So this morning started off much the same way every part of this trip has gone...Dad accidentally took a right turn out of the hotel parking lot and made his way 1.5 miles down route 202 before we realized he had gone the wrong way.  Instead of letting us pick him up he just peddled back.  Our lead for the day squandered with this small mistake Dad continued on Route 1.  At one point for about .3 miles there was zero shoulder not even a white line to toe so  I made Dad get in the van and we skirted this highly dangerous spot.  The next few hours were completely disturbance free.  We were pushing far on ahead when Dad called and said that his pedals were coming loose.  He was able to tighten it down with his fingers but this was a band aid only and would not fix the situation permanently.  The team sprang into action. The GPS told us of a hardware store only a few more miles up the road, but upon arriving there it was closed.  And not, we aren't open on Tuesdays closed, this place no longer exists closed.  Fortunately there was a deli next door and the nice woman in there gave us directions.  Fortunately these directions took us towards Dad.  We purchased a ratchet set and were on our way to meet him.

When we arrived I stopped on the opposite side of the highway, Ronnie jumped out and galloped across 4 lanes of traffic to get over to Dad.  I rushed up the road to find an exit to turn around at and by the time I got back not only had they realized that we purchased the wrong sized ratchets, but a State Trooper had stopped to try and figure out why two guys were fixing a bike on the side of a highway.

He was very pleasant but asked us to please go up just 1.5 miles to where the road returned to single lane either way, for our safety of course.  He showed us a few alternate routes that we might want to use on his MDT(Mobile Data Terminal) and we gave him card.  I returned to the hardware store and purchased the correct socket (and FYI, 9/16 is the size you need for like every bike ever...I just forgot).

Bike repaired and just out side of Maryland Dad got back on his wat and continued his seemingly endless struggle against calamity and injury.  For now he just keeps plugging away.

~Ryan