Trip quote so far

"35 cent for a fudge round!!! you can't beat that BROTHER"
"BORED?! your moms bored. I'd be bored if i were in Target!"
"Yo your just a dirty fat boy!"

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Mississippi!! Illinois, Ozarks, an the SUN in MO

Well a TON has happened since the last update but i will try and not make it as long as the last biggy.  first things first. 

Day 12 Sebree--> Cave in Rock IL
Day 13 Cave in Rock --> Carbondale
Day 14 Carbondale--> Ozora MO
Day 15 Ozora --> Centerville

So it has been two states since we have last talked to you.  we have traversed through Illinois and we are currently about half way through the great state of Missouri.  

so from sebree to cave in Rock we had another day of RAIN. this time we were a little more prepared saying we wrapped our bodies in trash bags for the day.  it ended up that we got more wet sweating under the "sweat bags" than if we just romped in the rain.  at least we were a ton warmer though.  also this day i found a verizon store to fix my STUPID phone that decided not to work.  well it ended up being a couple towns away but it was early in the day and thought that we could easily make it there.  well with the awful weather when we got closer we realized life just wasnt going to work the way we wanted, but we thought we would try anyways.  so we had about 20 mils to go and the store closed in an hour.  long story short, we were CRUSHING it for a good 45 min and then we just figured we wernt going to make the next 7 miles in like 10 min.  pretty discouraging.  all in all we just kept riding and actually hit the Ohio river!!!! this means that we got to get on a sick ferry and cruise on over to Illinois!!!  first fully transversed state under our belts.  the river was pretty sweet and there was a state park right into the state that looked like the perfect home away from home.  all was right in the world until the morning hit, that is where we fought the law, and the law won.  

We slept under a picnic shelter to avoid getting more soaked with rain.  The picnic shelter was apart of the state park...but was not an official, designated camping area.  A park ranger apparently thought we were way out of line......and felt it necessary to call the town sheriff.  Long story short....we had to pay the park ranger 10 dollars for staying under the shelter.  After talking with some of the town folk later that morning....we heard a whole bunch of horror stories about this crazy park ranger.  They told us he was pretty much always in a bad mood...and they assured us we were welcome in there town any time. 

The next morning we woke up in Carbondale, had a great stop at the bike store (to fix T's wheel that bent the evening before), the verizon store (to fix JC's broken phone), and walmart (to buy some rain gear and contact solution.)  We didn't end up leaving town until almost 3, but we still managed to crank out 65 miles that day. Highlights from 3 oclock on:

-Passed through Popeye's hometown (see pics)
-Crossed the Mississippi!!!!
-Arrived in Missouri 
-crazy plains 

Highlights from the next day:

-Flat tire bonanza
-Ate lunch a great place called Spokes Grill.....where we saw an AWESOME motorcycle gang. We need motorcycles now.
-River romp
-Wolf Packs (dogs in MO romp in packs of 6 or more!!! eeeek)
-Camped for free in the city park

day 16 had some highs and lows for sure.  both literally and mentally.  we headed out of town and hit hills to start the day off right.  those hills soon became steeper and steeper.  aint not thing for our legs though of course.  we hit this one road that was closed to construction and were a little confused.  we only had to take a 3 block detour but then when we hit the road again, it was stinking loose gravel.  in our minds we were like, okay well this is bad but it cant be too much longer.  about 10 miles down the road, climbing hilly steep gravel covered roads we thought to our selves, well this cant be too much longer.  anther 10 miles we finally exclaimed to each other that THIS ROAD SUCKS!!! after lunch we were told only one more good climb until it become more rolling, and boy was it a hill.  90 degrees climbing up a mountain, we took some hawt sweaty bod pics for the ladies :)  just kidding, those are really for our moms. hahah  After the mountain, the head winds didn't feel that much better but we persevered.  all the way to Houston MO in the county of Texas?!?  yea weird.  but after getting to town the nicest people flagged us down and told us how the town park is by the high school and during the school year, the park isn't always the nicest place to stay.  but they opened up their hotel yard to us and even offered us a free beer!!! yes please.  not only did they allow us to romp in the back but they gave us the key to a room in the back and allowed us to shower up and freshen up!!! and believe you me, we needed a rinse after sweating for 8 hours!! we chilled with Pony and his wife at the horse creek inn and got a great night sleep. we're about to embark on western MO!!! 

-burnt and burner

2 comments:

Michael Dubovsky said...

congrats on progress guys!! keep in mind that missouri and kansas allow folks to camp for FREE in their city parks, which is a pretty sweeeet deal...so take advantage of some of that mid-western hospitality, eh?

michael

Anonymous said...

hey guys, just because you were in the show me state doesn't mean i want the "hawt bod" photos, lol. keep it up!