You've all made some valid points, but I'm afraid this is about to degenerate into a flame war (some might say it already has), so I am going to close this topic. If you have something that really needs to be added to this discussion, please
send to me directly.
This serves as a warning to trail riders that it's a good idea to be over-prepared, especially this time of year when many businesses are still closed for the season or operating on limited hours. You can't always count on a particular business being there for you, unless you have called them ahead of time and gotten their assurance that they will be open at a certain time. Some have even been known to close early if business is slow. Again, this is less of a problem in May-October.
And hopefully this discussion also sends a message to any business owners about the impact of one small act of customer service - an opportunity to either earn a customer's loyalty and have them tell the world how great you are, or to earn their scorn and have them tell the world how bad you are.
Sorry to hear about this low point of your ride Mike, but hopefully the rest of your trip made up for it.