in hindsight Nancy, even if you had to go with 700 wheels like you did, wouldnt it have been worth it getting some super strong wheels built by a very reputable wheel builder?
Actually, no. The wheels I took off with were awesome - stock wheels from the REI Novara Randonee. Those wheels made it all the way to northern Peru before the rear rim started to crack. I feel that any rim would have fatigued in that amount of time given the roads and weight that was on my bike, so was very happy with what came on the bike.
I actually DID have a special wheel made up after the stock wheel started to crack - and that's the one that gave me trouble. I requested an extra strong rim and good hub - figured it went without saying that I wanted good spokes. They built it with an awesome rim, a very good hub, good quality spoke nipples and crappy spokes. I guess you have to specify every single part that you want to be good quality.