First flat tire

  I pushed off at 8:30 from Vinh Binh and was making decent progress on route 1, the country’s main artery thus a heavily traveled road. Just as I met a fellow touring bicyclist, from Belgium, I had a flat tire. Super bummer.  The Belgium hung around for a few minutes and seeing that I was ok moved on.  I could have used the company seeing as no one speaks English.  Such is life.   With all the wet dirt on the road, my bike was a filthy mess.  Fixing a flat is a major production, remove all the bags, remove the rear wheel complicated by the derailleur and struggle getting the tire off the rim.  Everyone has a bike in Vietnam; two men were there shortly to lend a hand. My previous tires were much large, equipped with heavy duty inner tubes.  Feeling that these tires and weight of the inner tube was created too much drag, I switched over to a narrower tire with the standard tube.  The new tires have a pretective later to help prevent flats, hence the are called “flatless”.  This repair took an hour and a half out of my day I will never get back. This included back tracking three miles to buy two additional tubes in case I get another flat.
  Today I had been dragging a bit. As well, the hills became mire frequent.  Four days on the road, putting in two sixty-five miles was not the proper way to get into the groove.  For my Florida ride I start off at thirty-three miles.  Another problem with being on main with the never ending blast of air horns from buses and trucks.  The motorbikes are totally fearless and everywhere, dodging in and out between the four wheel vehicles.  I witnessed my first accident. A car turn left and the motorbike t-boned the car, no one was hurt.  Amazely, the car never stopped..  Later in the day, a large truck was stopped in the middle of the lane and behind it was a pile stuff that once attached to a bicycle or motorbike. The two wheel was not present  but it was fairly obvious what happened.  Needless to say, I am ever on guard and keep to the right.  My flagged attached to the rear rack protruding put to the left and my rear view mirror attached to my glasses are absolutely essential to my safely  on the road.  Caution operative safety tip.
   Upon arrival in Thành Hoa, a major city, I went through my usual drill and found a nice coffee shop to decompress in and find a hotel.  Last night I did some homework so I know where I was staying.  Feeling a bit burned out, I made the decision to stay two night to rest up. Wash my clothes, clean the bike and rest up.  Four days straight on the road in this country is work out; not as tough as Cuba but close.  One of the issues I need to deal with is getting more Vietnamese currency (the Dong).  Everything from food to lodging is super cheap but few use credit cards. Cash is running low.  Hopefully one of my credit cards with the necessary pin will work on an ATM.  You never know in a third world country.
    Tomorrow my strategy will be find secondary roads where the constant noise from trucks and cars will be less.  Seeing the blue sky is another factor.  Everyone wears masked and I suspect pollution is a major contributor.  Like China, Vietnam is rapidly developing with the resulting pollution.  Perhaps I should buy a mask like the natives do.