An exciting event on Friday was Peter's first use of his dog-protecting pepper spray. A mean-looking dog (to Peter, that's redundant, since all dogs are mean-looking) ran onto the road barking at us and chasing us. The dog's intentions were unclear, so Peter drew the spray can quickly from its holster on his bike frame and fired away when the dog got to within 10 feet of us. The dog immediately stopped and turned away. Carol is clearly lucky to have such a brave, gallant partner!
The roads on our trip to date have been highly variable: some busy, others quiet; some well paved, others full of cracks and potholes. Almost all have been two lane roads (one in each direction). A key feature of a road with respect to cycling is the nature of the shoulder. The best situation is to have a wide paved shoulder, since that allows us to move well off the main road surface when trucks coming roaring by. However, that type of shoulder has been quite infrequent -- a narrow shoulder or no ridable shoulder has been the norm. So our safety has been determined, in large part, by the willingness of trucks to give us enough room as they pass us. Before we started the trip, we had been warned about the mean, dangerous trucks we would encounter, especially in the "wild west" states like Idaho and Montana. A pleasant surprise has been the fact that the trucks throughout our trip have been exceedingly friendly, moving well away from us (often crossing halfway into the opposite lane) when passing us.
Scenes from our Friday ride:
A truck giving us plenty of leeway on a road with a narrow shoulder
Riding by a cornfield
Riding past a massive sprinkler
Riding though a forested area
Taking a break in the shade of a factory (because there were no stores or restaurants for most of our route), until we were booted off the grounds
