Day 27,28,29, 30

Missouri is Mizilly (as in hilly)

Miles Biked: 0
80
65
60

Hello from Camdenton, Missouri! We are now well into the "show me state" even though I have no clue what that state motto means. The last few days have brought adventures as we had to cross swinging bridges, cross unfinished bridges, and somehow Gizmo built a personal bridge for a stray dog to our van.......and now we have a dog.....ah yes......Missouri.....

My day off in St. Louis brought me to all parts of the city. For being the "gateway to the west" I was expecting a little more. There were no cabs, very few city buses, and one metro line. The city seemed to be built in blotches. The Downtown was not very close to the Universities. The Park was not close to the cool shopping. The cool shopping was not close to the downtown and so forth. I'm not sure who decided on the urban development of the city, but they should consider change. In St Louis I got new gloves, checked out the arch, walked 47 miles, and slept. The real excitement came the next day on our trip to NEW HAVEN!

That's right. New Haven Missouri.......home of the shamrocks......and nothing else. Population 600. No Pepe's. No Toads. No nothing. Just 600 Irish loving folk. We showered at the municipal pool which made me wonder why Morris CT, population of over 2,000 does not have a Municipal pool! There was even a water slide (that was 7 feet long). I got a hair cut, went with shopping crew to the market (no super), and called it a night.

The next days travel brought us into the foothills of the Ozarks. Remember that time I typed in my blog "the hills are behind us"?...........I lied. Steep, curvy, rolling hills greeted us as we approached Rte D. As we came to Route D a large sign exclaimed "Detour: Bridge out". With a quick phone call to Miriam in the van she told us that the groups in front of us decided they would try and cross the river. As I biked down the road to the tiny river, I looked ahead as I saw HBC bikers tight rope walking an unfinished bridge that was 25 feet or so above the water. The bikers were going across on skinny steel beams, bike and equipment in hand, screaming like school girls the whole way. I decided that the high road was not for me....took off my jersey.......hoped off my bike......and dove into the creek/river/watery thing. The water was just low enough for me to carry everyone's bikes to the otherside. I enjoy low risk decisions with the same result and so did the other 20 bikers behind me. We started a river crossing that rivaled some I had completed in my days in the 5th grade playing "Oregon Trail" the computer game. Somewhere along the way Andrea decided she did not want to get wet and paid a river crossing fee of $5 to Francis who happily put her on his back and dragged her across. Gizmo thought it would be a great idea to try and throw his shoes across........which was a horrible idea. He threw them........they landed 3/4 of the way.....and then he left them there. After 15 minutes he finally made his way to the other side.....where he could only find one shoe. I'm not sure why he didn't realize bike shoes sink. Anywho........Corey offered to find his shoe for a River drudging fee of $25. Gizmo agreed and Corey found it at the bottom of the clay river in minutes. The lessons learned at the end of the day.......the low road is so much more fun. The road winded up and down to Vienna......population 600. Morgen and I gave an amazing slideshow in front of an audience that didn't really care.....but made a great "Welcome Habitat Riders" sign out front.

Today Andy led us down a terrific road in the middle of nowhere called "Swinging Bridges". I had a feeling the road would be interesting when I realized the road was unmarked and was unpaved. On the route were two steel cable bridges. Just as I approached them, the van arrived and decided to zoom across the bridges even though the van was most likely over the weight limit and several wooden planks were loose or missing off the second bridge. It was something straight out of Indiana Jones. Somehow the van crossed unscathed, with all passengers still alive. Today marked the 6th straight day of rain......which sucks to bike in. I just received word that the town we are supposed to bike to in two days, Iola Kansas, is under a mandatory flood evacuation. Can;t wait to find out how the leaders work that one out. Sooooooo........coming into the state of Missouri I had no idea what it would look like.......and being in the state several days....I'm still don't know what to think....and continue to ask myself..."what the hell does the Show Me state mean?"

Hope all is well!