Day 19 – Springfield to Pickstown

51.0 miles today – 896.4 total miles

The low temperature this morning was 48 degrees. It warmed up quickly to about 65 degrees by the time we hit the road. The high temperature was to be about 80 degrees today. This made for a very pleasant day of riding. Probably one of the nicest we have had so far. The scenery was gorgeous. We left the Missouri River for about 15 miles as it made a bend – we cut off the bend. Then we joined it again on a high hill over looking the river valley. We dropped down to the river and traveled up the bottom of the valley. There were very few cars on this road. We would see one every 20-30 minutes. During one rest stop, Keith laid down in the middle of the road while I took a picture (don’t tell Mom)! We also found one of NASA’s well-kept secrets in this valley. If you are one of those NASA hoax people, you need to check out today’s pictures. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll save the space here and let you look at the picture.

We had to plan for today a little more carefully than usual, since there were no services the whole day until within 5 miles of our campsite. Even then the “groceries” was a convenience store. We will be getting better services tomorrow.

We had a head wind most of the day. That wasn’t as fun, but the scenery made it worthwhile. There were also a few great descents that were a lot of fun. We hit over 25 mph coasting downhill with a strong headwind!

We are now camped on Lake Francis Case. It’s a beautiful campsite with a clear sky and pleasant temperatures. Keith is exploring the bike paths around the park.