Day 36, Rest Day, Eminence, Missouri.

The Riverside Motel. Our home for the night. They have an indoor swimming pool and wifi.

Captain Jacks, a neat little coffee shack where i went to get my morning fix.

That's Lisa next to me, the owner of the shop. And her mom in the flowered shirt who gave us the fried apricot pie.

The ceiling fans in the Winfield Restaurant was run by pulleys all connected together powered by a motor on the far side. I've never seen anything like that.

These ducks were kicking back on the beach of the river. I was thinking about going down to get a closer look. But some one told me those things attack.

The morning sky before the heavy rain. It looked really bad.

One of the biker hostels. This one was closed for the season.

The City Hall in 'Eminence had all these flags honoring the solders in the war. Each flag had a name on it honoring their own.

The jail house. I just had to include this shot.


Day 36, Rest Day, Eminence, Missouri. "Let The Rain Pass".

It felt good to be out of the stormy weather for our rest day. The thunder and lightning yesterday really was scary at times. And we were really happy to have made it here in one piece.

We met Sam this morning. He is part of a three person supported team that started in San Fransisco on their way to Yorktown, Virginia. They were traveling light, and fast. Averaging 102 miles a day, and was on a tight schedule to make it to the east coast by mid July. He came over to chat with Lisa and I, and to find out what the route looked like ahead. Sam is an attorney, and had decided that it was now or never for this long awaited dream. As we talked, we found we had a few things in common. We both were in the Air Force, and we both were stationed at Mather AFB in California. We are also avid cyclist, and are doing one of the things in life that has been a dream for the longest of time. While the rain poured down, and the looks of things not so good, we passed the time exchanging past experiences. It was exciting to hear the stories of near disasters as they made their way eastward across the 'rocky Mountains. Once the rain subsided, they were on their way, in hopes the weather would hold out for them. Lisa and I had no intention of leaving till tomorrow which promised better weather. We made our way across the river to the town of Eminence to look for a place to have lunch. We were dressed accordingly knowing that the threat of rain was still eminent.

We found an old restaurant called The Winfield Restaurant. It was very quaint, and there was no one in the place. I ordered the Swiss mushroom burger with fries. It was actually pretty good. After leaving the place, we went into a couple of the antique shops just to kill some time. It was like walking back through time. There were some really old stuff for sale, like relics from the past. Any thing from wanted posters, to old lanterns, and artifacts. At one shop, I saw an "Official Leatherman" sign on the door, and went in to see if I could find one that would replace the one I broke a few weeks earlier. They had a whole show case full of those things, and choosing one wasn't that easy. Of course I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, so I narrowed my choice to the ones under $100.00. I found one that I liked, called The Skeletool. The thing was compact, had everything I wanted, and really well made. I thought it was well worth the $80.00 asking price, and got it. The owner of the shop was named Lisa, her mom happened to be there, and offered Lisa and I some fried apricot pie. I've never had it before, but let me tell you, it was great. Lisa even offered us a bottle of water to wash it down. After spending some time talking with them, we went outside to find the sun blaring down with a vengeance. It was now about 90 degrees, an I was way over dressed.

we headed back to our motel to shed some of the clothing, and planned to go down to the river to cool off. But that never happened. Once back at the motel, I layed down and fell asleep. It was almost five when i got up.

All in all it was a pleasant day, I hope tomorrow will be a nice one. We'll be in Houston, Missouri by late afternoon. Good night, Ted.