A-HA? By George? Great Scott?

Eureka! Kansas. We rode around 95 miles today from somewhere outside of Walnut to Eureka today. We had the most intense wind as of yet; most of the time it was just a crazy sidewind but when we got to turn and ride the tailwind it was like flying, slash when we turned into it it was ridiculous. The flag picture gives an image of what we were working with. But at least it was keeping us a little cooler on this hot day.

We made a stop in Chanute after about 30 miles and went to the Safari Museum, which was pretty cool, and a necessary stop since Thomas has been a safari man all trip in his safari shirt. We took another stop in Toronto, about 20 miles out from Eureka, and had the best turkey sandwich to date on this trip, plus the guy who worked the deli/general store was the cutest Kansanian/kansanite I've met yet. So nice; and lamenting the difficulty in finding produce in the Midwest he was happy to be able to put lettuce, tomato, and onion on our sammies.

We're camping again tonight. And we got showers at the pool, but unfortunately there is a private party going on in the pool so we can't swim.

I like Kansas so far.

Roadkill count: 474, and OH YEAH! I made my first turtle save for the trip! Thomas was ahead today and I guess the turtle hadn't come out yet when he passed, so the baby was all mine to protect. This brings our total turtle save count to ten!

It's IMPASSABALE that we could already be in Kansas

The fifth state. And it's great so far; my VB legs can dig this flat land.
The farms are getting HUGE! And so is the farming equipment.
We rode about 60 miles to a church right outside of Walnut, Immanuel Lutheran Church, so we're staying inside for the first time in a while, which will be nice.
I sat out on the front porch for almost an hour and six cars passed. I don't know if there is any road in Virginia Beach that you could watch for an hour and have only six cars pass in the late afternoon.
I replaced my tire in Pittsburg after a quick stop at the bike shop there. So that's good, because da fibers were beginnings ta show. Thomas is my guiding light in these respects.

Pray for tailwinds.

Roadkill count: 452 (I'm doing this for the people, they love it, they eat it right up; it's for the people, the people)

One Short Day in the Golden City

One short day, full of much pie to eat.
What a way to be seeing the country,
Where so many drive to,
Thomas and I will ride to,
And then just like that we can sayyyy
We're just two friends, two good friends, two BEST friends,
Sharing one wonderful bikeacrossthe U-S-A!
(for all my friends who aren't Wicked fans, that was a reference to a wicked song "one short day"(in the emerald city) you should look it up and then just listen to the whole musical, because it rocks.)

Anyways, from Marshfield, we rode t about 80 miles to Golden City, with a nice lunch stop in Ash Grove where we dined with Miles, one of the Brits, they were gonna stay in Ash Grove for the night.
The last 33.5 miles were awesome and we flew through them, and after today we say goodbye to Missouri and hello to the flat land of Kansas.
I really liked Missouri; as I've already mentioned, it's just super beautiful with great rolling hills and awesome farm land, and the Ozarks are my favorite mountain range so far; so much kinder than the Appalachians.
A few key points about Missouri: it is the land of multi-colored pavements-I think we've rode on black, grey, white, red, purple-ish, and orangey. They have a fine of $1000 dollars for littering, which puts them at double kentucky's concern, and $950 more than Illinois, what a clean-thinkin' state! And they have armadillos! Though I've only seen them dead on the side of the road.
Goodbye, Missouri. And thanks for a great end to it, Golden City (two pieces of pie (dutch blueberry and coconut cream) and a great dinner, plus a shower at the park).

Another something I ponder from the road: why do hills look so steep from a distance, like they're literally walls I will splat into, until a few yards out and then they flatten like crazy? Answers?

Roadkill count: 432

Show Me!

I was right, Missouri is the "Show Me state", and unless that is a reference to the truck drivers and other motorists showing me my life flash before my eyes, then I don't know what it is in reference to. But seriously, Missouri has had the craziest motorists by far. They don't give us any room. But whatever.

Other than that, I really dig Missouri. It's super pretty and the riding is supa. Today we rode from Houston to Marshfield, a 63(ish) mile day. We're camping at another city park, but thank goodness I got a shower at the park's pool, even if the flighty curtain and cold water were a little sketch.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Missouri, and then it's on to Kansas. Crazy.
Highlights of today: the butter pecan ice cream slash lunch buffet in Hartville where I ate too much fried chicken and mashed potatoes and might have vomited it up if we had any steeper of climbs, but I kept the deliciousness down; the place we ate for dinner tonight--an Italian place in this castle looking building that we learned used to be the morgue and is haunted, and the owner is super cyclist-excited (she's from Oregon); and the time when I was flying downhill and a car passed me, and I totally could have caught up, but chose not to so I wouldn't freak em out.

Thoughts from the road (if you have answers, please comment): do caterpillars grow up knowing they will become butterflies? Which caterpillars become butterflies, and which are the unlucky moths? Do Illinoisans pronounce the "s" in the title they have chosen for themselves, or do they keep it silent as in the state name?

Roadkill count: 404

Cankles

But I shaved em down, don't worry. But actually my map just flew out of my handlebar bag as I was flying down a steep descent and to catch it I stupidly put my leg to my back tire to sandwich the map to my bike and this resulted in my skin being shredded off. It stung. But it's good. Anyways, we did 69 miles today, through the hardest part of the Ozarks apparently, but honestly the Ozarks are nice mountains and the majority of the ride was really fun, except for like 20 minutes when I felt like I was going so slow and might just die. But we all have our moments of weakness. Mine just aren't as often as most people's ;) We're now in Houston, Texas (county), Missouri. We're camping again at another city park. We watched some girls play volleyball with a soccer ball for a bit, and now some girls are plying tennis but keep talking about how they don't know how. Highlights: I think I went faster today than I have et, down one of the steep descents coming down to Current river.i had the best chicken sandwich of the trip (maybe the only one, but that is irrelevant). Aaaand, the sky in Missouri is some serious sort of beautiful. Yesterday was probably significant in some way, but this is what happens when I wait to blog: we rode with the Brits from Farmington to Ellington, camped at a city park, ate way too much ice cream(no such thing)(miles had two milkshakes and a sundae--props). Roadkill count: 378 (why am I still doing this?)

Turtles meet Tigers

Yesterday started off by crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri with the Adventure Cycling group and a police escort to protect us from coal trucks. It was a pleasantly hilly ride, with a few steep climbs but honestly after eastern kentucky's jagged deathly mountains everything seems tame. Thomas and I were only behind one person in the ACA group, but we couldn't pass up stopping at a Tiger sanctuary to take a tour for a small fee of ten dollars. It was pretty groovy. And after an hour we were back on the road, only until a half hour later we came by a brewery which we decided to stop in at. A bunch of the others stopped there too. So after another long hour break and a delicious sandwich we were back on the road to finish up the last 13 miles to Farmington, Missouri. Our Australian pal Alisdair saved us a bunk room in the hostel so the ACA group wouldn't hog em all, so that was awesome, and the ACA group invited us to share dinner with them, which was awesome too. They cooked pasta with sauce and served ice cream cake for dessert--bomb. The hostel is super nice and Thomas and I decided that since it would be three weeks without any rest days, today would be a good one to take one. So we slept in, then went to mass, then I did some laundry and we went to the grocery store, and now we're back to chill for a while until we go out for dinner somewhere. The three Brits we met a few days ago as well as Ed, the guy riding supported by his wife following in a car, are here tonight as well. It'll be a good night, and we'll be on the road again tomorrow. Roadkill count: 342 (started off yesterday perfectly with a dead armadillo right after the Missouri state line; the first one I've ever seen!)

Flat?

Today we rode from our camping spot at Devils Kitchen to the last stop in Illinois, Chester, right on the Mississippi. We got a late start. Not fully waking up til about 9, and then yogi-ing some food from the family camping near us. They hooked us up with cereal, mountain dew, cheese, and grapes and sent us tuna to go. We didn't hit the road til 1030. But the high for the day was 70 if that, so there was no heat to beat. I think we beat all the heat outta the air for a while this past weekend. I actually rode in my sweatshirt all day. We took the Mississippi levee alternate route which put us on flat land for most of the day, but the headwinds/side winds were intense. It was cool though, I felt kinda like I was back in Vb riding at sea level along the Atlantic ocean (I miss you Atlantic). We got to Chester and at the Fraternal order of the Eagles where we planned to stay there is actually a fair going on this weekend. So we get live music and carnival food complete with funnel cake! Also, the adventure cycling organized TransAm tour is here for the night too, so we've met some of them and we're gonna ride with them tomorrow. Cool beans. Now, to mention a few observances I've made of Illinois in our short two and a half day visit. 1)their school zone speed limits are 20, rather than 25-- tells me: they care 5mph more about their children here than we do in Ol' Virginny. 2)the fine listed for the offense of littering is $50; whereas in Kentucky it was $500--this tells me one of three things: a) they care $450 less per person about the environment, b) Illinoisans are cheaper and therefore $50 is enough of an incentive not to litter, or c) they are more conscious and less likely to litter so they need less of an incentive. 3) the bike route signs have made appearances again but not at every turn or in any organized way--tells me: they care, at least sporadically, about cyclists. 4)the roads are the worst we've ridden on yet--one of two things: a)they're rugged and don't care or b) the corrupt govt of Illinois has priorities in other places than the rural southern part of the state. 5) it is not a very creative state, as witnessed by names such as "Cave in Rock" cave, "Little Grassy" camping area, "No Name road", and "Big Muddy river". Roadkill count: 324