Day 29

Day 21 to me, but 10-10-10 to a church we passed by this morning. I'm not sure if the date has any biblical significance or the church was just trying to scare up some business.

111 miles from West Plains to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and an interesting day all around. After a very aggressive day of riding yesterday, Joseph hung back in the morning and Jeff and I were joined by our two intrepid guides, Dave and Karl. The highlight of the pre-lunch ride was several miles of dirt road - which essentially meant that my bike rode me for 30 minutes or so. The only casualty in our first dirt stretch was a flat tire by Joseph but, on the second stretch, Brian fell and suffered a bit of dirt road rash. At some point later in the morning Joseph flatted again and had to eventually replace both tires. Not his favorite morning.

Lunch was in a beautiful lakeside setting, then Jeff and I headed out with Dave. Brian's aches and pains from the fall got the better of him and he and Diana opted for the van for most of the rest of the day. Dave was also suffering a bit, so Jeff and I soon found ourselves alone on the road headed for home. Just like yesterday, the ride was all about rollers - some small, some big, but all painful.

As Jeff and I got close to Poplar Bluffs, I was struck again by how amazing the body is. Here we were, knocking out another 111 mile day, and at mile 100 we're cruising along at 25 mph. I have to search online to figure out how many pedal strokes there are in a 100 mile ride, but it's a lot!

We hit three states - Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee - tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to crossing the Mississippi on a little ferry sometime in the afternoon. It's another 101 mile day, but the profile looks a lot better than it has been, so I think it'll be a day to enjoy.