We are coming to you live from our cottage at Old Kinder Hook Estates/Golf Course! Although, we will get to that later. I guess we could start earlier, I mean, we cannot skip a day on our blog, heavens no!
Yesterday started with sad eyes, but a focused determination to cross the country, as we left our mansion in Fort Scott. Once on the road we bought the paper because our mugshots were front page! 5 miles later... MISSOURI! Hello land of up and down roads. So our ride was basically up and down. You'd climb up for about 3 minutes and get down the hill in 30 seconds, only to climb up another hill and repeat the process. But nonetheless, Missouri turned out to be a sight for sore eyes. Trees filling the landscape with some pretty stunning views from atop most of the hills. It felt like Wisconsin, rolling hills, forests, rivers, creeks, and farmlands all mashing together to make for a ride that pained the legs, but sweetened the eyes.
We had stopped only once on our 66 mile ride from Fort Scott to Weaubleau Missouri and it was to purchase food at a grocery store. We are hungry people, and you just have to restock the rations!
We came up to Collins Missouri and read that there was a population of 149... We decided we would have better luck staying 4 miles further in Weaubleau. Once there we basically hung out at a Casey's Gas Station for about an hour chatting up the locals, eating salad, and sandwiches. Lunell, the attendant, was kind enough to try the pastor but they had no church accommodations. However, she told us to go to City Hall and ask if we could stay at the city park. Did I mention Weaubleau has a population of 440?!?! The folk at City Hall told us we could stay at the park! WAHOO, a night of camping! We haven't had one of those in awhile. So we all munched on some foods, read some books, Matt scared the crap outta me, and then just went to sleep. It was a hard day of biking after being treated to a wonderful mansion!
This morning started out a bit late... Nate didn't wake up when we thought we woke him up. I accidentally wrapped my phone in with my tent. Nate actually lost his phone. So we didn't really start our ride until about 6:30 am. LATE! But we didn't mind, we had only 48 miles to go today..
Missouri, as stated previously, is a lot of up and down roads. To the point where we actually crossed.. Up and Down Rd. That didn't dampen our spirits though, our legs are big and strong and we are pretty sure, through the Choas Theory, actually save children worldwide... When our ride came to a close, we saw two other bikers across the street sitting at a gas station. We passed them and figured, why not go and have a chat? So we turned back, the best decision of the day.
The bikers are a married couple, Jan and Cindy, who actually have ridden across the country themselves! They did their trip in 1991 on a tandem bicycle from California to Florida! They have also done a Tridom (?), three person tandem ride from Iowa City to New Orleans! What great people to run into! Indeed so kind as to let us stay at a golf course that Jan himself developed in the 80's if I'm not mistaken. So we are here, in a perfect cottage with three beds, at Old Kinder Hook Estates! Jan and Cindy fed us lunch today, and since they recently sold the property to a new owner, they called him up and have gotten us a free dinner in about 30 minutes at the the Trophy Room, the restaurant on the course!
We truly have been blessed by the people we meet along the way. It is inspiring to us to have such faith in our country even when it is in turmoil itself. No matter what is happening throughout our nation, with the job market, the people don't change. I believe there will always be kindness in the folks you pass along your journey, just as long as you show kindness yourself.
As always, thanks so much reading. We are almost at $3,000, which is amazing, but not even a 1/4 of our way toward meeting our goal of $20,000. Be a kind soul and donate what you can! Tell your friends and family, and most importantly Nick W. Have a great night in your respective homes, because we will have a great night in our respective home... America!
Sorry, pictures to come in the future. Not uploading at acceptable speed. Need to sleep and re up on energy. Get excited for pictures of Missouri and such!
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I met Nate in weaubleau at the park and i think what u guys are doing is amazing!
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