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Hello from Springfield, Missouri! This is pretty much a form letter, so please excuse me if I repeat stuff you already know.

It's been slow going so far. Originally, I planned to get started in July, but for various reasons, I didn't. Finally on August 18, I arrived in St. Louis by train, and I started riding on August 21. St. Louis seems like a nice place. Lots of Chop Suey joints, though I didn't get a chance to try any out.

So far I've averaged about 40 miles per day. I had hoped to be more in the 60-80 miles per day range, but Missouri is rather hilly and I've had a few days of 10-15 mph southwest winds which really slows me down. Also, I did a grand total of 3 training rides totalling 70 miles before I started, so I'm kinda out of shape. Riding into Springfield, the terrain flattened out a bit and the wind was out of the north, so I managed to ride 55 miles in just over 5 hours.

Other than derelict buildings along the side of Route 66, there hasn't been a lot to see. I did run across a gas station in St. Roberts that offers 87, 88, 89, 90, and 91 octane gas.

The weather hasn't been good, so I've been staying in hotels a lot more than I'd like. I stayed in the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon. The bathroom had sky blue tile and a pink toilet. Lebanon is also the aluminum boat capital of the world.

I stopped in Marshfield, home town of Edwin Hubble of telescope fame. In front of the courthouse, there's a 1/4 scale model of the telescope, and the main road through town is named Hubble. They really love that guy.

I'm resting today. Hopefully in a day or two I'll be out of Missouri and onto the short section of Route 66 in Kansas. While there, I'll take a side trip over to West Mineral and see Big Brutus.

Please send some email so I'll have something to look forward to when I next check my email.

Carl - dearcarl@yahoo.com

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-- MadisonBryan - 08 Oct 2001

1/4 scale model of the Hubble