4::00 PM

Thank you all for your concern for Dana. He was a little shaky this morning, but now he’s feeling great And he can shift gears. (That’s much more important to him than his slightly oozy knee.)

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11:00 AM

My two biggest complaints for today are that the Wagon Wheel was out of orange juice, and we didn’t see any prairie chickens on the prairie. 

It’s been a good day.

Only 20 miles of hard pack to Sedalia.

We passed through the town of Green Ridge, and read their trailhead,. There’s a trailhead about every 10 miles, always a nice stop, usually the site of an old station. And we get to learn the history of all of these little towns.

So it turns out that Pearl White was born in Green Ridge in 1899. And my mother used to sing me a song about Pearl White, because my parents were OLD. 

We stopped at a beautiful lake and met a nice lady with a nice little hyperactive dog named Ruby. We ate a candy bar and drank some Gatorade looking at the lake. 

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2:30 PM

This may be the first day in forever that walking was harder than biking. We checked into the Bothwell Hotel, a beautiful 99yo super fancy hotel. Harry Truman stayed there once. We will dine there tonight, because he ate there once, too.

But we’re not there yet. We’re in Taqueria Chilango, on the outskirts of Sedalia. When I looked at the map, I saw this place right next to Bud’s Laundromat, and I had an idea. We walk down Main St., check out the quaint (at least from a short distance) town, eat some tacos, and do the laundry. 

If we had turned right out of the hotel, we would have been on Main St. But we had to turn left. This isn’t quaint. This is just rural poverty. Nobody goes for a stroll here with one very heavy pannier for no good reason. So half-way through the walk, Dana says “I’ll bet both places are closed.” So I was feeling guilty, and my knee hurt (no pain on the bike). And Dana’s sugar was low and his knee was oozing. And I was wondering if we’d had a good reason for this stroll.

They were both open! Phew! So we started a load, and walked to the restaurant. When we left the laundromat, Dana actually had to remind me where the restaurant was (across the street). I can get lost in the outskirts of Sedalia, MO. 

Anyway, the restaurant was air conditioned, and the game was on TV, and the tacos were delicious  But we didn’t eat a lot, we’re looking forward to dinner at the hotel.

Now we’re sitting with an empty pannier, waiting for dryer #18. The air conditioning is better here than it was across the street. I think the walk back will be much more pleasant. 

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5:00 PM

Turns out there’s a guest laundry in the hotel.  Oh, well. I’m glad we had the adventure and got some more exercise. And the tacos were totally worth it