Day 61

Today we woke up to "The most annoying sound I have ever heard," Kristen says about my cell phone alarm. We packed everything up before 9am and waited for the library to open, so we could catch up with emails and update the website. I personally spent the time emailing tourism outfitters in downtown Chicago where I could do my 2 month internship. I tell ya it's a bit scary that this trip is going to be ending in about three weeks and our simple lives of biking, eating, and sleeping will come to an abrupt end and we will have to start looking for jobs. However, Kristen and I both discussed our life after this trip and knew it was going to be different, but the exciting thing is that we will be going on a new adventure, with more new people to meet, and new experiences to share. We wouldn't trade this summer that was filled with heartwarming stories of acts of kindness that strangers have done throughout the states we passed, or the funny people we met along the way, or myself learning a thing or two about women. The most important thing we will take out of this summer is that we "just two ordinary college student" had the passion, motivation, and determination to pursue something that we truly cared about and wanted to make a difference in the world. We used a lot of the skills that college has taught us and incorporated that into a bike ride which will help children have the chance to receive an education.

After the library we went to our favorite one-stop shopping center.....Walmart. We bought some breakfast food and 1 pound of beef jerky! We really don't like shopping there, but its perfect for our budget that is slowly dwindling because all the food we consume in order to hit our 5,000-6,000 calorie daily intake. We love burning so many calories because seriously we can eat whatever is in front of us and still lose weight.

We got back on the road and into the Ozarks again. This day is when we really entered the Ozark Mountains. I thought all the hills we were climbing for the past two days were the Ozarks...was I in for a treat! The scenery reminded Kristen and I of Costa Rica. The Ozarks are really lush and green, with trees closely spaced in high canopies. It was absolutely stunning. I felt like I was riding through the Amazon Rain forest. We must admit, we had no idea the Ozark Mountains (I wouldn't necessarily consider them mountain just CONSTANT STEEP HILLS) existed. The 60 or so miles we rode were hard. It was probably the steepest grades we faced in this whole trip. The good part about these hills was the downhill we got up to 45 mph and the climbs only lasted about 1/2 mile.

We stayed at a campground in the town of Emienence. It was nice because there was a river were we could wash up our sweaty bodies. That evening we met fellow campers Bre and Rob and they invited us for a few drinks. We enjoyed spending the night sharing stories about our trip and learning about their lives. Thanks for cooking up the late-night brats. Time flew up and it was almost 1am. We were just about to part to our tent when Bruce the maintenance guy at the campground came by with a guitar and starting playing the Eagles. Great way to finish up the night!

Night
Mark