Day Twenty-two (0 miles): Rest Day Pittsburg, KS

No alarm today. I roll over to a wide eyed furry face staring me directly in the eyes. Ah! I jump a little and Ella crouches back wagging her stub of a tail. She gets excited and jumps up on me. I try to roll back over, but she dives underneath me before I can lay completely down again. Fine! I slide off the side of the bed and pull myself off the ground. Ella jumps from the bed to the chair to the ground and sprints for the door. She sits like a statue until I walk up and turn the handle. Shes off like a light. I walk out into the hall and she is already down by the back door of the hotel. After taking her around the building for awhile, she sprints back for the door and we go inside. Shower time!

A shower in the morning is a great thing. I pack up all my dirty clothes so I can take them to the laundry and load my electronics into the bag. Packed up with just one bag, I set off for Starbucks for Ella. Starbucks is the best. I had my coffee, a tasty breakfast sandwich, and great music playing in the background. I stayed for about and hour and a half, getting caught up on my notes and planning.

After I left, I pedaled on down the main road to find the bike shop. It was tucked away between a house and a side road, easy to miss. When I walk inside, Celia was talking to the shop owner about fixing her bike. Mark walked in just a few minutes after I did. His saddle had completely broken. I needed new handlebar wraps, but they were going to charge me $30 and that didn't even include the wraps themselves! I decided to wrap my bars myself and left. All three of us headed out of the shop and down to the laundry mat. The washing machine ate my quarters and a local told me the owners only came in at 9AM and 9PM. I decided to keep on punching the machine until I got my money back. A few minutes of mugging a washing machine, and I got all but three of my quarters back. I finally got my clothes loaded and washing without another incident.

Celia and I headed out to a coffee shop around the corner. She told me that the bike shop was going to charge her $160 for a new seat, so I looked up what they were trying to sell her online. The saddle's actual price was only $70. She called the shop back and told them she didn't want them to do anything to her bike anymore. We went back to the laundry mat and all went our separate ways.

When I got back, I organized my gear and hung around the room for awhile. I kept trying to write, but my keyboard stopped working on me. I elected to go over to Walmart and get a new one until I could send mine back in. I spent about an hour and a half trying to get Walmart to make good on their "match price guarantee" while several managers tried to give me the run around. I had to show them 3-4 different websites to finally get my price on the keyboard that I wanted. In the end, I think they just really got tired of me bothering them with the keyboard. It all worked out since I got a $70 keyboard for $22! My day off ended up being pretty hectic running around, but well worth a day off the bike for long distances.

Now I'm sitting here writing on my shiny new keyboard and getting pretty hungry. I'm off to find some food around here! Keep follow Ella and I as we trek across Kansas! We hope you continue to enjoy our adventures!