Sunday I headed out of Buhler. Very nice breakfast at the little diner in town, but that's shutting down permanently in a week. These little places cannot support restaurants, because not many locals have spare funds for luxuries. Sad. Had a nice chat with a local fellow in his 40s who was on a day bike ride. Wondering how to get started on distance touring. I told him how I started with a three day circle ride using a trailer. The evening I spent at a state park near the border. Empty except for me on a Sunday night. Very peaceful and quiet. Monday was cool and cloudy, which is nice biking weather, if a bit moody. I went for coffee into a little Mennonite village off the road. No coffee though they would have made it. I'm required by truthfulness to report that this village had a Steven King feel, and I could not get out of it quickly enough.

Around 3 I came to the Kansas border and gave a cheer. 8 days through this long dry state. 

Missouri has a distinct character that immediately became apparent. Though there is a drought, it seems lush compared to Kansas, with some water in some of the creeks. Mostly people have been pleasant. The roads are shoulderless and many drivers wait until they have room to give a bike the whole lane. Knowing this, I often pull over when I see a vehicle waiting behind me, though often this is not possible. But a few minutes into the state a red pickup went by and the passenger threw a full glass bottle of chocolate milk at me and the bike. Id say about one in two hundred cars, or trucks, does something hostile, usually just a hostile horn blast. But more than half the oncoming vehicles wave.

In an impish mood, on Friday, I got into a political discussion with a local in the deep country at a country store. This fellow was not big on Obamacare. He personally had delivered his 5 children at home. He generally felt that doctors did more harm than good and did not see the use of healthcare for anyone. This was not a stereotypical hillbilly type. He was well-spoken, and though his information all seemed to come from one side, he was pretty well informed. The store owner, who looked a lot like John Travolta, asked me matter of factly if I were gay when I said I supported Obama, though lukewarmly. He did not see how anyone but a gay person could support gay marriage. He was very nice about it. I asked him, why, are you interested? He laughed. Glad it wasn't night, glad it wasn't a bar. No more impishness in the Ozarks.

Speaking of which. The big surprise is that in some ways this crossing of Missouri is the hardest part of the trip so far. It is difficult to describe just how hilly the terrain is. It truly resembles a roller coaster. The climbs are short usually-- quarter or half mile--but they can be killer steep. In a couple of places I have had to stand in my granny gear to get over them. And they just keep coming, at least one or two every mile. Course the descents are fun. And the countryside is really getting pretty.

Yesterday, soon after arrived in Marshfield,a front came through and there was a torrential rainfall. I was hanging out in the town library (I do a lot of that) so I stayed dry, but my clothes in my "waterproof" duffel, were drenched. I found a laundromat in my next town, Houston, and washed and dried them all. A lovely lady at the laundromat offered me some garbage bags and now I have all the stuff in the duffel in inner bags. So it was another silver lining situation. Now I am ready for the rainy east and the last third of this amazing ride.