Day 66-Riding the Rollercoaster That is Missouri

Even though I slept until 5:40, we were still on the road by 6:35. It was a great night’s sleep in air conditioned coolness. 

Thank you Ash Grove and the Barham House!

Today’s sunrise. 

We started right out of the gate with the rollercoaster hills. Not gonna lie, my legs were feeling it a little from yesterday’s rollers. It was a beautiful morning though. 

Loving these rolling green hills!

Rollercoastering!

Green green everywhere green. 

More rollercoaster riding!

Walnut Grove was 8 miles in. I wonder if it is the Walnut Grove of Little House on the Prairie fame? I think not, or they would certainly say so somewhere in the town. 

I could see Doug up the road, off his bike, doing something. I thought he must be rescuing a turtle. Sure enough. It was this tiny little feller. 

After I took the photo, I moved him all the way off the road. 

More ups and downs brought us into Fair Grove. There we stopped for an early lunch at Subway. 

Checking off a Missouri Subway!

The ride from Fair Grove to Marshfield was the tiniest bit less rollercoastery. The traffic increased the closer we got to Marshfield, I think because of the freeway (south to Springfield). There was a cluster of services at the freeway interchange. We stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. From there we rode to the laundromat, which happened to be right on the route. Also, as an aside, Route 66 goes through Marshfield. If we changed our minds, and decided we wanted to ride to Chicago, we could do so. Nah…

With clean clothes (finally! My REI shirt was really starting to smell bad…no, it wasn’t starting, it was there!), we headed to the park. Sadly, this isn’t one of the finer parks we’ve stayed in. No Pool, so no shower, and water has to be obtained in the bathroom. 

When we arrived, there were three kids here. One was a little girl named Bayleah (probably not spelled correctly). She was 7, and had hearing aids. Right away she noticed Doug’s hearing aids, and said, “He has hearing aids just like me!” Not too much later she had to go home. 

The other two kids were 13 year old boys named Jay and Shelby. They were very interested in our bikes. Shelby said he loves to ride, but he lives out in the country. He was in town spending the weekend at his grandpa’s. He did have a bike with him. It was a little 16”. As soon as we rolled up, Jay, who was riding Shelby’s bike, asked if we’d like to see a trick. He did a little bunny hop. He was very proud of it. They asked if I’d like to ride the trail around the park. I said sure, and the three of us (Jay on his skateboard) rode around the park. They were nice kids. Shelby’s grandpa even drove by with some Otter Pops, and Shelby gave one to Doug and I. 

Shelby and Jay…good kids. 

Now we are just hanging out in the heat, listening to the deafening sound of the cicadas. I’ve almost reached the point where I can ignore them…almost. All Doug can hear is a clicking noise…lucky him.