Day30

A few good climbing hills. I actually had to drop down into my third chain ring for some of these!!

(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: We'll have a southwesterly wind and the temp should be in the mid 80's. Another great day for riding!!

So we started off the day with a nutritious breakfast of yogurt, granola, pop tarts, and Nutella spread on bagels. Thank goodness we are burning all these calories so we can eat pretty much anything!!

We briefed the ride, route, safety, etc and were off. Right out of town were climbing hills, catching our breath and climbing more hills. We actually had a pretty good time. Skip drove by about an hour later. We flagged him down for water and my crank was making an annoying clicking sound. Made a couple of adjustments and the problem seemed to go away. I'll watch it and see what happens.

We stopped at a rest stop in Ellington and when we started riding again; John

discovered he had a flat rear tire. So that is number four for him. He found a little wire which no doubt came from one of the hundred blown out steal belted radials we have passed along the shoulder of the road. In reading a number of other cross country biker blogs; this is normal. In fact I remember reading that on one day a guy had 20 flats from these wire shards!! Hopefully we won't ever come close to that record!!

By the time we got into Centerville; Skip was starting to get worried about. There was no cell coverage so he couldn't verify how far out of town we were. Just as we got into town; Skip was getting ready to go find us. We had a nice lunch and then were on our way.

After lunch we were studying the map; and a nice lady offered a few suggestions. She gave us a little short cut that ultimately shaved off 10 miles from our ride. As Martha would say; This is a good thing!!

The rest of the afternoon was nice riding. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened. Stopped for an ice cream and water at a bait shop. Very nice folks. Filled our water bottles and the attendant was a prior Marine....or as they say; once a Marine always a Marine!

We arrived into Farmington and called Skip for directions to the Hotel. It tu

rns out we made good time because Skip was just checking in. Must have been that short cut we took!!

We had dinner at Pizza Hut and while we were there we met JR and Netta who were very nice. They gave us a very nice donation. Thanks!!

Well, tomorrow we leave Missouri, cross the mighty Mississippi and enter our eight state - Illinois. The weatherman is predicting rain in the afternoon, so it will do us well to leave early and get into Carbondale IL soonest.

YOU DON'T SAY:

Skip - While taking a picture of him in his blue chair "People are going to think all I do is lay around in my chair." Yes this is true!!

John - while riding up a large hill and talking to James "Be quiet or I'll leave you behind on the hill again." You got to love brotherly love!!

James - In the afternoon we held turtle races with the two box turtles we caught earlier in the day. James turtle crossed the finish line first "Oh yea, my turtle rocks!!"

Skip - The showers were in a bathhouse several cabins down. James reported that there were spiders. Now this actually was a very nice bath house (recently remodeled) and although I didn't see any Skip was quoted as saying "Well I guess I won't be taking a shower." And he didn't. Good thing he drives by himself while we are biking

DID I REALLY DO THAT?

So a little background history to the cabins we stayed at last night. Yes we got the cabins donated with the condition that there were no towels. When Skip told me about this I said OK although thought it was a little strange; but free is free. So when I called Skip asking for direction for the cabins; Skip mentioned that there was a slight problem that there were no sheets either at the cabin. Not an issue; being Boy Scouts we all brought sleeping bags. Well at least us Boy Scouts; Skip on the other hand only had a towel. So last night the kids and I slept comfortably in sleeping bags and Skip was wrapped up in a beach towel. I didn't have my wits about me otherwise I would have a picture posted here as well!! And of course he has no one to blame since 1) he arranges all lodging accommodations and 2) he didn't bring a sleeping bag.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
In front of the cabins....Skip's normal pose!	These little box turtles seemed to be crossing the road all the time. Why did the box turtle cross the road?
Twin power!!	John's new creation -- cinnamon pop tart, Nutella, peanut butter, and another cinnamon pop tart. Now that's some good eat'n!!
James making the more traditional turkey bagel sandwich.	John showing off his under arm? He has a kink in his shoulder? Nope, trying to get a signal so he can text.....should be using Verizon vice ATT; I had a signal

Day 30 (Mon 7/27/09)

Another Missouri country side ride...

Yesterday Tomorrow