We decided to spend a bit longer in Pittsburg in the morning than usual and go out to breakfast before Taylor started biking. We went into town and had a hearty breakfast and ran a few errands. It was pretty fun to compare their "Pitt" Gorillas (from guerrillas of war time) to the "Pitt Panthers" we are so familiar with.
Nearly every business had a gorilla outside!
It was a hot afternoon start to biking. Here we took a little break in the shade of the all-familiar Casey's general store. So many towns have one of these and/or a Family Dollar or Dollar General...in fact that is the best we can do for groceries many days. Starting to like flavored tuna packets and cans of "premium chunk chicken in buffalo sauce."
We surely enjoy our fridge and freezer in the camper though. Most days I can restock Taylor with ice in his camelback, but we've talked to many going cross country who have had to catch a ride when they ran out of water, for example. We have found that many of the small towns that are on our adventure cycling maps that are noted to have a restaurant or convenience store either have closed or are only open until 2pm or something like that. We've supplied folks with snacks or ice along the way as we have encountered needs.
We read on the maps that the hills in Missouri, in the Ozarks are like roller coasters. They hit the lowest of the lows...so we see signs like this:
...and saw a number of markers like this...
If you look closely below you can see what they mean about the roller coaster roads. The danger here for drivers...and thus for bikers...is that you can't see over the top of the next hill to see what's ahead...including a wide-load cross country biker (those carrying panniers etc) and there's usually not much of a shoulder here.
We ended the day in Everton, MO -- what my mom would call a "poke and plum town" -- ya poke your head in and you're plum through town. There was a town park there that looked inviting so we pulled in and stayed over.
We got to share the park with this William Penn Cabin from 1837...and according to two women who drove through the park and talked to us, we might have shared it with some snakes, too.
There wasn't anything open in town, but we still took a walk through before turning in for the night.
Working on that biker's tan...
