Life (back) on the road

Last night my mom and dad, Melissa and myself were eating at a pizza shop in town and guess who shows up? John from Portland! He rode 95 miles that day so that he could catch up with us. AND, he was able to talk his way into camping in the back yard of our B&B, so we grabbed our leftover pizza and met him there.

It’s probably no secret that Melissa and I decided to skip most of the Ozark Mountains. We made that decision so that I could spend more time with my family in St. Louis. It cost us some days, so my dad offered to drive us further up the road. (Actually, he offered to drive us to Kansas, but we somehow settled on Eminence, Missouri.)

As we were all sitting outside listen to John’s stories about the mountains, lo and behold, a friend we met at Hayes Canyon Campground showed up. He and his wife are touring on their motorcycle, and just happened to stay at the same town and same bed and breakfast that we were at. Small world. Very, very small world.

After a very good breakfast, I said good-bye to my parents and Melissa, John and myself set off. The morning was mostly full of bad drivers (translation: drivers trying to hit us or flipping us the bird or yelling obscenities -- John chooses to believe they are actually yelling kind words of encouragement! Well in that case, thanks Missouri drivers, I will continue to ride on the road where I lawfully belong!).

Melissa and I rode 42 miles, and stopped for the night in Houston. We’re free camping in the town park, we’ve been giving leftover fish and chips from a born-again Christian bike rally (we couldn’t make these things up) and we’re going to bed at 8 p.m. Ah, exciting life on the road.

Brooke