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.