Today was a much needed rest day. The weather forecast had indicated high temperatures and headwinds so we decided to wait a day until the weather looked more favorable. Looks like we needed it as we were able to sleep for 14 hours!

Went for lunch at a local diner and were by far the youngest people in there. There were about 20 other people there and the average age probably close to 70 and the waitress seemed to know everybody’s name.

Next to us sat two elderly ladies who looked fairly weak and fragile but the portions they were served were enormous. Can’t believe they finished them. It still amazes us how big the portions in the US are. We are most often able to finish ours but we are burning 2-4 times the calories as the normal person.

As we sat in the diner we did some distance calculations and it seems that we are 100 km further from our destination than our calculations had indicated. All the little detours to cafes, campgrounds, motels and sightseeing have been included in our daily distance but obviously do not count toward getting us closer to our final destination. It is good to realize this discrepancy early instead of on the last leg. We have updated our daily distance goal accordingly and are still optimistic about reaching Yorktown before the target date.

Eureka was hit with a tornado 2 weeks ago so we rode around town to see the damage. 8 houses were totally wiped out. There were broken trees and one tree still had a trampoline stuck in it.

Despite only riding 6 km Saemi managed to get a flat tire. We are becoming quite adept at changing tubes but since we were wearing our street clothes we started to sweat immediately in the heat.

Went to the store, got some Gatorade, fresh fruit and candy for the rest of the day and then just lay in bed watching TV. Eureka is not the most happening town.

Talked to some of our family, including our kids which was amazing. Earlier the time difference made it hard to talk to our close ones but since it was a rest day we used the opportunity. It is great to receive the encouragement and feel the love from home. We miss them all and cannot wait to see and hug them when we get home.