and tell us how happy they were to see us. And boy was I happy to see those guys! Anyway, it's late and I have to sleep.I hope tomorrow my day doesn't start with "Adam, coffee's ready."
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271