Day 32 -- Chillicothe, MO to Kirksville, MO

Miles: 82.71
Total Miles: 2336.25
Time: 5:15
Average Speed: 15.7 mph
Max Speed: 38.8 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 13
Elevation Gain: 4081
Weather: Slight head winds around 90 degrees and high humidity

Today was exactly what we expected... hilly, hot, and humid. It was more rolling hills except steeper and longer. We went right next to the 1000 Hills State Park. It was definitely hilly. Also, there was a rain cloud that came through just before we rode, so the roads were all wet, which caused our bikes to get all dirty. I just can't wait to clean them. We woke up at 5:50, which was 20 minutes later than what time we wanted to wake up at because the alarm didn't go off. We got lucky. We ate continental breakfast at 6:00, then loaded at 7:00 and headed out. The first 5 miles were just through town, but then we got into the rolling hills. It was up then down for the first 30 miles all the way to the first sag stop. There wasn't any cherries at this stop, but there was other fruit, so once again we stayed for a long while. I would say that out of all of the riders, Wade, Fran, and I stay the longest at all of the sag stop. Lester, one of the riders, said to me, "5 minutes then get going again... that's my motto." I turned to Wade and said, "Let's try not to stay longer than 45 minutes this time."

We left the sag stop then continued on the rolling hills. We rode on more roads that were named with letters, so we got into some more letter formations that we had to stop and take pictures of. The first one that we took a picture of was the cross roads of C and CC. It formed CCC. For those of you who might not know, this trip is called the Cross Country Challenge. When a brochure came in the mail for these trips, Wade looked through it then turned to me and said, "I want to go on the CCC." Ever since then we called it the CCC. Later we ran into highway PP, so we took a picture by that. Since I always have to stop and pee on the side of the road, I thought that it would be a good place to pee. Wade of course got a photo, but I wasn't expecting Fran to tell me not to move so he could take a picture. It turned out to be quite a hit. Anyway, we rode through more rolling hills and Wade kept going ahead and then stopping, turning around, and taking pictures of me and Fran. I struggled to get up the hills let alone race up them to turn around and take pictures. Just so you know, I'm not a wimp because a lot of those hills got up to 12 and 13 percent grade. I think Wade just doesn't realize that his legs are supposed to hurt when he goes uphill.

We eventually made it to the second sag stop and once again we stayed there for quite some time. While we were there, Michele, the head staff member, was on the phone with one of the riders who needed help and she said something really funny without realizing it. She asked the rider, "Are you near a hill?" We laughed then told her, "There's hills everywhere." She quickly realized what she said then laughed at herself. Also, today there were a couple of dogs that came out toward the road to bark at us... It wasn't near as bad as those angry dogs in Ohio that chased us when we were training this spring. Anyway, Wade told me that if the dogs got any closer he was going to use the Zach Cecil technique. The Zach Cecil technique was a tactic first used by Zach Cecil himself while he was getting chased on his bike by a dog... He kicked it. The dogs didn't get close enough for Wade to do it today, but I bet he's too chicken and too much of a dog lover to do that anyway.

We rode the last 30 miles from the second sag stop to the end, and my legs were getting tired of the endless hills. I was quickly reminded of the flat lands when we had a stretch of about a mile of no hills. I wanted the hills back... there was a head wind, and I remembered how much I hate head winds. Also, in those last 30 miles, we went across some really bad bridges. The one that we took a picture of isn't as bad as some of the others, but those bridges were all bad. What a geek I am, looking at conditions of the bridges. See Shelby Countians, it is a good thing we voted for Bob Geuy and his Sales Tax. Anyway, we finished out the ride, checked into the hotel, then went out to DQ to get ice cream. It was a tough day, but it was very pretty and still a lot of fun. I think tomorrow has a little less climbing and we get to cross the Mississippi River.