We Are Back On Track

Here is the state park we stopped at in Missouri. It was really beautiful

Here are some pictures of Kansas City taken from the 24th floor of our hotel room

Here is a place that Mark and I stopped to rest today. It was in Kansas. Kansas is flat but there are beautiful skies in Kansas. After about 100 miles we have to stop because our rears hurt too much.

So yesterday was a huge ride. We had to make up ground from the day before. We rode from Mt. Vernon to Kansas City and stayed on the 24th floor of the Hyatt Regency Crown. It was a beautiful hotel. We went through St. Louis and saw the arch from the rode, it was pretty cool. We crossed the Missouri River which was huge. We stopped and ate breakfast at an IHOP and continued riding. Along the way we stopped at an historic state park that was off the beaten path and was really quite beautiful. Today our ride was just as under 300 miles. We rode from Kansas City, MO., to Hays, Kansas. It was a really nice ride. Both Mark and I are becoming much more comfortable on our bikes and are able to ride the Interstates at 70 miles per hour. It was pretty hot today, especially in our leathers. Of course, many of these states don't have helmet laws, so we see many people riding without any safety gear. In heat like this, it's tempting, but we stopped at a Harley Davidson store along the road and saw a guy who obviously had lost half his face to the cement due to not wearing a helmet. That temptation was soon gone after seeing that. We are seeing some pretty country. Thus far, both Mark and I agree that Tennessee was the prettiest state we have been thru so far. We have been following the Louis and Clark expedition trail on this trip which is pretty neat. We ate at LB Brewery tonight in Hays, it was excellent, serving handcrafted rootbeer made right there in the brewery. We are having a wonderful time, despite the challenges along the rode. Our goal tommorrow is to arrive in Denver. However, we hear there is a possibility of thunder storms. We are hoping they will pass through tonight. The two strangest things we have seen on this trip was a place in Nashville, by the way, we didn't visit it, but it was a naked karoke bar. I had no idea such a place existed. I seriously think I am permantly scarred just knowing such an odd place exists. Another strange sighting happened by the ozarks. Some old pickup was going down the road. It had a giant smokestack in it's bed and it was spewing out black, foul smelling smoke. It appeared that the guy was driving down the highway just to spew the smoke. It was very "Deliverance Country" in appearance. Mark and I hightailed it down the highway just to get out of this guys way.