Day 67, Farmington, MO

Miles – 0

Miles From Start/To Finish – 3,079/1,266

Ave Riding Speed – 0 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 0

Weather – Cloudy to Rainy 82

Kind of a funny how we had the opportunity to sleep in and just couldn’t. As matter of fact, I was up from 2:30-3:30am and Kim was up from 1:30-2am. Then, we both got up at 6am and went down the hall to the hotel breakfast. We sat at the large hi-top in the middle of the room and reviewed our maps to plan the distances and overnights for the next 5 nights. We had some fresh coffee and I had a hot breakfast of eggs and bacon and Kim went with raisin bran cereal.

As we were eating I noticed and older gentleman working his way through the offerings and quietly heading for one of the small 4-seater tables across the room with his hands full. I got up and went to offer my assistance. We got him situated and I asked him if he needed anything. He said he’d like a cup of coffee with a little cream and I said I got. I kind of kept my eye on him and offered to get him a couple other items during his meal. He was appreciative, but it made me feel even better.

Soon the tables filled up and a young couple were looking around the room for a place to sit. I said to pardon our mess, but there’s 2-chairs across from us and to have a seat. They sat down and we got to know Adam and Caitlyn. They were on an overnight for their 15-year anniversary and left their 3 children at home with Caitlyn’s mother. It’s the first time they’ve been away from their children since their 3-year-old was born. They were a joy to get to know and seemed like caring and kind people. Kim spoke to them about her cancer journey and Caitlyn said she was in for a breast exam recently because she felt a lump. After the mammogram and the follow up report saying she had dense breasts and the exam may not detect something, she was frustrated. Kim said she didn’t want to scare her at all, but Kim implored her to get another opinion. After breakfast and our conversation Caitlyn said a lot of people said a lot of people say they’re going to pray for someone, but always wondered if it happens, so she asked if we could pray together and Adam lead a beautiful prayer. We gave them our card and Adam said to checkout his YouTube channel, AR Drummer. We did. He’s got quite the collection and has a passion for music.

After breakfast we rode our bikes, less our gear, to the Trans Am Cyclery, to get our tire pressure back up to 75lbs. They were cool guys and let us bring in our bikes and use their hand pump with a gauge. When I hooked up the pump, I found our tires to be around 50-55lbs. Ugh, that creates a lot of unneeded drag. I had been watching the weather report and there was some expected rain coming late in the morning to Farmington. About the time I finished pumping up our tires, there was a loud boom and then a downpour. We asked the service guy to give his opinion on Kim’s tire tread and he said he thinks they’ll be fine and should get us to the Atlantic coast. We chatted for a bit with the 2 guys, waiting for a little break in rain. We bought some electrolyte tablets and then when the rain let up, we departed. We didn’t even catch a drop of rain on the 1.5 miles ride home. Farmington is supposed to get some good rain during the overnight.

We wiped down our bikes with some rags before bringing them into the hotel. Kim went straight for a nap and I did a load of laundry and kept busy catching up on the Yahoo news. After Kim got up, we walked to the Schnucks grocery store across the parking lot for some broccoli salad and chicken from the deli. We ate it for lunch and the rest for dinner.

Kim’s currently working out a couple details for the overnights coming up and we’ve packed everything we can for the evening. Tomorrow’s ride will be one of our longer ones, approaching 90-miles, which will get us into Illinois and map #10 of 12.