May 28, 2003 Today would have been a good day mechanically if BOB (the trailer) hadn’t decided that he wasn’t getting enough attention. About half way through our ride he decided to take matters into his own hands, and he picked up a piece of glass that created our first trailer flat. He had gone nearly a 1000 miles trouble free until that point. Ron, in all his wisdom, was certain that there wouldn’t be too many flat problems with the trailer; so only one spare tube was packed. Now, he gets the pleasure of patching a tube. Otherwise the day was uneventful, and the work on the rear wheel was apparently a success. Both LaValle and Ron benefited from the rest day. They were both strong and felt good for the entire trip. Our journey today took us from Covington, KY to Madison, IN. This was an important day for Ron, since it brought him back to his home state. We left Covington following the same road we were on Monday. We took it about 8 miles south, and took the Anderson Ferry over the river to Ohio. From there, we followed highway 50 into Indiana. Once in Indiana, we moved onto back roads to stay on the river. Spending so much time along the river was fun, and we never tired of the scenery. We stopped twice during the trip. The first time was in a town called Patriot. The town was really decked out in red, white and blue and is really well done. They have a small park on the river with a gazebo, so that there is a nice place to relax and enjoy the river. Our next stop was the town of Vevay. This town was interesting because of its old building and state of restoration. Near Vevay, we had an encounter with a dog, and if he hadn’t been over weight, he would have had us. He was really mean. We encountered several other dogs, but they generally gave up the chase pretty quickly. We arrived in Madison about 2:00 pm to find that we were going to have to climb for five miles to get to our motel. The climb wasn’t bad, but after 90 miles in the saddle, it wasn’t our favorite thing to do. Just like Sonoma County, the higher up the hill we rode, the steeper it became. However, we kept a very good speed all the way to the top – the benefit of a rest day. We are very pleased by the way we are able to stack the 100-mile days, one right after the other. After the requisite shower and change of clothes, we took a cab into old town Madison. We had a snack to take advantage of the carbo window, and then toured the town on foot. It is a wonderful small town where great effort has gone into restoring and maintaining the original buildings. It is one of the oldest cities on the river, so there are magnificent buildings to see. After out little tour, we had dinner, and had to do one of our “Well, Chef, just fix something vegetarian for us” routine. It worked again, and we had a tasty meal. The weather today was excellent except for the head, and hurting side winds. The temperature was in the low 70’s and it was partly cloudy. We were out of warmers pretty early, so got to enjoy the sun a lot. The winds came up about half way through the trip, and that made the ride a lot of hard work. However, we maintained a reasonable speed, and got here in good time. Ron ....note from LaValle...today's photos would have included many other pictures earlier in the day. However, while riding and editing the pictures on the back of the tandem, I deleted all of the photos prior to Madison. My apologies to Diane who was our server this morning at the local Waffle House. She was an inspiration!!! Ron returns to his home state Indiana. Ron greets his coach's friend Christina Norris. Christina finished Race Across America in 2001.