Today today today it was a quiet day out on the trail. Because it was a Monday and I was moving away from St Louis I was told that a lot of the services would not be open. That was some great information so I planned accordingly the night before and it proved to be correct. I love the happy Apple as everyone else was starting to get up to prepare for their ride. I knew it would be hot so I couldn’t stick around and get a final photo of all this together. I had hoped to do that but it just wasn’t in the cards I needed to move on. As I went by the caboose John saw me and shouted out good luck. The trail was shaded for about 60 to maybe 70% of my day which turned out to be much needed. The temperature is later in the day rose to almost 90 and even though I was in the shade I could still feel the effects of the heat. The best part of the day was running into John who was on day 79 of his walking journey across the country. Amazing job John keep it up you’re going to see it to the end. He’s currently attending the University of Michigan. 24 years old deciding to take a gap year, He decided to walk across the country. We spent some time talking about motivation and our different trips. It was so fun to see someone young putting themselves out and doing something out of the ordinary. Great job John enjoy the journey!
The remainder of the day was quiet. A handful of people pedaled past me go on the opposite way. The scenery was very beautiful. the Missouri River was close at times and then disappeared in the landscape. The trail has many little towns marked along the way. Mile markers are posted every mile letting you know exactly where you are on the map. I came into a small town hoping to find some food but I was too early and everything was closed. I had enough food in my bags that I wasn’t worried. As I continued on later in the day the heat was oppressive. I found a pop machine outside of a business along the trail and was able to get some fluids. That happened twice which was perfect for my journey. In between those points I was almost out of water and I came to a junction point where there was a wellhead. I took some time to just rest but more importantly time to completely soak myself and reef fill all of my water bottles. That soaking completely dried off a few miles down the trail. As I approach my destination I could see the town off in the distance and once again up a hill. This time I had to corkscrew up the trail to reach a bridge sidewalk to get over the Missouri River and into town. Arriving just before the rain let loose and fell sideways I came to my hotel for the night.
