Day 23 (6/14/09)

The only good thing about today is we can check off another state, we are now in Missouri. In the middle of the night we were awakened to the sound of thunder. When the alarm sounded at 6:00 a.m., we assumed correctly that we were in for a rain delay. Tim and I fell back asleep while Jere gorged himself on the free breakfast offered by the hotel. After Tim finally crawled out of bed he fired up his laptop to examine the Accu Weather radar for the area. Pittsburg was in the middle of two fronts, moving west to east. The dilemma was whether we continue to stand down and await the passing of the second front or do we go for it and hope to out run it. With the sun temporarily shining and the puddles drying up, we decided to launch at about 9:30 a.m.. In the hotel room we dressed for a cold rainy day, but as soon as we hit the parking lot we quickly stripped down as the weather was already hot and sticky. Tim and I fitted our bikes with our quick fitting fenders for the foul weather sure to overtake us. Ultimately, we never did get wet, from the rain, but we were soaked with perspiration from the hot, humid weather. We either out ran the front or it broke apart behind us. Almost as soon as we left Kansas the terrain changed to steep climbs and descents, similar to southern York County. Jere was in his element and Tim and I were exhausted from the cumulative 100+ days. Ultimately, we had to cry; "Uncle" and Jere reluctantly backed down and pulled us along for the last 50 miles of our 116 mile day. We made it to Marshfield, Mo. for the night, our goal for the day. Tomorrow's planned destination is 136 miles away. Tim and I already sat Jere down (over Dairy Queen Blizzards) and told him tomorrow's goal is to finish, not to set a speed record. Besides we anticipate being into the thick of the Ozarks and the climbs and descents will be even steeper.

P.S. No Slide Show for today, the only picture we took was the obligatory "Welcome to Missouri" pose. The landscape in eastern Missouri is identical to south eastern York County. Just drive to Fawn Grove, look around and you will see what we saw today. No need to take pictures of that.