In the morning Rosie made us breakfast and sent us off.
We met a retired dentist from Kentucky named Bruce. He was doing a tour of Kansas Missouri and Kentucky.
This was the second day in a row of 100+ miles (day 30 being 116) so we were physically beat to the ground and all of our muscles felt like they had been attacked with a jack hammer. The sunset and we had to finish in a very creepy creaky part of the dark woods. The ravenous dogs barking at us all day didn't help keep us cool.
Our Uncle Brad drove over 7.5 hours to meet us in Eminence and he had a cabin room ready for us. It was awesome and we were so so so so so so so so so so so happy to see him.
DAY 32: Uncle Brad
Uncle Brad hates the cold. Day 32 started out at 37 degrees. You can see on his face that he is thinking, "Why did I drive 7.5 hours to do this."
We slept beneath the stars in Weber Park. We didn't use a tent because we didn't need it, and it is faster to go in the morning if you don't Breakfast buffet: carbs, sugars, and protein.
But Eminence is a beautiful part of Missouri. The ride would challenge us with it's giant steep hills that were quite difficult. Spiderman would have problems getting up them. Working this hard does make you hot though, so the 37 proved to not matter.
This is by the Current River. It was real pretty.
Doing over 650 miles in a week will make you slightly crazy. Not sure what exactly I was thinking.
We stopped at the grocery store and refueled. This was lunch.
We arrived in Farmington Missouri, making our 87 mile trek. It was good. The pace we need to keep our goal is frightening. Jon and I think we might ditch a bunch of stuff tomorrow morning. It would be nice to lighten up.
From day 1 we knew we weren't going to take 90 days. It is the morning of day 33 right now and Jon and I are making a few big decisions.
Since Kansas the trip has felt less touristy and has become more of a athletic performance in which we challenge our bodies. It is always a balance, but with our target of 45 days we need to average 95 miles a day for the next 12 days.
I am sending home my laptop. We are sending home our stove. We are sending home half of our clothes. These should all lighten the load which will spare us energy.
We wanted to get 8-10 hours of sleep a night, but we have only been able to 6-7 hours recently. The more weight we pull the less efficient we are with time. Every ounce of energy now counts. As nice as it is to edit my photos from my DSLR in photoshop, for the final days here I will hand over the photo section of the blog to Jon and his iPhone.
We are sending home the stove because we don't use it often and it weighs a lot. We simply don't have any time to use it. PB & Js are much faster and more efficient.
We each have a couple pairs of shorts, and we are dropping down to our favorite pair each.
Today we cross the Mississippi river into Illinois!!!! Update later.
DAY 33 A Sunday Stroll Into Illnois
We were really psyched to cross the Mississippi today. It's a milestone for us. Like the Continental Divide, we feel like we've conquered another chunk of the country.
Across the bridge we found ourselves in Illinois! And we found a bunch of other cool stuff too. Including a statue recognizing Chester as the hometown of the creator of Popeye and a Lewis and Clark historical marker. We like to think of ourselves as a modern day Lewis and Clark expedition. Except on bikes...and doing it backwards.
The rest of the day we cruised across the flats of the Levees and flood plains. It was a pleasant century that got us 40 miles into Illinois. Believe it or not, tomorrow we'll be in Kentucky! Just like that!
We made our way towards the Kentucky boarder, which is the Ohio River. As we got closer we stopped at a little town called Elizabethtown. We stopped at a little grocery store and grabbed some lunch.
This is what our lunches have been looking like nowadays. Since more grocery stores are around we usually pop in and grab some yogurts and fruit and such.
We took the Ferry across the river and watched a storm blow right by us, but thankfully not over us!
Across the river we were in Kentucky! Illinois was by far our shortest state. Short but sweet.
Day 35 Counting Down From 1,000
The forecast today: Rain. All day. What'd we get? A misty, cloudy morning, a beautiful sunrise and a solid day of riding. 93 miles to Fordsville.
The nice thing about coming east is civilization comes more frequently. That means more rest stops where we can grab some Gatorade or cold water and hang out on the curb for minute. The bummer about more civilization is more traffic. That truck in the background is just one of many that we see everyday.
Speaking of Gatorade. Has anyone ever seen these Spanish flavors before? Pretty nifty. This one really tasted like cucumber.
Saw this guy and his goggled dog at one of our stops today. That dog was loving life.
Most of the day's scenery looked like a scene out of Little House on The Prairie. This photo is in sepia to enhance the effect.
We've really been enjoying Kentucky and its beutiful rolling hills. One drawback is the dogs. There are a lot of very protective dogs that do not like cyclists anywhere near their property...or on the road 25 yards in front of it. We've been outrunning a lot of dogs. It was a breath of fresh air to end the day with this fella. He came out to the road and followed us for about a mile. We named him Shaddow and gave him a good pet. Then we parted ways, half hoping we'd seem him running behind us all the way to D.C.
We have 10 days and less than 1,000 miles left on our adventure. We feel so close and so far all at the same time. We're starting to think about what normal life will be like again, but until we're at the Atlantic we're going to enjoy the time we have left on the road.