Day 34, 4th of July, Springfield, IL, 120 miles

total miles to date = 2500!

We'd ride down Main Street of Liberty early in the day according to the route sheet. I conjured a vision of white houses with black shutters adorned with red white and blue bunting and of a flag lined street; something like the Main Street of Disney World. In reality, Liberty consisted of eight sad houses, and a church, bookended by two gas stations/convenience stores. I went in one to purchase my Gatorade. There were a bunch of farmers in their bibs and blue shirts sitting around complaining about fuel prices, discussing the cost of hay and looking askance at my spandex shorts and brightly colored jersey. I left quickly.

The ride was hard. There are no easy centuries. I need to eat real food about half-way through, but there was not to be had. Finally, about ten miles from town there was an A&W Root Beer. Jose and I stopped for root beer floats. There was some kind of festivities going on around the state capital, so we went off route to join the fun. My favorite was the "Red Wagon Parade," were little kids had decorated their wagons as floats and pulled them down the street. We stayed off route and stumbled on the National Park that contains Lincoln's Home. It was quite a fourth of July treat! I'd tell you more, but it's late and I'm tired. We also rode our bikes out to Lincoln's tomb. We didn't reach the hotel until 5:45, but it was worth it. What a 4th of July!

For the third hotel in a row, there was no laundry. I had to play white trash, wash it in the tub, and hang it on the pool fence to dry.

Day 29 "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." St. Joe's MO (90 miles)

We rolled out of Topeka through the State Capital area. It looked pretty much like any well groomed down-town state capital, even perhaps like Trenton if the decaying brownstones magically disappeared in a storm of urban gentrification. But I digress. The town as we continued out was full of larger two-storied houses with porches and rockers sitting up on manicured lawns. Not unlike the town of Somerville in NJ where I grew up, or most of small town America in the 50s. Small town America in 2009 is in trouble, half closed, half boarded up, half in bad need of paint. (Yes, I know that that is more than 1, but give me some poetic license.) As we continued out into the country, we smelled honey suckles for several miles, but couldn't find the flowers. At least, we stopped and smelled them. : - ) There were also orange day lilies. They grow profusely in NJ, along River Road and along Canal Road. They reminded me of home, and how I'm starting to miss it.

Many houses were decorated with red white and blue bunting, had their flags out, and were otherwise decorated for the upcoming 4th of July Holiday. They take these things much more seriously than we do. The "tent sales" also testify to this. There are *lots* of big tents along the highways, and smaller ones in back yards and next to farm stands. All dedicated to the evil forbidden to us in the more populous eastern states- FIREWORKS!! (Kaboom) Every ER doc, plastic surgeon, and burn specialist between the Rockies and Mississippi is scheduled to work on July 4/5 with the hope of reconnecting blown off fingers, restoring sight to fireworked eyes, and sewing up M-80 lacerations with the minimum of scarring. (I've noticed some spandex clad guys on bicycles sneaking out from these tents.)

The Missouri River is still fast and swollen with debris from the floods where we crossed it. It would have been nice to stop and enjoy the view, but the river crossed in an industrial area where there were lots of trucks and hasty cars trying to use one of the few open bridges in the area. The bridge was a two-lane patch work of concrete and metal grid with no shoulder that screamed "crash, crash." We had no choice but to ride in the lane, and the cars had no choice but to ride behind us. It was one of the few times on the ride when people yelled nasties at us.

The topography changed as we entered Missouri. There were beautiful green rollers... and a very strong head wind. Not what you want to pick up at the 50 mile mark of a 90 mile day. If you double click on the road picture, you'll get a better idea of why I have rollers. When I added all the "ups" together, they equal 4,000 feet of climb today. Now Chris once told me that since rollers have an equal amount of downs, it should cancel out. It doesn't. The downs are free, the ups you have to pay for.

The ride into St. Joes was through the very pleasant Southwest Parkway, a well paved, lightly trafficked road that traversed the park. We were surprised by Steve and Hazel, cycling enthusiasts who set up a refreshment stand in their yard for us. They'll also be running a shuttle service tomorrow to take us to bike shops and such.