Going from Boonville to Higginsville Missouri- no longer on the Katy trail, so back on the roads. Kinda nice to be riding on a smooth surface- we can certainly go a lot faster! With tailwinds today I was averaging 16 mph on a 68 mile ride with 2,600 ft elevation gain. It was warmer today, bright sunny sky starting in the high 60s and it got into the low 80s at the end of the day, clouding up a bit with some good stiff breezes but luckily coming out of the South East so pushing us along for the most part. It was mostly rolling farmland- definitely flattening out as we head West. We stopped at Ed’s Burger and Beer for lunch in Blackburn, about 15 miles from our campsite in Higginsville. Ed doesn’t seem to get much business, at least this time of year. We all asked for water with ice and he said that is the first time anyone has asked for that in 6 years! I guess most people probably order beer!
Everyone got into the Higginsville Fairground Park campsite by 2:30, so plenty of time to set up camp and relax before dinner. No showers, which has everyone disgruntled, but managing to make do by using the sinks in the nearby restrooms! A promise of showers tomorrow! Our ride leader Dennis Patterson is no longer with us, due to some health issue which he didn’t elaborate on. He has been replace by another guy, Arlen, who will act as a temporary leader along.with Simona until Fort Collins, at which time we will get another guy who will be with us through to Oregon.
Everyone is riding pretty well. Terence has a back issue but he is managing to keep the pace. Theo is continuing along with us, a bit out of shape with his layoff. No one has had any serious bike issues, just some flats. We will all have a chance to get a tune up when we get to Fort Collins, Colorado. There are a multitude of bike shops there and Adventure Cycling can set up a morning with one of the shops to have them go through all our bikes before we proceed into the mountains.
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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