Day 40: Olathe to Sedalia

Today was supposed to be ninety miles, but about 20 miles into the ride we found out that it was going to more like 100. Today we crossed into my home state of Missouri. We got a police escort out of Olather (they really did treat us great). Missouri has gotten quite the reputation for bad roads and rude people. Within the first 10 miles of getting into Missouri someone started threatening Ryan Dixon. This guy pulled into a quicktrip where we were having a crew stop, and our crew guy went over to him when he came out of the store and told him if he threatens the cyclists again, he was going to call the cops. The guy lost it and caused quite a scene cussing at us and yelling at us for using the roads and not paying taxes. One guy told us to kick his ass and that he didn’t understand “Share the road.” Needless to say, we didn’t start a fight.

Although the day got off to a bad start, the rest of the day was great. A storm was brewing most of the day, and we had a terrible headwind through some rolling hills, but for the most part we kept a great pace. Ryan Shippy’s dad—who is from Centerview Missouri—provided us lunch. It was some really good fresh fruit and sandwiches.

After lunch we still had over 30 miles left, so we got on the bike and cranked it out. The total for the day was 107 miles. When we got to lodging there was a messues ready to give messages, that one of our sponsors arranged. It was great. Dinner was also really good. We ate a prize winning hog from the Benton county fair for dinner. It was BBQed by a guy who does competitions, and it was the best BBQ of the trip. There were some people with disabilities there, and it was great to have a dinner with good company.

After dinner the team went to get ice cream. We went to a place called Spoons, and just like in Shoshoni WY we walked into the place an helped the deal with 28 straight orders. I learned to make concretes, and the girls working there didn’t really know what to do with themselves. It was pretty funny, and I walked away with some free ice cream for helping an a T-shirt. So far Missouri is out performing people’s expectations, and it’s nice to know my home state isn’t letting people down.