Day 10

Taliesin
I woke up to the sound of rain on the tent and had no desire to pack up and get wet. I waited till the rain let up and then I headed up the road to Taliesin, leaving all of my gear at the state park. The sun came out after a bit, so I was happy that the tent would dry out. It turned out to be 15 miles up to Taliesin, so that was 30 miles of riding without going anyway (backtrack).

I did make it right on time, though. The tour was made up of about 20 people all over the age of 60 or so. I guess there were more people taking advantage of the senior discount than the student one.

Anyway, we got a two hour narrated tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's private residence. Pretty neat stuff. I did not know that he collected all of that Asian stuff (little Buddha's and whatnot). The home was classic Wright. I was a little surprised at the shape the place was in. Most of the windows looked pretty leaky. The structure looks really sturdy from a distance...

County G
After riding back to retrieve the tent, I stopped for a bit to wait for the afternoon heat to die down. My siesta wasn't long enough, though. I had a hard time riding up highway 23 over all those hills for the third time.

I found a smaller road called County G. It was not as direct, but it was rather scenic. Went through some Amish country wear everyone seemed to wave quite gaily. Around 7:30 it was looking pretty dark when I rolled into Lime Ridge. I asked some kids about sleeping in the park and then headed for the local tavern, Wounded Knee. All 709 people in Lime Ridge seem to be really friendly. One guy, Rodney, even offered me his spare bed when he saw the storm that was blowing up. I almost took it, but after the rain blew over, I decided to camp in the little park in the middle of town.

Having Fun
It was a little hot today, but Lime Ridge made it all worth it. This is the America that I wanted to see when I set out on the trip. People are just as friendly and courteous as Japan or anywhere else. You just gotta know where to go.