JULY 6 THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD

We arrived in Chillocothe, MO mid-afternoon today following a bumpy 71 mile ride from St Joseph. State Route 36 East cuts across the northern part of Missouri - AND NEEDS A LOT OF WORK! The road condition was horrible, some said "Missourible," --even dangerous for bikers-- as the shoulders were chopped up badly, rutted, pot-holed, depressed from the highway by 1.5 inches and laden with debris. We had 2 cyclists fall as a result of conditions today - neither seriously injured - both lucky.

The day began with thunder storms and severe weather warnings posted until 8:00am. AbB delayed our departure until the storm had mainly passed. While waiting we watched the red areas on the Weather Channel radar move across the state.

Andy at Route Rap

Crossing the Platte River bridge (made famous by Lewis and Clark) only 9/10 of a mile from our hotel, I had a flat tire. GREAT! While changing it the AbB van came by and shouted "rider down ahead". After repairing the flat (the first of 2 for the day), I biked to where the fallen rider was getting attention--and could see how it happened. His wheel got caught in the groove between the highway and the broken up shoulder and he went down. Sound familiar?

Brantley at Mechanics Hour

We did plow on to the 45 mile point, where some of us had lunch at The Lunch Bucket in Hamiliton, MO (JC Penny's hometown). A full house of natives were naturally inquisitive of this "biking group" in town, but we are getting good at explaining our story. Practice makes perfect.

Tim, Kathryn and Mason at the Lunch Bucket

The last 20 miles of the ride into Chillocothe (Shawnee Indian for "our big town") was fast, riding on very good newly paved shoulders. Finally.

Chillocothe, population 8800, I was told, is now famous for being the town where SLICED BREAD was first made available. The inventor of the slicer machine, after many unsucessful attempts elsewhere, was finally able to convince a bakery in Chillocothe to use his device, the rest - as they say - is history.

Red Barn in Missouri

We have 2 "new guys" with us:

Ron (IL), a civil engineer father of 2, TREK 5200 rider, has previously done the western half of the northern route across America. He is now doing the eastern half of the central route. Makes sense.

Cliff (MD) is a psychiatrist from Annapolis. He has riden segments of the Cross Country Challenge for the past 3 years. This year he will join us from St. Joe to Erie, PA...on his recumbent.

Two big pluses today: A TAILWIND, and wireless internet in the hotel. It seems the 42 insurance claim adjusters staying here last month in the aftermath of the TORNADO, insisted on it. Thanks, boys.

Tomorrow we are leaving this area that is called "The Green Hills Region" of Missouri for the "1000 Hills Region." Is that Good?

         - Bill

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