The Most Underrated State, Missouri

I've decided that Missouri gets a bad rap. I have really liked the state. Its much more populated than I thought, with many small, fun towns. It is also very green with nice rolling hills. St. Louis is also much nicer than I thought it would be. We're staying at the Wash U Medical Center.
Today was a short and easy ride. We did get lost for the 3rd time in 3 days. Here Anuj is getting directions from a local farmer. My favorite part of the whole thing was when the guy came over to us and asked "Hey, don't you all have a GPS?" Not at all the response I was expecting.

Greenery and trees are a nice change. We had an event at a local high school for a college bound program. The students were a lot of fun. As a gift they gave us a book of essays that they had written.

I forgot to write about this yesterday - Dogs - especially for Christina and Tracey. I had my second big dog charge yesterday. I was riding along and saw a large dog running at the riders in front of me. When he didn't get them, he turned to me. I thought I was going to have issues, but when he ran toward me, I squirted my water bottle in his face and that calmed him down.

Jeff City

First off, Happy Mother's Day Mom and all the other mothers out there. Today we went from Jefferson City to Washington.

It was a pretty easy day. 75 miles with a tailwind. It started off cold and rainy, but the tailwind made it quick and easy.

One of the rest stops was at a winery where we took a tour and had a tasting. Billy, the guy on the left in the picture above was a lot of fun and full of trivia.
Tomorrow we go to St. Louis - It will be our last day in MO, which has been much nicer and more built up than I thought it would be.

I was on support yesterday, and it turned out to be kind of a rough day. There was no sign on the road where we needed to turn off and we got lost on the way out of town and the riders had to start the day with about 8 miles in the wrong way. I felt pretty bad about it. Then there was a detour that added another 16 or so miles to the route because a new bridge was being built. This picture is from about a week ago. We were in the middle of nowhere and we got stopped by this construction worker. It was pretty funny.

Misery, MO

The new Kem - without beard and without Borat.
The way the day started, I thought Missouri was going to be horrible. It was rainy, hilly and windy - but the day turned out pretty nice in the end. We rode 104 miles. We were talking today about how fun it is that we ride centuries like its any other day. I've been impressed with Missouri so far - its a lot more built up than I thought it was going to be.

Our day in Kansas City went well. The event at the medical school had a good turn out with interesting speakers and involved students. Carissa got us hooked up with free tickets to the Royals vs Orioles game which was a lot of fun. One of the foul balls hit the seat in front of me. I'd be lying if I said I tried to catch it - more of the opposite, I was trying my best to make sure that I didn't get in the ball's way.
I sported my new haircut -
Cut by Kel and styled by Samara.

Kansas, Not as Advertised

We had a short talk at the Mennonite church this morning. I spoke with some of the members after the presentation and asked a bunch of questions about their church. Everyone was in plain clothes and it sounds like the church has basically gone mainstream - there are a few individual churches that have broken away and stuck to the more traditional dress, etc. I also learned that the Amish were a break away group from the Mennonites.

We had our last day of riding in Kansas today - and of course, it rained, and we got pretty muddy.
Only 8 of us finished the entire ride because of traffic and rain coming into Kansas City. It was really hilly coming into the city - lots of unexpected climbs. We did get tracked by the NBC helicopter for the evening news which we then later saw which was pretty cool. We're staying at the KU medical center and have an event here tomorrow. The room we're staying in is tiny and smells like people that have been biking in the rain for days.

Why does Kansas hate me?

Every day Kansas has given us a new challenge. At first we had the wind. Then the rain. Today we had over 10 miles of chopped up/stripped road. That's a long time to rattle. I guess all the shaking made my bike computer cables loose. It caught on my pedal and got yanked out. 90 miles can be a while without an odometer.

I like this part of Kansas much more. It looks a little like Bukoba/Uganda and what I would imagine Ireland to look like. Fun, rolling hills.

We're staying in a Mennonite church in Topeka. Topeka looks kind of how you would expect it, maybe smaller.

Kel gave me a haircut. I'll post a picture once I have one.

RAIN

Kansas weather has not been good to us. After a few days of crazy winds, we had our first day of rain today. It started just after we left Lyons. Light, and then constant. It was actually pretty nice to ride in. My biggest complaint was that I had just cleaned my bike last night. Plus, I was riding with Erin who loved being in the rain, so that kept me happy about the ride.

This is a picture of Dave filling water bottles at the first rest stop. After I waited in the van, it was freezing to go back out into the rain. We only lasted a couple of miles though until they pulled us off the road because of lightening. We went and waited out the rest of the thunder/lightening in the town of Lindsborg, which considers itself Little Sweden. It was kind of like Helen in North Georgia.

We dried out for a little in a local church and had some coffee and pastries in town before heading back into the rain which let up after a couple of miles. It was still wet, but not too bad. This part of Kansas is not flat as advertised. Rolling hills actually, but nothing bad. Most of the afternoon was dry - we made it to the school where we are staying in Herington just before it started to rain again. The people at the school where we are staying are really nice and have pointed out the tornado shelters for us.

On Support

I was on support for today's ride. It was about 100 miles in Western Kansas. In one of the first towns we went through, Katie and I pulled over to cheer on the riders. Once I pulled over I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that there was a cop behind me. After getting nervous, it turns out the cop was just checking to make sure I was ok because I had my hazards on and had pulled over. Then we talked about the ride and he was super nice and welcoming. Right after that, this guy with 4 dogs pulled over and was also very nice. Turns out he has a bed and breakfast in that town for cyclists. He had Katie and I come over to see his brand new puppies and meet his wife. If I had been closer to home, I would have taken one of them with me.

Yesterday's break at a donut shop that had run out of donuts.
Hanging out after the ride in the Ness City gym.
At our first rest stop today we ended up stopping at the same spot that the Patriot Guard Riders were meeting up. They are a huge group of motorcyclists that go to the funerals of fallen service men to support the families and block out the protests of WBC and Rev. Phelps. "Reverend" Phelps likes to show up at the funerals to celebrate their deaths because he believes that God killed the service men because they support a country where gays are not persecuted. Phelps was the same guy in NYC that used celebrate the deaths of NYFD and NYPD for the same reasons. Turns out his church is based in Topeka.
To celebrate Cinco de Mayo Eve, our support group made a pinta and had an Oreo lick off at dinner. Fun times in Lyons, KS.