Day 40: August 14, 2024 - Rest Day

I was up at 7:00 ready to have a productive and restful rest day. My first task was to replace the broken water bottle cage with the new one that came in the resupply box.

I performed another test of my second repair (using waterproof tape) of the water bladder and it seems the repair is good. I then wrote a review of the item, submitted it to the REI website, and sent it to the manufacturer who responded as follows:

Thank you for the feedback, we really appreciate your input! I will be sure to pass your notes along to our engineering team.

We do offer a lifetime warranty on our products and can gladly replace your Seeker due to its manufacturing defect that caused the crack. Please reply to this email with a good shipping address and I will have a replacement sent out asap.

The bolts on my new rack are steel while the rack itself is aluminum. I therefore should have put grease on the threads of the bolts so that the two metals do not fuse together. I don’t have any grease with me but I do have Tri-Flow, so today I put some of it on the threads without removing the threads. When I get home I will remove the bolts and grease them properly.

I took the following items to post office to be returned home:

Two Lycra shirts
Plastic bag of spare parts
Two empty vials for tooth powder
Softstar shoes that came in the resupply box

I sent the Lycra shirts home because they stink after being worn for even a short time. From now on I’m wearing only Merino wool which never stinks and needs only to be rinsed. The two empty vials for tooth powder will be used for the next resupply. The Softstar shoes that I had repaired are doing fine so I don’t need the newer pair that came in the resupply box.

On both pockets of my trunk bag there was a seam that was starting to come undone, so I sewed the seams to stop them from separating further.

During the afternoon I had a nap for about an hour.

Dinner at The Den was so good the previous night that I returned and had almost the same dinner. I started with the Tuscan chicken soup, followed by the sirloin steak with an extra-large portion of green beans, and finally home-made cheesecake with huckleberry compote. I even had the same excellent server I had the night before!

My stay in the Wash House at Bike Walk Southwest Montana has been a fabulous experience. Larry Volkening has been not only a wonderful host but also a knowledgeable guide, helping me to plan my routes and where to stay and eat for the next several days.

See all of my daily routes here: Cross Country 2024

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