July 12 - Jeff

July 12, 2013

Leftovers from last night.  Clair made us a delicious meal and dessert.  Enjoyed by all.  The dessert was vanilla yogurt, strawberries, grapes, and granola.  It was deeelicious.  Easy to make.  Try it you’ll like it.  Some went to the pool, some sat in the AC, looked at Clair’s pictures from her last adventure, a three month sat on a tropical island in the pacific, and Jack found a café where they served him salsa and chips, free of charge.  He must have a silver tongue.  It was a place that catered to bikers.  We changed out our tires.  Jeff got a lesson in tire changing.  I did ok.  Give myself a C-.  Sleeping in AC was delightful. 

Since we didn’t have to take down tents, we got away early, about 5:30.  Went through Walnut Grove, pop 665.  Had coffee in Fair Grove, pop 1,393.  Gas station coffee.  Went through Marshfield, pop 5,720.  Had a Wally World, McDonald’s, had it all.  Even had a car dealership.  They sold pre-owned cars not used cars.  Gas was $3.27.  Lowest we have seen.  Had lunch in Hartville, pop 613.  Sue and Clair were there too.  They ate in a café.  We stopped in a town called Bendavis, pop 353.  We stopped there to cool off.  The owner and two other gentlemen were in there.  We asked about the population.  He said it was currently 5.  Jack, me, him, and the two other gentlemen.  We asked if we could get walter out of the restroom.  He said sure but he wouldn’t drink it.  He had one cold walter in the cooler.  And at least thirty open slots and cases of walter next to the refrigerated cooler.  I guess he was too busy.  We chatted with them for about 20-25 minutes about everything from Richie Farmer, to some guy named Armstrong who played for the team that beat Kentucky in the 1966 game where the tam had 5 black starters.  Armstrong was the guy who got benched .  He was from the area.  And we talked about bikers, and other miscellaneous items.  Interesting stop.  Then we headed to our destination, Planet Houston, pop 2,081.  City park.  Pool but not free and closed at 5:00.  We did 114 miles today  in spite of the hills.  A very good/exhausting  day of riding.  Since we all got back late and Clair is probably leaving tomorrow (she can’t take all the excitement), we may go out to eat tonight.

Mailboxes have been interesting.  There was the tin man mailbox.  Of course, the airmail mailbox.  The fish mailbox. 

Lots of hills today.  More than you can imagine. Southern Missouri is where we are guessing the Ozarks are and that is what we are confronting.  Like a roller coaster at times.

Tomorrow we head toward Eminence.  Traffic could be bad with the weekend activities around Eminence.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue