Day 23: Houston, MO to Marshfield, MO (65 Miles)

Last night's sleep went quite well, save for one instance when a group of teenagers were performing drunken acts on the playground nearby. I decided to sleep in a little bit and walked over to the Moose Coffee to update previous blog posts. It's quite the time-consuming task and I found myself leaving close to 9:00am... a late start, but I had a short day planned. The boys and I were going to bike to Marshfield for the day and the topographical charts showed that this would be the last 'hurrah!' of the Ozarks. Good riddance, I say (although I know the flatness of Kansas will make me long for the good ol' days in the mountains).

(I also wanted to add an apology to all those who have written/called me and I haven't replied... it's nothing personal and I'm thankful for all your support. I'm just very hard-pressed to write these words on the blog, let alone call/write everyone who contacts me. I'm spending most of my time breaking camp, eating, biking, eating, biking, resting, setting up camp, and so on & so forth, thus not allowing me the time I want to reply to you all. Please know that I'm very pleased to hear from you all and please continue to leave messages/write emails/etc... it helps me a lot!)

The morning ride was quite stunning, with the roadkill becoming equally interesting. The Appalachians featured such creatures as rattlesnakes, raccoons, and possums... while the Ozarks feature the always-hilarious armadillo and giant lizards. The ride was going along quite swell, until I began to notice signs saying: "WARNING! Loose Gravel and Oil." For a good majority of the afternoon, I was riding along sticky/rocky roads, with the heat baking into my skin from below. The fumes got to me and I had to pull off the road to catch a few breaths of fresh air before trudging along again.

I met the fellas for lunch and headed off again to find more construction. Only this time, I was caught behind "sweepers" or giant machines that kick up clouds of dust. I had to keep a good 50 yards between us, otherwise I'd suffocate in the ominous cloud of now-flying sediments. The major problem was that these infernal machines inched along at a crawl and I couldn't pass them. The Brits somehow got past them and found themselves waiting for me in the cool confines of a local pool for at least an hour. I finally arrived and we washed up, pitched our tents outside the pool area, and headed into town for laundry/food.

I'm looking forward to a nice morning ride into Fair Grove for breakfast. We've decided it best to sleep in for a few hours and catch up on some much needed sleep. I've been functioning well on an average of 6-7 hours of sleep, but it will be nice to have those extra hours... I'm sure they'll go a long way.