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July 8, 1998 Hi Brenda & Bill, One tough day but not as bad as I worried it would be. We did 90 miles from Lexington to Blacksburg. It rained most of the morning. It was rolling and hilly at times but some are in beautiful valleys. I was afraid it would be mountainous. Just when we thought we were done, we had to climb a big mountain to get to Blacksburg. I was beat and pissed off. Duc had to stop halfway up and let me off to blow off some steam. Then I got back on and finished the climb. Duc stopped by the roadside at about 50 miles to use the bathroom and ended up with leaves all in his shorts. He pulled some out as we rode and still had some plastered to his butt when we got to the motel. We used a hand dryer at Buchanan in the Burger King bathroom to dry our bodies and clothes. Didn’t work but got lots of laugh. The Williamses’ rear wheel is broken. We limped into Blacksburg and spent a couple of hours at a bike shop but they can’t fix it. Bike shop at home has a new wheel and is shipping to us. Should be here by noon tomorrow. We get to sleep late! Almost had Daddy bring the wheel to tomorrow’s stop. He was going to go right by Wytheville. An amazing coincidence! Love, Paula.