Day 45 - A Hurried Ride (July 16th, 2024)

City To City: Eminence - Farmington

Miles: 85

Miles Total: 3,092

Flats: 10

Video: https://youtu.be/dHkjVTzOHko?si=L6CljusWFVW_XX5X

Raizy

A Beautiful River

Our goal for the day was to be in Farmington by 3 p.m. because today, we would meet our family and grandparents. So, to achieve our goal, we were up by 5 a.m. and on the road an hour later. The sun hadn't even crested the horizon yet, but it was light enough to see the road.  We said our reluctant goodbyes to Mark and Matt and told them we hoped to meet with them again if possible.

Our first break was two hours later and very quick.  Everything was rushed.  When lunchtime came, we hurriedly chowed our food and got back on the road quickly.  But because we had so many hills, we couldn't go fast and maintain its speed.  But we did make our goal with time to spare.  

We had been worried about where to store our bikes in Farmington, and we originally were going to ask a bike store, but then we called a hostel, and they said they'd be happy to keep our bikes there.

When we got to the bike hostel, we ended up being there thirty minutes ahead of our deadline, which we were super relieved about.  A guy came by and let us know a few things that we must do in the town and around the area, but we didn't visit long because we needed to change, take everything off our bikes, and lock our bikes up in a cage under the stairs so no one would steal them.  Even though the cage door was double padlocked, we took no chances, especially after a bike got stolen and chained our bikes together.

Our family and grandparents showed up, and happy hellos and hugs were exchanged. Our homesickness dissipated at the first sight of our relatives jumping out of the cars.  We also met our family puppy, Raizy, for the first time.  She's adorable and working on behaving herself.

Our Airbnb for the next two days was an hour away down south by car, so Henry and I rode in our grandparents' car. We tried staying awake, but tiredness won, and we slept for the second part of the ride.  My dad didn't even try to stay awake in the other car!

We pushed it hard from Pueblo, Colorado, to Farmington, Missouri, for ten days. Our shortest ride during the ten hard days was 63 mi, and we did not take a rest day.

After our grandparents, Henry, and I tried entering the wrong house, thinking it was the Airbnb, we finally got to the right house and settled in before Henry, my dad, and I took long showers.  But I was the only one who got a hot shower.  And after our shower, we put on nice, regular clothes that actually wasn't permanently stained by sweat.

For dinner, we had spaghetti, and our family was shocked by how much we ate.  To them, we just sloppily piled food on our plates and practically slurped it down.

But then we stayed up for a little while before we all went to sleep in beds, and we slept good and hard.  I didn't get up until 9 a.m. the next morning.