Yesterday started out great with a delicious pancake breakfast made by Alec’s parents. We suffered through some early morning hills which quickly gave way to FLAT!! Western MO definitely made up for eastern’s poor welcome. We were able to cruise along at over 15 MPH without worrying about a hill halting our progress. The official end of the Ozarks came upon our arrival in Golden City, MO. I have to say, I was expecting much more from a city with such a grandiose name, but it left me a little disappointed. Riding into it, I was anticipating an Emerald City-esque atmosphere, but with a population of 700 odd people, I had too high of hopes. I guess we’ll have to wait until Kansas for a tornado to sweep us away to meet the Wizard.
Speaking of Kansas, we finally arrived! We are all a little unsure of what to expect from the state, as we have heard good and bad things from it. Sure we’re done with mountains, but the monotonous flatness of the state may make us miss the climbing and descending. We also heard horror stories about head winds, but we have a plan for those. Because the winds are the worst after noon, we are planning on leaving super early and resting during the windy part of the day. Sure we won’t get much sleep, but we haven’t been getting much sleep as it is. Which reminds me, due to our lack of sleep, Sheena and I decided to get a hotel room to really take advantage of our off day. We were able to sleep in today and take a nap here and there in air conditioning. After a month on the road, we forget about the luxury of simple creature comfort and the benefits it has on mind and body.
Sheena’s Corner:
Emilie and I riding our bikes.
Emilie: “oh god, I can see the light.”
Me: “the death light at the end of the tunnel?”
“No, the one at the end of the street.”
“Oh… I thought we were seeing the light again…”
Another fantastic decision made to get a hotel room so we can sleep in on our day off!
I am still waiting to see a live and whole armadillo, because I’ve never seen one before… I’ve seen plenty of dead ones in pieces.
It was so great cruising on flat land with little wind at ~18mph for hours.
Emilie Bikes and Hikes 