day 52

after a much needed sleep indoors we woke up realizing we had to leave the comforts of this getaway but we made sure to take advantage of it while we still had time. i enjoyed a hot shower since you never know when you'll get another one. the world traveler from dublin was literally heading out the door and the girl from ohio, amanda, was getting things together to leave. we cleaned and packed our things up then said our goodbyes and safe travels. we were then on the hunt for breakfast (my personal favorite meal). we went down the road and out of historic downtown but found nothing, so we decided to headed out a different way hoping to find something and we did. lo and behold we stumbled across huddle house, we both never heard of it but it advertised cheap food and that sounded good to us. we got in and they have smoking and non-smoking sections but there is no divider or air ventallation to delineate the smoking from the non; odd we thought. nonetheless we both ordered a heartattack on a plate of goodness though: eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, and a waffle for me. it was great and helped fuel us that morning. so we took off down the road and it started to rain on us but we were out in the country and only houses were around so we kept riding but up around a corner there was a huge building and it was a brewery/distillery (super random for out in the country) but we ducked in there to get out of the torrential downpour. we decided to let the rain blow over and we chatted with the bartender for awhile and apparently the guy who owns this brewery owns a ton of other stuff like a vineyard, car dealerships, antique shops, etc. but he also owns a tiger/lion sanctuary/restaurant just a couple miles down the road. so random! the rain stopped so we got back on the road after a short tour of the brewery and met up with our friend lu. lu and su were heading to st mary to pickup one of their maildrops that was waiting for them at the post office in the nearby town so we split ways knowing we'd see them in chester. after some riding we finally got to the border where we waited to cross the mississippi river! i've been looking forward to this for awhile. crossing the mississippi is a huge deal in history and it marked a great marker for us as well. the bridge was down to one lane letting one side go then the other but when we got up there they were opening up the bridge to 2 lanes again but the construction workers let us go across so we had the whole bridge to ourselves as we hurridly crossed. we arrived in illinois and said farewell to missouri. the land of lincoln and popeye i guess or atleast chester is home to popeye. the home of popeye sign was bigger than the little writeup about lewis and clark, funny and sad how that happens. guess the creator of popeye came from chester and they are exploiting it like crazy with statues of all the characters all over town. we rode into town trying to find the eagles lodge which has a bunk shack for cyclists; after some time and i would say bad directions, we finally made it and it was good but different from where we stayed the previous night, we got spoiled before. a 6 bunk shack with a/c and a fan then a shower and bathrooms at the main building so that was nice. we pumped the a/c and went to find some dinner at reid's harvest house, a buffet! it was wonderful to say the least so we filled up and headed back to the eagles. lu and su arrived and we chatted with them for a bit then we all kind of did our own thing: evan checked some internet and made some calls then went and hung out with lu and su in the lodge while i called family, took some pics, and caught up on my book. it was a relaxing evening. we all then crashed after a full day.

day 51

the sun woke us up this morning at around 8 so i got up and started packing some things up and evan followed suit. we grabbed some pancakes and egg biscuit sandwiches at the 21 diner which was pretty good. while we were there, someone was spraying pesticide all on the outside and even on the inside of the restaurant so we got out of there. we headed down the road making our way to farmington. i got a bit ahead of evan and at a turn i was a little up the hill and he had his headphones in and when he looked over didn't see me so he kept cycling past. i was yelling at him but he couldn't hear me, so i chased down after him. luckily i caught him maybe 5 miles down the road but i made a rookie move. we headed down the right way down highway "n" (kansas and missouri name some of their highways with letters and even with double letters, odd.). we had hills but nothing too terrible, but it was just super hot in the mid 90's then add humidity, we were just dripping sweat. it was nasty. we got to this state park and there was this newly constructed ranger information station where we met 2 other cyclists, one was having dehydration issues, and we swapped stories and they told us of a short cut to get to farmington to avoid some of the intense hills. we enjoyed each other's company and the shade for a bit before parting ways. we then headed down the road and made a turn towards pilot knob where we stopped at a mcdonalds where i needed to refuel (i am a sucker for mcdonalds and evan is definitely not). it was then a pretty short ride into farmington where we've heard about this sweet hostel called al's (not owls) in downtown. we heard about it probably in kansas and have been super excited to get here, we finally found it after following a spray painted arrows and signs on the road. we go up the stairs and call the police station where we got the code to get into the hostel. we open the door and air conditioning immediately hits us and we see leather couches with a flat screen tv, a full kitchen, a fridge full of soda and water, cupboards with some food, bunk beds for maybe 15, 2 bathrooms, and a computer with internet and only for cyclers. we were blown away. second coolest thing in missouri. we marched around just amazed at the place and unpacked our gear and settled in for a bit cleaning ourselves up with a much needed shower and then put our clothes in the wash, it had been a nasty week for us sine we'd last got a shower and washed our clothes. we put pins on the map of where we are from. a female cycler arrived and we chatted for a bit and then eventually went out to dinner at the firehouse grill. some good food and company we shared. we also found $10 on the road on our way back! we came back to the hostel and i updated the blog all night, literally since it'd been so long. another cycler came in and he's been traveling the world for over 2 years now so he had so many great stories to listen to. we all just chilled in the hostel taking advantage of the coolness and comfort. tomorrow we head out of missouri, cross the mississippi river, and into illinois. goodnight.

day 50

we woke up and all packed up our things and headed down to the grocery store to get some breakfast. evan and i got yogurt and cereal, seems to be our staple lately. we got lucky charms and they were so good. we finally had to part ways so we said our goodbyes and we certainly enjoyed dave's company, a real cool guy. we took off for some intense hills, not just a couple but a good amount plus it was super hot and humid. we finally got out of the ozarks and we were glad at that but there were still some hills into centerville. there wasn't much in town; we camped in the lawn of the town hall and police department. we read for a bit there since we got in kind of early which was nice. we grabbed dinner at the 21 dinner which was a small local diner but i swear everyplace has great milkshakes. we mainly made some phone calls and charged some stuff that evening. i wandered around town and took some photos but i was pretty dang tired at 10 so i just went to bed.

day 49

we got up to a light drizzle on us so we got up and moved our tent under the covered area. we cooked up some oatmeal and read until we headed out. i will say that we got up an hour early since it was the 4th of july and we wanted to ride 40 miles to emmince which is a river touristy town. it was a quick-ish ride to alley spring where we got off and hiked around a bright blue clear spring/stream area. probably the best part of missouri i would say. when we were pretty close to our bikes, it just started to dump rain on us. hawaii is the only other place i remember it dumping that quickly and that much on me. i ran and covered my sleeping bag, pad, tent rainfly, and bags with trash bags but everything was pretty soaked already. we huddled under some trees but the rain was so hard that we then ducked underneath an overhang sine there was a family reunion using the covered area. we eventually headed under the covered area and then covered up lu and su's bike with our tarp. they were off swimming in the river. we were waiting out the rain and then once it stopped we tried to just dry off when the family reunion invited us to partake of their feast. it was so wonderful of them to take us in. we piled our plates with chicken, meatloaf, watermelon, potato salad, rolls, tons of food. we got a couple plate fulls each then went up for a plate full of pies, cakes, banana breads, and anything else that is sweet. we bid our farewells to the dewitts and saw lu and su walking up to their bikes, we took off down the road and passed over the river where we looked over to the left and saw a sweet swimming area that we wished we would've stopped at but we were already on the go. it was only 5 miles to emminence but there were a couple rough hills to get into town and on a full belly with the heat it was a struggle but we made it into town. as i rode down the hill i turned and saw a cyclist with a backpack and i knew it was dave. he was talking to the fireworks stand lady and we just started chatting. we've heard lots of stories about him especially since he's riding a mountain bike and carrying an 80lb backpack on his back while he rides, pretty intense. it started to rain so we huddled underneath until it stopped and we literally stayed there and talked for a lot of the day until logan, a guy stopping by the fireworks stand who is mapping out the ozark river system, invited us all out to dinner. it was so amazing, he took us to a local joint that had a buffet so most of us got that and we all just stuffed ourselves and swapped stories and listened to logan tell about his adventures hiking the appalachian trail for 5 months! sounds intense. we went back and chatted at the fireworks stand then the owner of the stand let us go to his house and tour it since he collects antiques, it was filled with mainly chandeliers, old photographs, and other knickknacks. then we got back to the fireworks stand and the two older guys were telling story after story of their crazy life, it was so great. everyone left to go to bed and dave, evan, and i stayed up talking more and then laid out our sleeping bags on the floor of the fireworks stand and called it a day.