(with apologies to Charles Dickens)
This was the first "light" day on the trip, a short hop that turned into a bit more for me. Sort of like the "three hour tour" that the S.S. Minnow took.
We departed Little Orleans and made the timely transition into the paved WMRT. Love that pavement. Stopped at Weaver's for food and PIE. Yum. Stopped at the bike shop to check out their essay submission and the backyard campout that (to me) is somewhat reminiscent of a Cool Hand Luke prison shelter.
Departed Hancock. I got a flat tire on the last bit of paved trail. Found two sharp-pointed rocks in the tire and tube, removed them, put in my new tube.
Departed again. After a little while, flat tire number 2. Ughhhhh. I took it apart and it looked like a pinch-flat from my not installing the spare correctly. Double-uggghh.
I had a third tube, but I didn't want to unbox it unnecessarily so I tried to glue-and-patch my two flat tubes. One of them held air well, so I installed it and started again.
I got about two miles and it was flat. Having had enough, I pulled out my last remaining fresh tube and popped it in. It worked really well, but now I had no spares and there's no bike shop in Williamsport. If you've seen the movie Flight of the Phoenix, you'll recall the scene where they're down to the third and last shotgun shell; it was the same sort of thing.
Riding into Williamsport, well behind the others, I thought I'd stop into a bike-friendly place to ask if any local stores carried inner tubes. I was so pleased to see this sign:
I bought four tubes and rode up the hill to the Red Roof Inn. This place has always been a solid, reliable, value-priced overnight. Not fancy but clean, safe, quiet, and the wifi always works. Plus there's a Waffle House out front.
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