sunshine to the soul...

Life is good. After our last post we went to a doctor in Dubois and found out what was wrong with my stomach... apparently I have become lactose intolerant due to riding a bicycle so much! So I haven't eaten dairy products for a while and now feel quite nice. The riding has been great, we've had slight tailwinds, the roads have been straight with a wide shoulder, and we've had nice partly cloudy days in the 60s. On Thursday night we stopped just outside of Riverton and asked a cowboy if we could camp out in his yard. He agreed, but later said that we could sleep in his storage trailer that had a bed in it, which we gladly accepted. The trailer smelled rather foul, but Matthew and I agree that we both got a really satisfying sleep on that bed. However, we ran into a stroke of bad luck yesterday in Hiland because Matthew got a flat tire and between trying to fix it and the flat I had gotten the previous day, we successfully managed to destroy all of our spare tubes. So we were stranded and still about fifty miles outside of Casper, and then a man offered to give us a ride. We accepted and soon realized that this would be a car ride to remember, seeing as how the three other men in the car, including the driver, were all drinking beer. Anyways, we made it to Casper alive and got dropped off at a bike store so we could replenish our supplies. We ate a large meal at taco bell, got some groceries at Smith's and met another person that was walking across the U.S. He was walking from San Francisco to Boston and expected to be done in November. Then decided to go find the church to camp at for the night. When we got there we saw that there were people there and it was open, so we went inside and found out that there was a wedding reception and a baptism going on. We decided to go to the baptism, where we met the Brummin, Rich and Bertagnole familes, all of which have been extremely hospitable and friendly towards us. Between these three families we got some nice grilled hamburgers, a place to stay and do laundry, and a great Sunday afternoon full of food and a fun dice game called "Bologna". It has been great, and we are so grateful for all of the good souls that have opened their homes and lives to us. Everyone has been so supportive of our dream and we are grateful for everyones comments on our blog and for everyone that prays for us and wishes us well. We love you all! Our trip so far has truly met and exceeded our expectations of how wonderful and enlightening it would be.