When we left the Derrick Inn around 130 we had initially nice and favorable winds. Strong, and at our backs! We figured we’d be the 60-ish miles to Scott City around 6-7 a.m. or so if all went well. All did not go well. At some point the wind shifted and…WHAT!?!?…became mostly a head/cross wind so strong that V and I were having for the first time to work together in the wind by forming our own mini-peloton to block the wind for one another to help reduce energy burn and slightly increase speed. We pushed this way for miles and miles, maybe 15-20 painstakingly slow miles, and finally we were only 8 miles from Scott City! We could almost see it! And then I got a flat tire. WHAT!?!? On my brand new tires. Oh my god was I pissed crushed frustrated angry tired of this. We were on a narrow highway with big semis whizzing by and no shoulder to hang out on safely but there was a gravel road near where I flatted so we walked across the highway and fixed the tire there. It was awful. Vanesa had to hold my bike so it didn’t blow over in the strong winds (and hold her bike, and ensure the dog didn’t wander off into the road or the brush where there might be snakes), I accidentally set my wheel on the ground at one point gears-down so I got sand and tiny rocks stuck in my gears that I had to clean out, and though I was inserting a new tube rather than trying to locate a hole and patch the old tube, I couldn’t get the tire/tube seated well on the rim and I had to take it on and off the rim 4 times trying to get it straight. Ultimately I couldn’t get it perfect but I got it good enough to be able to ride 8 miles to Scott City, knowing that I would have to take it all off again and redo it later. When we rolled into Scott City around 8:30 in the morning, now the wind was really blowing in excess of 30 miles an hour and it was a hard ride. But we made it, and though we were heading to the athletic club which allows cyclists for a daily fee of $15 to sleep, use the showers, and use the pool, we stopped by the Lazy R Motel which is on the route. I went in alone to inquire as to rates/availability. The gentleman (Dan) said rooms are available for $60 but no pets are allowed, and when I told him that our dog is a service dog he said “I don’t want animals here but I do have to respect the law”. I told him I was just checking rates and most likely we would not be staying there because we were going to stay at the athletic club. Somehow the conversation steered toward the difference between service animals and emotional support animals, the latter of which does not have public access and I felt like I was Vanesa, educating people in service dog law. He actually seemed really appreciative for the information, seemingly because it empowered him to be able to turn people away who wanted to bring their emotional support animals to the hotel. I said goodbye and took off with Vanesa toward the athletic club which was about a half a mile away. When we pulled up to the athletic club, it was very clear that it was not the same place as it was in 2010. It was now dilapidated and rundown, and looked kind of sketchy. But I had a great experience when I stayed here in 2010 we eagerly went in looking forward to cold showers and use of the pool on this 106° Scott City day. When I walked in the lady told us that we were welcome there and for $15 per person she could give us a private room with air conditioning and a mattress (cyclists sleeping there typically have to roll out their pads on their gymnastics/wrestling mats) which is quiet where we could get some day sleeping accomplished; and also we’d have the full use of all the equipment, pool, showers, and lobby as desired. Awesome! We were stoked at our good forums. Then the lady led us up the stairs after we paid and the room she took us into was…super depressing. There was an AC unit but it wasn’t very cool in the room, and this great bed she had told us we’d have was a twin bed on a broken bed frame wedged into a twin bed-sized nook in the wall of a tiny room that was only about 7 feet wide by 12 feet long. There was a fridge though, so we could keep our few perishables in h there. Not fancy, pretty awful, but we’d paid and we could make it work. As soon as the Lady left he said “there’s no way I’m sleeping on that bed“ and that she would roll her pad out on the floor. I figured I could probably make the bed work I just put my sleeping pattern sticking back on top of it. Oh yeah, there are also dirty sheets blankets and pillows on the bed which clearly had not been changed since the last person who stayed in here. But at least it was private and it was dark so we would be able to get some day sleep. I went back downstairs and took quite a while I’m loading my bike and fixing my tire again. I was able to get it almost but not quite as perfect as I wanted, but it’s definitely rideable. When Vanesa went upstairs to sleep, I stayed downstairs And was following the Trans Am bike race online because the leader is a guy that I know from Portland named Kraig Pauli and he was going to be passing through Scott City within the next couple of hours and rather than sleeping, I wanted to go out and greet him as he passed through. So I went down to where the route passes through town, about six blocks away from athletic club, and I sat under a shade tree on his 106° day and waited for Craig. I was out there for probably 45 minutes or so before he showed up. It’s not possible to see exactly where someone is by looking at their tracker location online because the tracker on the updates every 20 minutes or so. So when he came rolling by I hopped on my bike and pedal with him for several blocks into town. We stopped at a stoplight together And he was happy to see me but definitely a man on a race in Mission without time to make any small talk. He was looking for the pharmacy because he was having a leg swelling problem I wanted to get some arnica. His lips, top and bottom, we’re all blistered from having been in the sun for the last seven days straight. And yet, when I watched him riding in that 30 mile an hour crosswind into town, he was hammering it. He was truly racing in weather that Vanesa and I are just trying to avoid and survive riding through. This guy is a machine has pedale 2200 miles in seven or eight days!! He’s leading the Trans Am bike race ( racing the same route we’re touring) and it’s exciting to follow along. Once Craig passed by I headed back to the athletic club, dreading going upstairs and trying to sleep in that stuffy room. But at least it had AC. And I walked back into the athletic club and Vanesa messaged me saying she couldn’t sleep, she had a horrible headache, and the air conditioner kept going off and she was baking. I went upstairs and it was terrible. The dog was panting and miserable. We decided together that we had to get out of there so we could truly get some sleep in a comfortable environment to prepare for the night ride. Though it was almost 6 o’clock pm, we were planning to leave at 1 am for another night ride so we chose to pull the plug. We packed our stuff and left the athletic club and headed back to the Lazy R Motel. This time Dan’s wife Evelyn was at the desk and checked us in. She was so kind…she’s a Trans Am Bike Race follower like we are and she gave us ice cold bottles of water, and wanted to talk about Kraig Pauli and how he looked when I saw him. The conversation was nice and her husband Dan came out (their house is connected to the motel) and joined us and before long they invited us inside for dinner, WITH our dog. It felt we’d come a long way from the stern “no pets” conversation 12 hours ago. They provided us ham, salad, baked potatoes, and tea. It was a little weird as we stayed on very safe topics (they are a very conservative, religious household and Vanesa and I are not) but also delightful. We were so honored that they invited us into their home and fed us and shared their lives with us. We slept well is this cute independent motel. It’s amazing the differences in $60 motels. Many are awful, and some like this are super cute, clean, comfortable, and updated. We decided to NOT leave at 1 am because of the super strong winds expected all night long that were to start dying down at 5 am. We slept like babies until the alarm went off at 500.