6/7 36mi 3:13 +75mi hitchhiking farmington,MO

Woke up and trued my back wheel so it doesn't hit my brake pads any more. It is still wobbly, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Got an early start around 7-8am. Met some riders who were on an adventure cyclign group tour and talked to some of them for a while. I also got chased by 3 dogs at once which was fine except that 1 of them was in front of me and you don't really know what he is going to do. If the dogs are behind me I don't worry about them and just ignore them for the most part. More rollers and the road is a lot more twisty. Had some bugs escorting me after about an hour of riding which was pretty annoying. They just fly in front of your face and circle around your head buzzing in your ears. My back tire started to wobble pretty bad and I pulled over on an uphill to see what was going on. Cracked rear rim. I think that I overtightened a spoke or something because the nipple is pulled in towards the hub and the area around it is cracked. I didn't want to ride on it and have it explode on a descent. I hit 50m.p.h. on a descent today and I don't want to go down at those speeds. Stuck my thumb out and a lady named tammy (sp) stopped and gave me a ride to ellington which was bout 10 miles away. I sat in ellington for about a half hour before a guy named rafi (sp) picked me up and gave me a ride to farmington which ws 65 miles away. Some people would give me a wave when I had my thumb out which I thought was funny/aggrevating. I saw a lot of boats and it seemed that everyone was floating the river or going boating today. Rafi dropped me off at the firehouse in farmington and they let me stay for the night. I guess they get a lot of cyclists through there and let them stay and use the facilities which is great. They said that the town is turning some little building into a kind of free hostel for bike tourists sometime soon. It sounds really cool. I got a shower and walked to a buffet called ryan's steakhouse which was really good, but I ate way too much and kind of didn't feel good as I wlked back to town. I sat on a bench to let the food settle and who rolls up but frank. I flagged him down and told him where I was staying. He rolled his bike tothe firehouse and them met his best friend who had just randomly seen him on the road and they went off to get some dinner. One of the firemen, Tom, called around and found that the nearest bike shop is in festus which is 40 miles north of here. He said he would give me a ride up there on tuesday morning because the shop is closed on mondays:( I got to ride i the fire truck when they went to lower some mast on a mobile command unit over at the police station. It was pretty neat. I'm going to sleep in the lounge with frank tonight and just hand out in town tomorrow.