Ash Grove, MO

Today's 74 mile ride had two personalities. It started on a high note with early fog and then sun, but more importantly a nice tail wind. So in spite of a continuous string of the Missouri "steeps" we made good progress over about 50 miles. But an east wind usually means trouble and sure enough weather moved in from the west. Fortunately, we were on the northern fringe of the severe weather so the lightening was fairly distant. But the last 20 miles were ridden in rain with a gusty head wind. We are starting to see some prairie flowers along the roadside, like Cone flowers. So what are some of the dangers of riding beyond the obvious traffic on narrow roads? There are the dogs of course, three tag teamed me today going up one of the steeps. But the biggest risk are --- squirrels. Did you ever notice how, when they cross the road ahead of you, they get almost all the way across safely, and then for no apparent reason reverse course to cross back right in front of you? Squashing them with a car is one thing, hitting them on a bike is another. Tonight we are staying on the outskirts of Springfield, MO. It is a fairly large city in comparison to the towns we have been passing through. We enjoyed some local barbecue for dinner.

Today marks the end of week three of the trip. For those interested in the numbers, we covered 555 miles last week and just over 1500 for the trip, so we are ahead of our estimated schedule.