Monday, July 19 – Day 36 – 73.5 Miles - 2695.3 Total Miles

It was not a good sign when I started counting how many miles I had left to reach the status quo number….20 miles into today’s ride. I don’t know if it was the heat or the new rolling hills that we have started, but something did not agree with me early. Luckily, I snapped out of it and ended up having a good ride the rest of the day. We ended the riding at 1:45 today and are currently in a motel in Mansfield, Missouri…birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House on the Prairie fame.

As I said earlier, the big, rolling hills have begun. These are a lot like a roller coaster, except for one major difference. A roller coaster’s momentum on the descent always gets you over the next climb, without needing any extra energy. Because our momentum usually dies before reaching the top of the next climb, it is not quite like a roller coaster. Riding these are different than riding the mountains that we rode earlier in the trip. In the mountains, you know that a mountain pass is coming and you get yourself ready for a long, steady climb. You get into groove and just grind away to the top. Then, it is over and you descend. You may only have one of these in a day’s ride. Rollers, like we are in now, take a different type of riding. You start with a steep climb that only takes a minute or so to crest. You go down the other side. You start up the next climb. Copy and paste that a hundred or so more times and you have today’s ride. The trick here is in how you ride the backside of each climb. Instead of a nice easy coast down the descent, you are much better off accelerating down the hill to get up enough speed to get you part of the way up the next climb. This makes it feel like you are riding too hard, but the alternative is to coast down every hill, thus forcing you to climb each steep hill with zero momentum. I choose to ride the first way….accelerating down the descents. It actually is pretty fun….like riding a roller coaster.

The kids are back with us. They had a lot of fun with their grandparents. They got to take in a circus, ride the Ducks (hopefully you know what I mean), go to a house of mirrors, and take a jeep ride into a cavern. A funny thing happened in the house of mirrors that I wish I could have seen. As I understand it, Anna got a little disoriented and started looking for her grandparents. When she located them, she turned to run toward them (I am sure you know where this is heading). Have you ever seen a bird fly into a clean window? It turns out that Anna was that bird. Her grandparents were actually standing right beside her. Sherry was worried that Anna broke her nose. Nathan said all the mirrors were shaking like they were going to fall down. Anna was a little embarrassed, but she is feeling fine today….her beak is just a little sore.

I notice the Reds lost last night 1-0. Brad Francis promised me that mentioning how well they are playing would not jinx them. If it does, blame him.

Not much else to report, just the usual stuff for the rest of the day. Our motel does not have WIFI, so we are in search of a signal to upload our journals. Take care.