We celebrated fourth of July with a group of harvesters at a motel in Oberlin. The next morning we rode to Alma, Nebraska, 77 miles our longest ride to date. Joe, the proprietor of the coffee/camera/bike shop hooked Marshall up with some new extra thick tubes and gave both bikes a tune up. They had a mishap with the fireworks on the fourth there so they showed them on the 5th instead, so we got a double showing. Marie got another flat in the morning so we changed it out and rode to Minden. We set up camp in the park inside a bandstand. July seventh was Marshall's birthday so we took a rest day and enjoyed Pioneer Village. We met a cyclist, Crystal on an overnight trip to Red Cloud. Marshall asked her where the closest bike shop because his rear tire was worn thin and bulging out and lumpy from the pressure. She worked for the Bike Shed in Kerney and phoned her sister to have her drop off a new armadillo tire for him which she donated towards our cause. Minden to Fairmont and a warmshowers.org connection. We stayed with Gene and his wife, and he took us on a tour of the county seat. He is turning an empty lot across the street in to a beautiful neighborhood garden. We had a lovely dinner and got some needed rest in a real bed. In the morning he rode with us to Exeter and took us out to breakfast. Lincoln was next. When we arrived we stopped at joyride, a bike shop and the girl working there, Kelly, offered us a place to stay for the weekend while we explored the city. We went to a Jazz and Blues Street fair and then slept in and relaxed all day today.