A Comedy of Errors

We got a slow start this morning because of the unknown status of the tires' delivery and the time it took to dry out our tents, clothes, etc. Jacob took a taxi to town from the park, and Rob and I put our bikes in the trunk so we could make the climb out without weight. That was my idea. The climb wasn't nearly as long or difficult as I had imagined when we were riding down into the valley yesterday, and I don't think it would have been much worse with weight. It warmed me up quite nicely actually. Rob, on the otherhand didn't have such a great time. He hit a shard of glass and got a flat. Apparently bicycle karma actually does exist because Rob had a discernible attitude about Jacob's delay yestertday/this morning. After Rob patched his flat, he and I went to get lunch. We came back and Jacob had his tire on and ready to go.
We got all packed and ready to got, and left Marion around 2 or 3. We made our way about 8 miles out of town and after getting of track for about a mile, Rob got another flat. He patched it again (in the same place, as his patches apparently don't work that well for our tires) and we were off...for about 50 feet when again...Rob's tire went flat. Jacob and I laughed a little about how Rob was now the cause of some burnt daylight. Jacob and I didn't pitch a fit thought because we understand these things happen. Rob was pretty hard on himself though...as he should have been. Finally he replace the innertube and we left. We went about 20 miles and decided we could'nt do the 40 mile day we'd planned on because daylight was running out.
So, we stopped in a town called Meadowview, with a population of probably 2 or 300. We asked around and eventually found a church at which we could stay. A neighbor who lived across the street from the church called the preacher for us, and they gave us their blessing to stay for the night. So we went to the laundromat, talked to a guy from Meadowview who'd been to Yellowstone. He told us about his trip and what we should expect the next few days of riding through the Appalachians...hospitible people and incredible scenery. Tomorrow morning is the big climb over Clinch mountain. We're to expect a lot of switchbacks and some pretty serious elevation gain. We're well rested though, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Unless the bad bicycle karma pays us another visit...