*MON AUG 04* Monday was a Rest Day so things didn’t start early in the morn. Once Denise took care of the household responsibilities for the 5 guests, she took me with my broken bike seat to Marne, IA to get her good friend, the welder, Steve’s assessment on the seat repair. Steve took a look at it and said he could do it today. He also told Denise that he had sweet corn that needed to be picked and she could have all she wanted. We left and didn’t pick any but Denise said we should get some when we came back. Denise invited the five of us to help get the 4 ft. tall foxtail grass out of the potato patch. I began weeding but saw that the vines were dying and the potatoes were ready to be harvested, I asked for a potato fork. I weeded and dug potatoes as I went down the row. The other 5 Marchers kept weeding. We piled the weeds in the bed of the pickup and made 3 trips to their compost pit. In an hour and 15 minutes we had the patch cleared of weeds and I had dug 23 lb of potatoes. We went back to the house and told Denise what we had done. She left us to finish up the lunch prep and went out to the potato patch to see the end product. She came back delighted. I think we had ‘paid’ for our stay. After lunch Steve called and said the bike seat was welded. Denise took me and a 5-gallon pail back to Marne. Steve showed us the seat and charged me $10. I thanked him and Denise let him know that we wanted to pick some corn. He directed us to the place in the field, we picked the pail full, and returned home. I invited Bernice to help me shuck all the corn. Then I had time to re-assembled my bike. It went back together perfectly. Denise was busy doing chores and when Larry got home he went out and rototilled some of the garden. On Tuesday we have a 16 mile March to Cumberland. Larry leaves for work at 5:45am and will take me back to the Atlantic campsite. I packed up to be sure I was ready to go. We ate dinner at 9pm and finished at 10. The Home-stay was wonderful, and Denise did everything to make it that way. Renewing our Iowa acquaintance was heartwarming, and observing all the work she and Larry did to conduct the Field Day and host the Marchers was astounding. I’m very thankful for our relationship. -- Peace, David