This state is Missouri-able.

Location: Jefferson City, MO

The past few days of riding have been incredibly hilly and muggy; it doesn't allow you to get into any sort of rhythm, and being wet the whole time is incredibly uncomfortable. Crossing into Missouri yesterday didn't change much, save for the condition of the roads. (No shoulders and apparently they don't like smooth pavement.)

Also, we got an excellent Missouri greeting when some redneck in his little pickup decided to harass one of our pace lines. He pulled up real close to the tail-end rider and after a while blew by with a friendly, "GET OFF THE F***ING ROAD!"

But that's not all! A little while later, we had a crew stop at a Qwik Trip gas station/convenience store, and this guy pulls in -- for a coffee, I think. Anyway, one of our crew members meets him as he's coming out and asks him to stop messing with our cyclists, and the guy promptly explodes into a flurry of cuss words and threats and lectures about how we don't belong on the road. (He especially didn't like being told what to do "in his own state.") Mind you, there's about twenty Pi Kapps about fifty feet away ready to pummel this guy if he gets out of hand. He wasn't too bright. Obviously we weren't going to do anything rash, wearing all of our Push America gear as we were, but it seemed like he was ready to toss his scalding coffee or throw a punch at our crew member. Eventually, after a lot of empty talk he got in his car and he and his five- or six-year old son sped off. Yes, his son was in the passenger seat. Excellent role model.

And have I mentioned it's humid? I guess I have, but by golly I could do without being soaked the entire day! At least it's pretty. We're going through lots of rural area, lots of corn and soy, I think. At every stop today, I wrung out my gloves and they were sopping wet every time. Yuck.

On a tangent, we have several guys on the team who are from this part of the country, so we've had a lot of friends, family, and girlfriends hanging out and sometimes sponsoring meals and stuff. That's all good and well, but it's kind of sad for me to see everyone meeting up with their loved ones and then there's nobody for me! Oh well. I did find out, however, that my dad is going to be flying to Washington, DC to see the arrival, so I'm excited for that...except I told them not to spend the money on it!

Lastly, brief recap of today. Yesterday's 80-mile ride turned into 107, so today we were all a bit sore and sluggish, especially with the hills and humidity factored in. We had to re-route past some real crappy roads in favor of some back country stuff, so our ride today would have been 20 miles longer as well, except we didn't quite go fast enough to meet our rack point. So at mile 50 we had to pack up the bikes and drive into Jeff City where we had a police escort and an arrival at the capitol building which was strictly scheduled. We had a fried chicken/mashed taters lunch (I know what I said earlier about fried chicken, but I must be over it because it was delicious) at a nearby church, then set up shop in the Lincoln University gymnasium. After a little reading and a wonderful nap, we headed to dinner and back. Not too exciting but I think after so much activity in the past week, it was much needed.

Up next: Union then two days in St. Louis!

EDIT: Holy crap, I totally forgot probably one of the coolest things. We had a couple days in Olathe, KS after my last post which was just swell. We had an arrival, proclamation, and lunch at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and then went to lodging at the Kansas School for the Deaf where they put us in the rooms there (I had one to myself). We had a couple friendship visits that were packed in and more or less unorganized, so that was difficult...but everything was organized by a gentleman by the name of Mark Cameron, and I'll tell you about him now:

Mark broke his neck almost four years ago by diving too deep into a lake while trying to swim out to a friends boat. He's now quadripelegic, but was determined to overcome some almost insurmountable obstacles so that he could be able to live as independently as possible. He invited us over to his house to visit and check out some of the neat gadgets he has that helps him in is daily life, such as his lift which will get him into/out of bed, the shower, etc. He also has voice commanded electronics and some cool modifications to his computer system so he can type emails and such...

But I think one of the most amazing thing was hearing him talk about his injury and rehabilitation. He is so positive and upbeat, and has such a great sense of humor and outlook on life that it really hit me to think that if something similar had happened to me, would I have the same attitude and resolve to do the things Mark has done and continues to do? For example, doctors had him on a ventilator or some type of tracheal tube thing to help him breathe (I think one of his lungs is paralyzed). They said he'd never be able to breathe without it. But he found a "bicycle" that he can pedal with the aid of electrically stimulating pads worn on the legs or arms -- and now he has some pretty massive muscles for one who can't fire them himself, and his lung capacity increased exponentially with the exercise so that he was eventually able to remove all the assistive devices. He also has invented a couple of his own little gizmos that help out in his home, and just always seems to see the silver lining in everything. He basically lives on his own with some assistants who will help him out of bed and get him fed and everything, but that's about it. And actually, he said he has been getting some sensation back in his feet/toes, can twitch a muscle on his right leg about 50% of the time, and also has some twitching in his palms. Doctors are dumbfounded, but he says he thinks it's because of the bike and electrical stimulation. Pretty neat!

Anyway, I thought it was incredibly inspiring and think you should check out his website, http://www.teamcameron.org/. "Why dive? Make a splash!" (Haha!)