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!)