Monotonous beauty

      Jefferson City was a bust when it came to accommodations so I recrossed the Missouri via this really cool bike lane with a switchback structure leading up to the bridge.  Back on the trail, Tebbits was  ten miles down the road. As advertised there was a funky self serve hostel where I took the key off the side telephone pole and let myself in. An interesting guy from South Carolina was sacked out after a long ride. He bought is bike for $50 and uses square five gallon plastic containers for panniers.  We had a good time hashing over our life routes bringing us to the same hostel on the same day.   

      This morning was a slow start at 8:15 accompanied by plenty of rain. The trail softened up enough to slow me down by a few mphs.  I slogged along mile after mile.  The trail is beautiful but a bit monotonous. Some good tunes made the miles slip effortlessly by..  Running low on food, the search for a cafe intensified until I was about to knaw my arm off. The trail has all these nowhere farm villages, quaint but nothing for touring bicyclists.  Finally finally on the verge of bonking ( running out of energy), i found a nice cafe where I had a hugely caloric lunch, a double cheese burger with onion rings, a cold IPA and an ice cream sandwich.

   Back on the trail twenty miles down the road, Augusta had a bike shop with great ice cream and a brewery next door. How good is that.  Note that each of these little villages shows up out of nowhere when I emerge from the tree tunnel surrounding the trail.  Each town has a simple but very nice restored roofed train stop.  The town  name is in bold print as you emerge from the trail.  The small and numerous train stops, bridges, and tunnels surrounded by a virtual temperate rain forest with the mighty Missouri River to my immediate right makes for  a very pleasant ride.

       The bike shop directed me three miles down the road to  state camp site where I am ensconced in my tent writing this blog and waiting for an imminent thunder shower. Tomorrow will probably be the last day on the trail before I reach St. Louis and cross "the Big Muddy".