June 6, 2021
Day 25 - Farmington, MO to Ellington, MO
Missouri (misery)
The four of us left last this morning. I'm not sure why, but we were slow to leave. It was a whirlwind this morning with 9 cyclists all getting ready.
The four of us were the last to leave and we realized later that Mallory, Mary, and I left our camp spoons in the kitchen. Oh well. The road leaving was much easier than yesterday. We got yelled at by some locals before leaving town. Farmington people were pretty rude to us on the road. We made it about 40 miles to Johnson's shut-ins state park
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and had a swim in the river. It was so nice and we went up to find a picnic table for lunch. We ate so much stuff. I was carrying like 5 lbs of lunch materials so we feasted. Afterwards we all felt a bit drugged. Half of us were laying down and Mary was watching some butterflies that were on her bike and hands. Finally mark said we should leave and Mallory busted out laughing for not much reason. It was pretty contagious and I was crying too. We finally pulled away from the state park and the ride got much more intense. As usual in the afternoon, Mark pulled ahead and we were just slowly grinding it out. For some reason it's disheartening to see mark about a mile ahead on the top of the next big hill.
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After a tough 20 miles we made it to Ellington and found mark. Mark found the hostel and was out front drinking a bud heavy. I was so distracted by the hostel and Mark I forgot to clip out and fell down on my left side, luckily missing a huge piece of concrete sticking out. I scrapped my knee and smacked my hand but otherwise no real damage. Other than the fall the shoes seem pretty good. I think I am getting them dialed in and hope they help my heel. The hostel is really bare bones and hardly has a working ac unit so we shut the doors to keep the little cool in. Connor and Greg made it in and after a shower we all went to the Mexican restaurant down the road. We hit the grocery for some snacks and headed back to the hostel. Ellington isn't a nice place and would be a bad place for a rest day. I saw another guy driving an ATV to the grocery store. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and we have about 70 miles and many hills to do. Since the hostel room was so small, Greg and Connor slept outside under the pavilion and the four of us slept in the small room. I was super tired and went right to sleep.
Mileage: 67
Altitude gain: 3900
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 1,310 miles (2,108 km)
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