Day 37, Eminence to Houston, Missouri.

This is a fire tower. I guess that's what you call it. They climb up there and look for smoke in the surrounding country side.

Looking down. That's my foot on the edge.

That thing is 200 feet tall.

Alley Springs Mill, they used to grind flour here in the1800's. They expected a rail road to come through here, and figured that would be the way for transporting the product. I guess they forgot to tell the rail road.

These are a little different than the ones back home. I used close focus with wide aperture.

The sign says, "Climb tower at own risk". So I did.

The sunset tonight just before dinner. In these parts, the sun lingers above the horizon a long time. In Hawaii, it's gone as soon as it hits the horizon.


Some nature photography to sooth your other wise stressed out lives.

The bridge over the Alley Springs river.

This trail led all the way around Alley Springs. I was able to get shots from every angle around the spring.

It looks so tranquil, but there is 86,000,000 gallons a day gushing out of there.

This is the beginning of the river that is formed by the Alley Spring.

I used a hand held slow shutter to get this water movement effect. Do not try this at home with out proper super vision.

The inside of the mill. These are the original equipment, restored by the NPS.

The Alley Spring from the back door of the mill.

These flowers are tiny, only about an inch long. They grow wild along side the road.

I used my creativity to capture images that would other wise look like this.

Or this,
Or even this.

But definitely not this.

Or this.
We crossed another river on the way to Alley Springs. There were people on canoes, and rafts floating.

I shot this with my point and shoot. But the carving of that eagle was really impressive.

The Rivers Edge. Next time I'm in Eminence, I'm going to stay here. At least that's what I told the owner.

The bridge next to our motel in Eminence. We had to cross it every time we wanted to eat.

There were a whole bunch of these humming birds at the store we bought our snacks at. I took dozens of pictures of them. They were no more that 6 or 8 feet from me.

The J & K's Trails End Restaurant. Notice the curtains. They are made of old denim jeans, cut off. The sides are full length. The belt loops serve as eyelets for the curtain rod.


Day 37, Eminence to Houston, Missouri. "Alley Springs". 45.07 miles. Total=1511.9 miles.

Today was hot. Really Hot! At 2:30 in the afternoon, it was 96 deg. But with the humidity, it felt like 102 according to the Weather Channel............... We left Eminence at 8:45am this morning. We knew it was going to be hot. There was no wind, and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. We skipped breakfast, opting to stop and pick up snacks to eat when we got the urge. It would be over 20 mile before we come to a town big enough for a restaurant.

Alley Springs is a National Park. I've seen pictures of the mill, and the pond. I knew that it was a must see, because people we met kept telling us to be sure to stop there. And boy let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The five miles to Alley Springs turned out to be seven. In the hot sun, it seemed more like fifteen. I guess the DOT guys aren't too concerned about where they put those signs. Maybe there wasn't any room, could be the tree they were going to nail it to fell down, or maybe they just lost track of time. I know the feeling, it happens to me all the time.

Anyway, about a half a mile from Alley Springs, we stopped at the only store we saw all day. It was one of those everything stores. They sold beer, food, fishing supplies, you name it. As I pulled in to park my bike, I noticed all these big moths flying around these bird feeders filled with water. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were actually humming birds. And plenty of them. I took out my camera, and started shooting. I must have taken fifteen or twenty shots. I've never seen humming birds before, not to mention so many. I considered myself fortunate to have that special encounter. They were hovering but a few feet from me, and allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted.

Once on our way again, we were immediately greeted by: You guessed it, a hill. One of those should I be in my middle ring? Or should I drop down into my small ring? I decided to stay in the middle ring till I couldn't stand it any more. Luckily for me, the hill gave out before I did, and before long, we were at the top of the Ozarks. We met two east bounders flying down the hill as we were climbing. One of um yell what sounded like, "Down hill to Houston". It was either a cruel joke, or I miss understood him completely. The rest of the day was actually not too bad. Aside the scorching heat, that forced us to reapply sunblock, the terrain was relatively flat, with continuous rolling sections. Did that make any sense to anybody? Don't feel bad, if I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't have understood it either.

Lisa said, "Ted, do you see that?" "See what?", I replied. "That thing over there." She answered. "You mean that tower?" I asked. "Yeah!" was her reply. "You can climb that if you want." she said............................. Now I don't know about you, but when somebody tells you that you can climb up a two hundred foot tower, and refuse to go up there themselves. I make you wonder if it's a good idea. When we got there, we pulled up to the thing, and there was no one around. Not even a fence, or gate. The sign at the foot of the stairs read. "Climb tower at own risk". Well, at least I wasn't breaking any law. So O went for it. Now I don't know if any of you realize how high two hundred feet is. Full grown pine trees are only about a hundred feet tall. Most flag poles are only 20 to 25 feet tall. The biggest waves in the world are about a hundred feet tall, but no one has ever seen one. Two hundred feet is the height of the clearance of Golden Gate Bridge at low tide. Any way, I'm glad Lisa gave me that opportunity to risk my life once more, who know what else she has planned for me?

Once I got down, and many pictures later, we had our snack before moving on. About an hour and a half later we rolled into the town Sumersville. Both the towns of Yukon, and Eunice we passed through earlier were so small, they didn't even have a soda machine.
We found a restaurant that a local lady recommended. "J & K's Trails End" A strange name for a restaurant, but they had food, and that's all that counts. I had the BBQ hamburger with fries. By the time we got out of the restaurant, the heat was so intense, that I was tempted to call it a day right then. But being the only man on this journey, I had to show the group (Lisa), why I was me.

We only had 23 more miles to go till Houston. And the terrain was less and less hilly as we went along. Once again the DOT guys couldn't decide where to put that sign, and it actually only turned out to be a little over 21 miles. As we pulled into Houston, we found that the "Iron Creek Motel" was closed for business. This was devastating. We've heard so much about this place, and the Indian horse trainer that owned it. Well, time to look else where. Of course you all know that when stuff like this happens, you always end up taking a wrong turn and end up on the other side of town. Well we are no different. That's exactly what we did. After asking about a place to stay and directions, we were pointed in the direction of the Southern Inn Motel. Be fore going any further, I suggested that we go into the "Moose Coffee" for a cold one. I ordered the mocha blend, and so did Lisa. When we went to pay, the lady at the counter said. "No charge, it's on the house." They give cyclists free drinks. Unbelievable. We saved almost ten bucks. And they do that for all touring cyclists.

After leaving the "Moose Coffee", we headed in the direction given us by the guy in the appliance store. "Keep going south, and if you reach Pizza Hut, you've gone too far." With that, we were confident in finding it. So tonight, we have shelter from the uncertain weather, wifi, and a hot shower.

Dinner will either be Pizza Hut or McDonalds, right now I would eat anything. Good night everybody, thank you all again, your prayers have helped us through stormy days, and busy highways.