6/19/09
Distance - 84.3 miles
The Weableau motel/inn/cabins, while sketchy and questionable by normal standards, was a sweet sweet luxury to us. The air conditioning worked like a magical charm, and although the sink grumbled violently when the shower was on, the shower was still a beautiful thing. The cabins claimed to be "recently remodeled", but the bright shag carpet, rusty ol' refrigerator, and tattered recliner begged to differ. We slept in a bit, enjoying the clean sheets, and Sam completed stage 3 of his Saturn V jettison discharge sequence by sending his broken pannier back to Virginia with mom, on track for a crash landing into Yorktown!
For the first time in weeks, we woke up in the morning to feel the wind blowing strong--DIRECTLY in the direction we wanted to go. We praised the wind gods and sacrificed a turtle as offering. Although we had the wind with us again finally, ye olde sun was still relentless and it was one of our hottest days yet. We were sweating out the water almost faster than we could drink it in.
The roads in Missouri have been ok, although the turtle roadkill count is easily in the 60-80 range, and I think we've also started to move towards roadkill of the more exotic variety, including several armadilloes, some snakes, and one huge frog. They all provide exciting obstacles if not gruesome spectacles.
We took refuge from the heat in the Camdenton KFC for lunch, and Sam and I once again chased the elusive dragon by crushing endless mountain dews. I think Sam might have even touched the dragon. After lunch I received my routine 60-mile flat tire and fixed it on the side of the road. My tires are definitely just getting too thin, and after 5 flat tires in 4 days, I can't wait for the next town with a bike shop to get some new tires!
The last part of the day on the road from Osage Beach to Iberia had NO SHOULDER AT ALL, so we had some nerve-racking riding next to cars, but hopefully we have some better road tomorrow. Some guys in Kansas told us that Missouri roads get the worst reports from cross-country riders. We didn't want to believe him, but we'll see how the next 2 days go!
We found the Iberia park, cooked up some delicious pasta dinner, and settled in under the shelter to watch the town high-schoolers do laps around the park in their pickup trucks for the next 3 hours, which is apparently the customary Friday night past-time. I guess we enjoyed it, because we got to experience short clips of music, fading in and out as they drove by. Notably, Miley Cyrus, which is Sam's favorite.
-posted by Aaron
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Yo cuz, and fellow travelers! I've been reading and enjoying all your posts so far. You guys are amazing for doing such a trip. I can't wait to catch up more once you return to the east coast. Keep going strong!
ReplyDelete~Meagan