Day 29 (Sun 7/26/09)

The Ozarks and an other century ride!

Yesterday Tomorrow

(This is cool if you like lots of data! It may take a few seconds to load but you can hit play and time compress our ride. )

DAILY REPORT: Another great day for riding!! We'll have a southwesterly wind and the temp should be in the mid 80's. Who could ask for more?!

We started the morning with a continental breakfast from the Seymour Motel

. The sun was up and the air cool but you could feel the humidity. Right off the bat we had to change a flat tire. Guess who? Yep John. He thought he had a slow leak last night and confirmed it this morning when we took the bikes out of the trailer. He was planning on just pumping it up and fixing it later......never put off maintenance otherwise you'll pay for it later. Changed the tire and we were off. John's getting very proficient at this!

The first 30 miles or so were gently rolling hills. We were in Mennonite country, although we didn't see any horse drawn carriages there were a number of signs indicating the need to share the road. We did find a number of box turtles on the road and picked up two so at lunch we could try our hand a turtle racing. Thought it would be fun!!

We had planned to meet up w/ Skip for lunch in Huston about 60 miles into the ride. When we arrived we gave him a call but no answer. We tried several more times w/ out success. We headed over to Taco bell for lunch. Turns out Skip was having some problems w/ is phone and about the time we were done eating he arrived. He had been waiting for us down at the local park. It appears that the phone battery was loose and shutting down the phone. We taped the battery to the phone and hopefully that will solve the problem.

The day had warmed up a bit and the humidity was getting thick. The rollers were

getting bigger as we approached the Ozarks. On the way to Eminence we met Sonny who was riding a recumbent bicycle and was riding East to West. He was self contained; meaning he was carrying his sleeping bag, tent, stove etc. What was really impressive he was cycling using hand cranks and towing his wheelchair behind him. WoW!! He left on the East coast the middle of June and was planning on being back in Seattle by the beginning of Sept. He is from Seattle. a very inspirational guy. If interested check out his website. Pretty cool; good luck Sonny!!

About 5 miles from our destination of Eminence we had a truck w/ two fellows throw something out the window and hit James. They yelled some obscenities and then sped off up the hill. I didn't realize until we got to the top of the hill that they thrown something out the window; otherwise I would have taken a snapshot of their truck. Fortunately James was fine. You just have to wonder what folks are thinking when they do something like that. It is just so easy to cause a bike accident!!

We had some good climbs and arrived in Eminence. We called Skip and got directions to our hotel for the evening. As it turns out we had a nice little cabin on the river called River's Edge. Jennet the owner was nice enough to give us a cabin for this evening. Thank you!!

What had a nice little dinner in town at an old soda shop cafe. It was very nice. Back at the cabin I met our next door neighbors who are from Kansas City. I chatted w/ Carrie the mom and Teddy and Tommy (Eagle Scout) who are both actively involved in Scouts in Troop 16. Next summer their troop is planning on going to Seabase which is in the Florida Keys. A super nice family!

Well, tomorrow's ride is to Farmington MO. This will be another hilly day of riding.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
A quick cat nap by James!	John found a new friend - "boxy"!
James as we pass through more farm country.	We agree with you more Summersville!! We met the owner of the local Sinclair gas station who went out of her way to help the bikers that pass through Summersville. Thanks!!
Very scenic, beautiful, and lots, lots of HILLS!!	This was a neat place to have dinner at an old fashioned soda shop. Plus they had good food.