Day 16 : Fried Chicken Soothes the Pains of Wet Windy Weather

Slowly rousing around 7:00, we eventually made breakfast in our deluxe apartment (pictured above): peanut butter + jelly and oatmeal with blueberries. After breakfast, we chatted with Steve and packed the bags; he explained that the weather was looking pretty dreary for most of the day and was supposed to only worsen. After a good 15 minute stretch on his very nice garage floor (the smoothest and the cleanest garage floor I have ever lain upon... Bill Pepple would be quite envious)



On the way out of town we stopped at the gas station closely perched next to highway 36. There we bought a dozen of day-old Krispy Kreme donuts for half price: $3.50. In all actuality the donuts were officially 2-day old, we noticed them sitting there the previous night. I brought this to the attention of the clerk, explaining, "We are only going to pay $1.75". She retorted somewhat unenthusiastically, "No...they are (1) day-old. The price is $3.50." Having not yet consumed the corn syruppy sustenance, I was in little shape to argue, so I simply paid the $3.50 while Nick filled my coffee cup and we returned to the parking lot to devour all 12 donuts.

After the high octane fuel fill up (Luke would argue that refined sugar does little but rot the gut), we hit the road. We continued to climb the loess hills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loess) of western Missouri through the rain and 25 mph winds (below: Nick breaks at the top of the hill, while Luke scours the terrain for a good place to urinate: interestingly enough, shortly after the picture, Nick began peeing from that position of the starboard side of the bike).

As you can notice from the picture (above facing back east) the storm was largely south of us. After the picture, we continued down the road for another 15 miles until the town of Hamilton, Missouri. By the time we had reached Hamilton the storm was climaxing and we would not hear another peep from him [the storm... a strange personification I know, but the road makes you weird] for the rest of the day. Hamilton is the birthplace and residence of Mr. J.C. Penney. None of the trio thought that J.C. Penney was an actual person, just the name of a department store. Apparently J.C. had donated a good deal of his fortune to the town, including the construction of a new school and "college style" football facilities...wow. We found the first diner in town called Past Times. Nick and Luke ordered double cheeseburgers, while I couldn't resist the temptation of fried chicken for the second consecutive lunch. Nick had a Tollhouse pie, while Luke and I ordered milkshakes: strawberry-banana and chocolate, respectively (below: notice Sam's milkshake elation).


After we completed dessert, Nick retired out front to take a nap, while Luke and I chatted with the waitresses. (below Luke and I pose with the employees of Past Times: they absolutely loved us. The owner, the blond in the back positioned just beneath the man exclaimed, " I wish I owned a diner in every town you are traveling through."

The stop in Hamilton was probably around the order of 2.5 hours, as we attempted to digest all 3,000 calories consumed. This put our departure time around 3:40. Our goal was to make it to St. Joseph Missouri, a city of 78,000 people on the Missouri/Kansas border, by the end of the day (45 more miles). After Hamilton the weather became quite gorgeous, albeit a little sticky, but still much appreciated compared with the mornings weather. This linear snap shot of northern Missouri left us completely satisfied, and Nick a bit reeling from the painful hills. Still we all can agree that the hills are rolling and beautiful. Compared to the high amount of corn production throughout Illinois, there is much less crop production and more small-scale livestock production, namely Bulls.





(below: Luke and Nick barreling down the hill
(below: the common view as we ascend the hills. Notice the beautiful wildflowers on the north side of the road)

We finished our 70 mile day, arriving at the Klaassen household at 7:45. Spencer Klaassen is an avid cyclist who is on warmshowers, the aforementioned touring community (www.warmshowers.org). When we pulled in their driveway, the whole Klaassen family, Spencer, Angie (wife), Hannah (daughter: entering 8th grade), and son Henry (son: entering 5th grade) were on the pack patio enjoying dinner. Upon arrival, they saw to satiating our every need; offering us a great meal of burgers, Italian sausages, bean salad, pasta salad, chips, beer, brownies, and allowing us to shower and do laundry. All of our previous hosts have been wonderful and have helped us out tremendously; however, the Klassen's, being tourists, knew exactly what we wanted: a well balanced meal (protein, carbohydrates, and beer) and time to relax. (below: Nick and Spencer taking it all in).


(below: a cycling fanatics large repertoire of machines)


Thanks Klaassens. You are very classy. Your kids are well behaved, interesting, and knowledgeable. You provided a good example for how to be good hosts, and we hope to someday reciprocate the favor and help another tourist out in this same manner.

Miles: 70
Morale: Bloomington
no flats or mechanical problems