A Sweet Day Off - Sweet Springs, MO (Days 21-22)

Today started with a great, early (6AM) pancake and egg breakfast provided by Pastor David and the Fayette First Christian Church. After breakfast we were on the road by 7AM to take on 91 miles of the Missouri countryside, at least that is what I told everyone.

Last night Katie came up with the idea of telling everyone the day was going to be longer than it really was (it was actually 61) so they would bike faster and we would get into the host sooner. Our ploy had the team going for the first 52 miles until they all passed a sign that said “Sweet Springs 9 miles.” Acting quickly on his feet Andrew told everyone that while Sweet Springs was only 9 miles away our host was actually 30 miles from the city limits.

The prank came to an end when at lunch we started dumping buckets of water on people and not letting anyone leave the stop. It became rather apparent that the host was in fact less than a mile away. We were all able to get into the host by 2 PM thanks to Katie’s plan, and we were able to enjoy the afternoon at the Sweet Springs Community Pool.

After going to the pool we were treated to a pizza dinner by Pastor Tim and the Sweet Springs Wesley United Methodist Church. The Methodist Church’s hospitality was truly generous and has extended through our day off.

For the day off the team woke up to do laundry and came back to a pasta lunch provided by the church. During the afternoon people took care of postcard writing, card playing, reading and napping. The day off provided a great time for riders to relax and prepare for our long day into Paola, KS tomorrow.

For dinner we were treated to a community BBQ which had to be moved indoors due to weather, after the BBQ we had our second Pow-Pow of the trip to mark the end of the first third.

I passed on the leg leader responsibilities to Jesse and no longer have to wake people up in the morning (something that everyone is happy about)

-Greg Gotimer