dogs and things

So, everybody, I'm fine. I'd write personally to you guys about it, but I can't access my e-mail account on this library's computer. Okay, point of order, I'm covering the events of the past three days out of order. Today, we must have been chased by dogs for a total of, mmmm, about 3000 miles. Seriously, Louisiana, I love you guys, but build a fence or something. Jeeze. All in all, our tactics for dealing with this frightening annoyance have been early detection and avoidance.
I think my smell is affecting the 10 year old on the next compuer's attention. I smell like bleach, but I'm really dirty, how odd.
Anyway, back to brass tacks. We've made three repairs since leaving new rhodes, two of which were somewhat suprising, although not unanticipated, and one of which neither, but did turn out to be a pain in the ass. If I didn't like fixing bikes, this trip would be miserable.
Repair A: lost bolt on front rack
We pulled off the road to discuss a missed turn(not an important one) and ended up stuck in a ditch waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. These circumstances, though I'd like to never find myself in them again, however unlikely that is, would in some ways fortunate. Mainly because it was after I'd turned my bike over to get the bags on it into the shelter of an oak tree/crazy thick brush that I noticed my front rack was loose. At the time, I was pissed. A little bit later, riding to our campsite in Semmesport, I realized that if we hadn't been held up, the rack could have fallen off mid-ride and brought with it a MAJOR bummer, such as injury, to myself or the bike. Thanks rain.
Repair b: flat tire
nothing out of the ordinary here. just a flat.
Repair c: Broken spoke
Not mine. It was julia's. Here'a nothing moment of good fortune. had the mechanic we went to see with uncle marty not been so unscrupulous as to sell me the "incorrect" freewheel tool, I wouldn't have been able to fix this spoke. Also, if Uncle Marty hadn't pointed out how stubborn I was being about using a piece of bike chain to hold the freewheel in place to remove the locknut on my old wheel and brought me to his mechanic friend who used a strap wrench to serve that purpose, Julia and I might not have fgured out that we could use one of my luggage straps as a strap-wrench. Thanks bike guy, thanks uncle marty.
That's it for now. Thanks for tuning in.
Next week: Dome Sweet Dome, a post about our new home life, in a tent.