Monday 9 August 2010

Week 10

Beginning Sunday 8th August. (day 64)

On Saturday and Sunday we were lucky to come upon great places to swim in rivers along the way. One was called Dogs Bluff and the Piney river ! Great names! will upload photos. This was just outside the town of Houston, Missouri.
We spent a night in a hunting lodge which we had all to ourselves and all for 40 dollars!! The owner, Bill Cork, was so hospitable.... he told us to help ourselves to beer from the fridge and if we want to go to the shop his truck was at our disposal!! We didn't use it though!It was a really nice place,one of the best. For the benefit of other cyclists its called Running Spring Farm and is just outside Everton.
We have met up again with Jim and Kathy once again, we hadn't seen them in weeks!
Heidi has decided to quit the Trans Am and has headed off to New Jersey on the train.We cycled through a large part of Missouri inhabited by the Mennonites.They are like the Amish community. They can be seen travelling in pony and carts and doing lots of manual work. They dress in old fashioned clothes and really look strange.
A highlight of the trip was crossing the Mississippi river and arriving into Illinois at a town called Chester. Chester is famous as it is the home of Popeye! We have had two thunder storms in Illinois....lots of thunder and lightning!
We had a day in Carbondale while our bikes were at the bike shop. Dermot finally bought a new wheel after cycling on the broken spoke for over 300 miles!! I had a new tyre and my gears checked over.
We left Carbondale this morning when the storm eased and tonight we are staying with Al and Anne Stachowiak.We are using an organisation called Warm Showers who kindly allow cyclists to either have a shower,camp in the garden or have a room for the night! We are so lucky we have a beautiful room, we've just been swimming in their pool and then relaxed on the deck with a cold beer!! We phoned and asked if they could help us as the distance to the next accommodation was too far for us to do in this heat. We have really hit lucky!
Its been a hot week but the forecast for next week is to be slightly cooler. Lets hope they're right cos we can't take much more heat! Must dash now ....Anne's peach cobbler is calling!!!!

I forgot to mention humming birds! I had never come across them before, they are lovely little birds that hum and people hang up bottles of sweet water to feed them and then sit and watch them. I have a photo......









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