Missouri was really pretty in the morning. Rolling hills, happy cows, some friendly dogs, some unfriendly.
Unfortunately, after about 35 miles, the rain started again. Yesterday we cut the ride short because of rain, so today we were determined to finish the ride, and we soldiered on. We stopped briefly for lunch at 50 miles. We were already soaked, though, so we got back on the road and kept pedaling through the rain. The odd thing was, it was nice weather for riding--not too hot, not too cold, not too dry. It was just really wet and we couldn't see a thing.
In the last few miles of the ride, there was lots of crap on the road, and almost everyone got a flat tire. Nancy got three in a row! I got a slow leak that held out just long enough to get to the hotel.
One of our riders crashed pretty badly today though. A large truck passed him very closely, nearly hitting him with the rear wheels. He veered off the road to avoid it, skidded out, and went down. We were worried he might have gotten a concussion or cracked some ribs, but he got a clean bill of health from the hospital. Just some scrapes and bruises.
We finished up in Branson, which reminds me a lot of Wisconsin Dells--lots of cheesy tourist storefronts along a main drag. One is a Titanic museum that's actually shaped like the Titanic. But there's a Krispy Kreme right next to our hotel, so I'm happy.
