Oh so close...just a few more days

They continue their ride and a hitting the final stretch.  They have clocked 1955 km or 1222 mi and have 288/180 to go.  Today was a shorter day and was welcome by most. Jen was back up and on the bike and did a full day.  Neto still had issues with his stomach muscles and after about an hour had to call it quits for the day.  Chuck as well battled some type of stomach bug and in the end it won out so he too had to call it quits early.  They stayed last evening in the house of some Bolivian friends of Neto and Irai and had a nice but short visit.  Their friends live in a condo and there was no garage to keep the bikes so they parked outside and had the night guard keep watch over everything. This evening after an 85km day they were warmly received by Igreja Presbiteriana Jardim Paraioso, a Presbyterian church that Irai made contact with.  They church brought them fantastic hot food and provided them with great accommodations. This will be their first night in the past six days where they will be able to get to bed early and get a real nights sleep.  Tomorrow, the penultimate day, has them scheduled to do around 190 km but since they have no planned stop at the end, they will just see how it goes and stop when they must. This is what the day looked like for them.

Bolivian friend who opened their house for the group.

The guard kept watch over the bikes by night. He then rode his bike with them back out to the highway. He appears to be a cyclist as well and enjoyed helping out.

Putting on new rubber.  The old tires were shredded.

Trying to fight off the bug.

As you can see, pretty worn.  Irai's uncle did have three flats today, I guess it was passed on to him.

A quick break for a good lunch!

Rest

And hills...

and hills...

and more hills.

Here they are at Igreja Presbiteriana Jardim Paraioso

Here is what tomorrow looks like on paper.

You can see Santa Isabel (their final destination) a bit to the right of the city of Sao Paulo.  Almost there!!!