Day 20 May 31st

Chester to Mon, MO (Middle Of Nowhere) 83 miles

I got a good rest last night and had McDonalds for breakfast in the morning where I was able to fill my bottles with PowerAde as a treat. I wanted to go to the library in the morning but it was closed since it was a Sunday so I left. I randomly ran into Danny as I was leaving town. He stayed in a hotel. We crossed the Mississippi River and the next 15 miles were completely flat. The sun was out all day and the wind was at my back. It was pretty perfect and not too hot. I thought the hills were going to be pretty tough but the Ozarks are nothing compared to VA. The scenery here is amazing! I’ve probably taken more pictures already in MO than I have in the last few days in KY and IL. The views of the farms and the mountain backdrops are just incredible. The streams are clear again which is so much nicer than the muddy water of KY. The ride thought ST. Joe State Park was great with tons of awesome views. I thought that the climb to Bismark was going to be tough but the mad made it look worse than it was and I didn’t even have to take my bike out of third gear. Danny and I got Lunch in Famington at a Chinese buffet, along the road we met a guy named Carl who was training for a triathlon. He tried to talk us into stopping at a local brewery that’s on trail and I'm sorry that we didn’t.

Some of the drivers around here are real ass holes though. I rode passed a kid on a bike who had downs syndrome or something and a car coming up behind beeped and yelled at him then gave the finger to me when they passed me.

After I got to the top of the last major climb of the day I met a guy named Nick who was going from San Diego to Boston which is totally bad ass. We got to the campsite which is right outside Johnson’s Shut Inns SP by 5:30 and only paid $4 to camp and get a shower. I ordered a pizza at the bar and am pretty sure it was DiGorno. I need a good nights sleep tonight since it is about 100 miles to Houston with about 12 climbs. Lets hope they go as well as the climbs today.