MO riding, MO cruising.

Last time, we went through Kansas. Here are some pictures from that:

Kansas Sunrise
We obviously didn't stay here...

Eastern Kansas was green!

We entered Missouri not knowing what to expect, and our first night was a disappointment: after finding nice town parks throughout Kansas, we found none in Harrisonville. Luckily, Missouri only got better. That night, Dan's friend Dan paid us a visit. Dan (not the one on our trip) was a friend of Dan's(the rider) from college. Dan(not the rider) lives in Kansas City. Dan hadn't seen Dan in over a year! Dan(K.C.) brought us some necessary bike supplies, including new peddles for Alex since his were officially stubborn. Thanks, Dan!

Our next day we hit 99 miles on our way to Versailles, the friendliest town in America. If you are asking directions there, be sure you pronounce it "ver-sails" and not "ver-sigh" because using the latter pronunciation will only get you blank stares from people who live within 5 miles of the town. We found a park and as luck would have it there was a concert for the town! We set up our tents and then cooked to the sound of classic rock covers. Despite initially being scared away from us (possibly because we were taking showers - soap and shampoo included - under a drinking spigot) the locals soon made us feel like one of them. We met literally half the police force, and we can't say enough about Officer Hunter. The local newspaper reporter interviewed us, then introduced us to the town mayor. Mayor Terry then got us up on the stage and introduced us to the whole crowd, and basically got us a standing ovation. More importantly, the introduction got us free beef brisket sandwiches (2nd dinner) and multiple invitations for places to stay.

The town doctor, Dr. Mary, had the best offer: a swimming pool, a house, laundry, and she even threw in two homemade pies to sweeten the deal. We couldn't pass her up, so we packed up our tents and got ready to ride some more to her home. The prospect of riding some more after showering and eating two dinners was not appealing, but Officer Hunter came through: he offered a police escort to the house. We left the park with the sirens and lights of the patrol car leading the way, and everyone at the concert applauding us! We truly felt like celebrities leaving the park.

Some of us might have been upset about the extra miles, but the despair subsided when we realized that Mary was married to Bill, the chef of the soon-to-be-infamous beef brisket. He came home with extra BBQ, so we had a quick 3rd dinner before moving on to the pies. There are two things to note here. First, the brisket was the BEST brisket any of us had ever tasted. It melted in your mouth and had an amazing flavor. Second, Versailles is right in Mennonite country. I don't know what exactly the Mennonites are, but they surely know how to bake. Both pies were quickly devoured, and Dr. Mary even prepared us a large zip lock bag of brisket to take with us, which became known over the next few days as "beef bag". Keep this in mind as you read on...

To secure the award for friendliest town in America, Dr. Mary took us to an all-you-can-eat Mennonite breakfast buffet. Continuing with the superlatives, the buffet had the BEST donut holes of the trip- still warm with a perfect glaze! They even rivaled the apple fritters in Rescue, CA (sorry Mark and Dawn).

After breakfast, we were ready to keep riding, sad to leave Versailles behind. Our luck held as we immediately passed a bike shop and refilled some important supplies. The Mennonites ride bikes as primary transportation (or horse and buggy), so the shop was well-stocked, staffed with a friendly guy named Mark, and reasonably priced. Dan weighed himself at the store and found he has gained 15 pounds since the trip started - don't worry Mrs. Morris, I'm sure Dan isn't eating any junk food.

Missouri has an unpaved bike trail that runs the entire width of the state, and we began utilizing it selectively after Jefferson City. It's pretty and shaded, but slower than the roads. The Katy Trail, as it's called, follows a railroad bed, so it is flat. When we chose wisely, we avoided hilly road sections and took the trail. When we chose poorly, Dan and Russ ended up biking a mile uphill, only to turn around to take the Katy Trail.

Dan and Russ had a fun encouter on the Katy trail outside of Jeff City: two germans, Michael and Maria, who were on their fifth month of a round trip cross-country bike trip, having started in Las Vegas and gone east, they were now headed west. We chatted energetically for twenty minutes before arriving at the mandatory exchange of food. Not having the whole group, Dan and Russ had limited options, and settled on the beef bag. The germans were hesitant at first, but as soon as they tasted beef bag, they couldn't stop. Imagine two germans reaching dirty unwashed hands into a bag of brisket that had been stewing in the sun on the top of russ' bag all day. This proves how good the brisket was. Needless to say, the rest of the group finished beef bag later that day.

We ended in Hermann, another beautiful town with friendly people. The Hermann Haus hotel, and Kate in particular, were amazingly accommodating and supportive of our cause. They let us use the hotel kitchen to cook a meal, and Kate even got up early to make us breakfast! Of course, the air-conditioned room and showers were unbelievable.

The next day we awoke bright-eyed for two reasons. It was cloudy, and we were headed to St. Louis. The energy faded within the first 15 miles, as we made the ill-fated decision to stay on the road instead of the Katy Trail outside of Hermann. we had extremely steep, rolling hills instead of flats. This would have been OK, but the clouds kept the humidity in what we could only estimate as the 190-200% range. We weren't dripping sweat; our sweat faucets were turned to "deluge" mode. We learned from our mistakes, and rode the Katy for about 45 more miles into the St. Louis suburbs, from where we took and eerily empty main road right into St. Louis.

We took today off in St. Louis, and stayed with some very nice U Washington students: Danny, Mark, Aaditya, Adam, Roger. We are lucky to have found them: they live with Dan's brother Josh! They have been excellent hosts, taking us to a famous frozen custard stand last night and cooking us dinner! Today, Dan and Russ went with Josh to an exciting Cardinals game while the other three went to see Batman. But seriously, we obviously stopped to see Josh, and he has been a great host. We are sad to leave, but this has been a great break. Next stop: Indianapolis(in a few days).