June 24th, Hartville, MO - Eminence, MO
Day 30
After sleeping in the front lawn of the courthouse we woke up to find the weather was still hot and muggy and I was still sweating in my tent. It was pretty miserable but helps get you out of the bed at 5 am because you don’t want to be hot anymore. We said farewell to our friend Mike who was heading west and started our ride.
The hills were very steep to start off the ride. Though they didn’t last as long as the mountains in Colorado or Arizona, they were steep and frequent. At one point on the ride we were passed by a convertible full of people with a rather large woman in a bikini sitting out of the moon roof. It seemed to be a mirage that blurred by, but then they came back again to say hello so we knew it was for real. I guess they were just enjoying the day.
Anyways, we were able to make it 60 miles by lunchtime and stopped by the “Trails End” restaurant to grab some lunch. We were welcome by some old timers in the restaurant. One lady referred to herself as the dragon lady because she had a large dragon statue in her front yard that made her famous. Needless to say, it was an interesting place but we had some good burgers and onion rings and Tyler and I were able to beat Jordan and Justin in a few games of billiards.
The day ended in Eminence, MO and we were all very exhausted after a day of several steep hills. But our campsite was very welcoming with a river running right next to it and a cool breeze. However, when we opened the trailer to get out our things mine and Justin’s bin were missing.
It turned out that earlier in the day Jordan and Tyler (who were riding in the car) forgot to latch the door of the trailer. So they rode some of the way with the backdoor wide open. They didn’t think they lost anything but mine and Justin’s bin had fallen out. Unfortunately, when we went back to look for the bins there was no trace of them. While it was frustrating and Jordan was very sorry we were able to keep a pretty optimistic attitude. I lost all my clothes but it was only clothes. Much worse things could have been lost.
We went to Wal Mart to pick up some things as I did not even have a shirt on my back. We bought the bare necessities but since Justin is my little bro in FIJI we decided to buy matching shirts. Here is the picture on the front haha:
It was pretty impulse but we needed to laugh as we had lost a good portion of our things. But, it certainly taught me to be appreciative for what I do have and I know that I am still very fortunate to be on this ride and just like John Lennon said, “All you need is love.” And I always have God’s love.
In His Adventure,
Chaz Vittitow
