Bill,
We experimented some with Osage orange wood where I worked. We extracted oil from it (sawdust) using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide. I knew of the wood's rot-resistance and hardness, but didn't know its hardness was from silica.
Jeff

Jeanna and Kerry,
Thanks for following along - even while you were busy on your own tour!
I'm not surprised I rode through some areas you have ridden - you've been to so many places. Looks like we missed meeting again by less than a month in Williston, North Dakota.
Thanks for the photo posting suggestion.
Jeff

Jeff,
Thanks! I'm glad I was able to do most of the journal "from the road". It was a priority for me to stay on top of journal entries, since details fade if too much time passes. It was fun bicycling those last few days without posting, but all that much harder to write about when I got home.
I am enjoying being home, though it was an adjustment - I'd slept better in the tent than my own bed the first few nights back.
Jeff

Steve,
Thanks! And thank you for being such a faithful follower.
Jeff

Had it happen with my mtb that is "decked out" with homemade stuff to carry fishing gear, etc. when the kick stand sunk into the grass due to damp conditions and a wind gust. Got home and found the whisk broom holder (for cleaning glass off the bike path... Grrrrr!) had a hold down wire busted and was hanging crooked enough that some of the goose feathers I picked up and stuck in the wires were gone. No biggie, but I still hate when it drops.

Bill,
I have fond memories of strolling through to aisles of Paul's with my grandmother, often leaving with a toy she'd bought for me.
Jeff

Bill,
I've been through Savanna (www.cycleblaze.com/journals/iowa/day-11-ending-near-hampton-il). I remember back in the '60s my grandmother stopping at a gas station (Cotton Bros. Shell) in Sabula where one of my great uncles worked. He figured out I liked maps, so let me have one of each of the state maps they had on their map rack.
Jeff

Mike,
Yes. Walking was just as fast for me as riding, since I was stopping so often to take pictures.
Sorry this reply is so late.
Jeff

Kathleen,
Yes, indeed!
Jeff

Steve,
I believe so.
Jeff

Bill,
Yes! Sometimes it works in my favor, even if it's not a tailwind.
Jeff

Bill,
I agree. That whole meal was a treat.
Jeff

George,
"The Straight Story" is my favorite movie. In 2010 I followed the route shown in the movie (www.cycleblaze.com/journals/straightpath), and found out about the tractors being in Clermont before I'd started out back then.
Jeff

Bill,
It was 'pick the bike up and carry on'.
Jeff

Jeff,
I just wish they had provided better information on how to get back on the trail on the east side of town.
I see (just now) the problem I was having - their map is upside down (south is up)!
Sorry this reply is so late.
Jeff