How many flat tires can one get?

OK, the day started off just fine. We awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking in the lodge. There was oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, orange juice, potatoes, eggs,and homemade bread. We chowed down as we had an 88 mile ride ahead of us to get from Kingston to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

We continued our descent down the mountain for quite a way and then started with a few shorter climbs about 10 miles out. Then the area flattened and we were to go straight for the rest of the 88 miles.Just as we were coming down for a stop at mile 26, there was a beautiful lake in front of us. It was so unexpected after traveling down out of the mountain past desert scrub. After my break, I headed out behind Susan and Liz. One of my water bottles dropped out of its holder so I turned around to get it. As I was catching up to my buddies, POW! my rear tired blew out AGAIN! Too late to tell my friends that I was pulled over. Two other women came by and as I was changing it found a very small sliver of glass in my tire that may have caused the inner tube to flatten, but there was also a large rip. When we were pumping a new tube up and just about ready to flip the bike right side up, KAPOW again! Now I had no tubes, and there wasn't anything else they could do,so I told them to go on and I would call the SAG for support and either get a new tube or put the bike on top and get a ride in. Ann, happened to be SAG driver again, and she got a new tube in that seemed to work. By now, I was way behind everybody,but I wanted to ride if my tire was OK. I tried to hurry to the town of Hatch, known for its chili peppers, where people were stopping for lunch, but of course, there was a headwind that made the journey more challenging. I did manage to get to lunch just as a few were leaving. Knowing I still had 30 plus miles, I knew I needed to take a rest, have a little something to eat, to make the rest of the journey safely.

It was hot and windy most of the way. I pedaled past many farms that grew pecans, or cotton, or onions, or chili peppers. I crossed the Rio Grande, but we have rivers in our area that are much wider than this looked. My SAG driver saw me a few times and offered me a ride, but I felt good and wanted to go the rest of the way even though it took me until about 6 pm to make it into the hotel parking lot. At dinner, everyone cheered for me for making the journey mostly solo after two flats, and still having a good attitude. What can you do? Complaining and getting upset doesn't help at all... My goal tonight is to hydrate and get to sleep by 9:30 pm in order to get up for 5:30 am.It is supposed to be very warm tomorrow and we want to get a fairly early start.

BTW, Michelle filed down some sharp edges on the rims, added new tape to the rim, inserted a new tube and put on a new tire on the back of my biek. Hopefully, I should be all set now! Let's hope so!
Hugs,
Robin