This was expected to be a long day and rough one so we stopped for breakfast at the place the locals called the best breakfast ever. From what we have experienced it did not live up to its billing.

We started the ride expecting the worst but the first 60 miles were a piece of cake, but the last 30 miles made up for it. Here we experience the Ozarks at its finest. There were a lot of steep climbs but they were shorter than we experienced in Virginia and Kentucky. What made them harder was this was a 90 + mile day. This day was topped off with a very steep climb up to the local high school. It had started to rain and my back tire slipped so I got off and walked up the hill.

We also found the drivers in Missouri were not as courteous as the other states. They honked more, didn’t give us as much clearance space when passing and a number were more vocal. What the drivers don’t always understand is the shoulder they think we should be using is usually taken up with rumble strips so we have no choice but ride in the driving lane. When we got to narrower roads without shoulders the drivers were better.

We stayed in the high school gym. This gave us access to the shower locker rooms as well as rest rooms. No waiting lines here. This was great.

Kye and I decided to cook tonight because we were just exhausted and cold. By the time Kye had made us a hot meal and hot chocolate all was well.