Day 28, Sunday, May 18
Brunswick, Missouri to Hamilton, Missouri
We knew we had one day of good weather before some tremendous rains set in on Monday. We decided to put in another big day, our 21st consecutive day of riding, before hunkering down for a zero day on Monday. Our destination was a B&B in Hamilton, about 71 miles away. It was ambitious, but our options for lodging were limited.
We stopped at the Casey's in Brunswick, of course, before heading out of town. The riding was relatively easy on a cool morning with no wind, and I felt an exuberance and optimism I had not felt for a few days.
There was a nice descent onto the floodplain of the Grand River, and a nice easy ascent on the other side that was barely noticable. A couple of miles after that we were in another dying town, Bosworth, but at least they had an open convenience store. Somehow Casey's and Dollar General missed this town, but their coffee was still hot.
A mile or two outside town we saw a disturbing sight, a large white dog lying dead, half on, half off the road. Just as my front tire got near its head and I said "Aww. Poor thing," he woke up, very much alive, and angry. He chased us for a couple of hundred yards, but I realized he was slow so I wasn't panicked. The chase certainly startled me and gave me a spike of adrenaline, though. This was only our second encounter with a dog that gave me a little concern, but neither was particularly bad. I hope it stays that way.
About 30 miles into the ride we came upon a sign no routing cyclist wants to see.
Missouri, not particularly adept at signage, did not offer an alternative route. We ended up completely rerouting, adding several miles to an already long day.
The new route was on fairly busy state roads, and a few miles on US 65. We finally joined our original route on a sedate state highway, but it was getting hot and there was no shade to be found.
Eventually we reached Mooresville, about 15 miles due east of Hamilton. We could do that in our sleep, but the road was bad. For a few miles it was concrete, with many cracks and holes, and this eventually just turned into gravel. John thinks the concrete was so bad they just gave up and covered it with gravel. There was a mile or so of respite on good asphalt in Nettleton, but then the it turned to the same chunky gravel again.
There was really nowhere good to take breaks on this day. We took two long breaks just sitting in the side of the road under the rare tree close enough to give us some shade. (I have no idea what John was doing in the sun.)
Despite all this, we arrived in Hamilton around 3:30, a half hour before check-in time. So we grabbed cold drinks at the local grocery, sat in the park, and had a look online to see what Hamilton offered.
Here we discovered some good news: Hamilton has a brewery, Levi Harrison & Sons. We also discovered some bad news: it is closed on Sunday and Monday, the two days we would be here. Just let that sink in: we would be taking a zero day in a town with a brewery that is closed the whole time we are here.
We also discovered that the only restaurant in town open on Sunday is Subway.
We checked in, showered, and headed out for a night on the town: a visit to the local laundromat and dinner at Subway. John also picked up some beer at the inevitable Casey's. We enjoyed an agreeable evening on the back deck of the B&B, John drinking his beer and me helping lighten his load by drinking some of the pint of Jack Daniels he's been carrying around.
It was a satisfying day. We set ourselves a big challenge: a 70+ day when we could have really used a break. But we did it and we are that much closer to home.
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