Today's Miles = 56.3
Average Speed = 9.6 mph
Maximum Speed = 47.6 mph
Total Miles = 1467.5
Once again the Raccoons have struck! My campground featured some posts that last night I mistakenly assumed were for hanging food. When I arose this morning I found that the bread, cheese, and ham I had left myself for a lunch today were gone. There wasn't even a wrapper to be found where the food had been, and I had to smile a little at the mental image of a raccoon running away hauling a whole loaf of white bread.
Just as I had been turning in the night before another cyclist pulled into the camp. David Clark has just retired from twenty-two years in the Coast Guard and is cycling across the country before looking for a new career. He had ridden for two days with the English cyclist, Bob, but had been left behind by Bob's speedy pace.
David and I decided to give a go of riding together for the day and we rode into the next town to get breakfast. Both of us seemed to be getting worn down by the hills of the Ozarks, but after breakfast he talked as though he was planning to put in more miles for the day than I was. As we traveled up and down over the hills he slipped further and further ahead until he, like Bob, wasn't seen again. When I came to the town of Ellington I looked around for him and then decided to stop for an early lunch.
The weather forecast for the evening called for thunderstorms, and as the afternoon dragged on a light rain began falling on me. It was one of those days where my motivation was flagging and I found myself wanting to stop at every campground I passed. As an incentive to make it all the way to Eminence I promised that if I got there I would treat myself to a motel. When I arrived in town I found that most of the town was booked due to an annual trial ride, but I was able to get one of the last motel rooms available.
I had intended to spend the evening updating my web page. Unfortunately, my motel room turned out to have neither a telephone line nor cell coverage. I ended up spending the evening channel surfing on the television, where I learned that HP had finally made the upcoming 15,000 layoffs official.
