JUNE 24, Pontiac, Ill. to Lewistown, Ill. 99 miles via Illinois Route 116 and U.S. Route 24. Average speed 12.6 mph. Total trip mileage to date, 1,282.

We played Peoria today, at the City News Café, 57 miles into a record-setting day.  The owner liked us a lot and said, “If they make a documentary about you, I can say  ‘Those guy ate at City News.’”

The prodigious length of the day’s ride was predetermined for us by the fact that there were no motels on U.S. 24 any closer to Peoria -- by the way, a dingy, smelly city on the banks of the Illinois River – than little Lewistown.

Pluses from the journey: We dodged looming afternoon thunderstorms. The foot-long sandwiches at Subway and Blizzards at Dairy Queen tasted great after nearly 100 miles in the saddle. And Lewistown just happens to be the firefly capital of the  Midwest – their quiet nighttime pyrotechnics are amazing..

Minuses: Ben had a flat tire after lunch, then blew out his derailleur – the third of the trip – on a grade leading into the curiously named town of Little America.  Once again, this is no roadside repair. We had grave uncertainty about where we could get the repair done and the prospect of hitching the final seven miles into Lewistown was daunting.

Then there’s the second plus: Within minutes after we started hitching, a painting contractor named Mark Balagna pulled over in his truck and gave Ben and his crippled  bike a lift to the Cottonwood Motel in Lewistown. Then he said he would try to find a bike shop that would repair it, and come to the motel the next morning to take and the bad bike to the shop.

He called later and had found a guy in nearby Lincoln who would do the job. But we called that guy, and he didn’t have the right parts. No matter: Mark said he’d bring us to a Giant bike dealer in Springfield – 45 minutes away by car.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you guys,” he said.

I mean who’s getting inconvenienced here? And how do we rate such guardian angels?

Tomorrow: adventures in bike repair.