The past two days

Yesterday, Cameron, MO to Kirksville, MO 110 miles

Well, today was the first morning that I realized I am completely sick of the same continental breakfast every morning. Even when it is different, it is the same (somehow). The biscuits and gravy I had this morning nauseated me, but I ate them anyway. When we left the hotel, it was raining pretty hard. I was a bit nervous about the start of the day, because about two miles into it, there was a huge bolt of lightning right in front of us. Luckily, it was the only one we saw all morning. After about ten miles, we hooked up with the route that we were supposed to be on for the long 145 mile day we cut short by 30 miles the night before. It was highway 6, and it was rougher than a celebrity mug shot. There were pot holes and minimal shoulders all day. We stopped for our Pizza Hut fix in the town of Trenton after we almost got lost by going the wrong direction in town. When we arrived at Pizza Hut, there was a newlywed couple that showed up right as we were getting there. According to the graffiti all over his truck windows, it informed the world that he "Got-R-Done," and that it was now, "Beer 30." I wish them the best of luck. Before we left town, Dad insisted that we hose down our bikes. As a result, we power washed all the grease off our bikes and they were making more noise than a group of middle school girls at an 'N SYNC concert. About 30 miles outside of Kirksville, we stopped at an auto shop and the friendly guys that worked there let us use some of their WD 40. About three miles outside of town, the shoulders were not rideable. They seemed like they were gravel, and that the road crew just put some tar over it and called it a day. It wasn't even that hot out, but the tar ended up clogging up my cleats. Dad suggested that we thumb it the last three miles into town. Not more than five minutes later, Don and Sherry picked us up and brought us to the Comfort Inn. They were nice enough to wait around to see if we could get a room. It turned out that Truman State was having their graduation this weekend, and there were no rooms available. Don and Sherry then brought us down to the Super 8, and we are very grateful, because it was rush hour traffic, and we would not have made it. Well, Super 8 only had one room with one bed, so we called the Days Inn, and they had one smoking room available with two beds. We decided on that one. Before we made it over to the Days Inn, we stopped for a buffet at the Ponderosa Steak House. It was seafood night...not too delicious, but it got the job done. I need to rewind a bit and inform you of our dinner two nights ago. We ordered in Chinese, and Dad was brave and went with the sweet and sour shrimp. He woke up during the night debating whether or not he should have visited the toilet. I wouldn't have had time to make that trip after eating some shrimp at Ponderosa...I am still amazed as to how I kept it down.

Today, Kirksville, MO to Quincy, IL, 97 miles

Who would have thought a day that was so great could have started out so horrific. About 1/2 mile into the day while Dad was making up lyrics to a song he didn't know the words to and laughing to himself about it, he ran over a huge, rusty nail that was about 1 1/2 inches long. It was the first tire blowout of the trip, and it kind of sounded like a gunshot to me. After we changed the tire and had a nutritious McDonalds breakfast, our luck changed. We had great winds on our backs for the whole rest of the day. We flew for our fist 25 miles, and we came up to a cafe in a town of abut 200 people. You know those times in movies where someone walks into a public place and it falls dead silent? Well, that is exactly what happened when we walked into that cafe. After the initial shock to the town folk, we were wondering how the 14 year old kid was doing outside with the lawn mower that looked like it was ready to explode when we rode up... I think we distracted him when he saw us, because he ended up grinding up a bunch of rocks that produced a gigantic tornado of smoke. It was actually quite hilarious, if you ask me. Yep...we made a real impression. Once we started talking to everyone, it was back to normal in the cafe, and we ordered scrambled eggs and toast. After about 20 minutes, we still didn't have our order, and a table next to us said they had waited 1 1/4 hours for their order. We checked with the kitchen, and they said they hadn't started our eggs and toast yet. We scratched our order and had the All American breakfast instead...coffee, Nacho Cheese Doritos and a Snickers bar. That held us until...you guessed it...Pizza Hut after another 45 miles. Once we finished there, we took the one mile ride down to the ferry that was to take us across the river into Illinois. Yep... it is definitely closed down on the weekends...bummer. So, we had to take the Missouri side down to the interstate bridge that took us straight into Quincy. We avoided getting on highway 61 until three miles before the bridge. Once we realized there was no other way to get to the bridge except the shoulders of highway 61 (which were in worse shape than the tar covered ones from yesterday), we threw up the old thumb. No more than two minutes later, Tom pulled over and picked us up. He was a pretty funny guy, and it turns out he attended my Alma Mater of UW-Stout. Small world! We briefly exchanged Stout stories, and he enlightened us as to the time him and one of his buddies rented out a tandem bicycle from the field house, and promptly took it off a sweet jump directly into lake Menomin... my kinda guy. Well, he brought us right into the bike shop in Quincy, and it was great luck, because we made it about 30 seconds before they were supposed to close. Ryan and Greg were extremely helpful, and they fitted us with new tires and a few minor adjustments all in 30 minutes. We met a gentleman from London that was doing a solo cross country ride from L.A. to Boston as well. It's always great to meet other riders! After we left the bike shop, we went to find a hotel. So, here we are at the Holiday Inn. When we got here, Dad gave his usual opening speech to work a great deal. It was really funny, because the kid working asked if he had a government issued I.D. to get a better rate (military, etc.). Without hesitation and a big laugh, Dad busts out his government issued Minnesota drivers license. Very matter-of-fact, the kid said, "No one has ever tried that one on me before." Dad and I found it hilarious. Well, our room is great, and I am going to bed. Goodnight.

Blake

P.S. We managed to stir up a couple good cattle stampedes today. Entertainment at its finest...