Day 50
45 miles with a refreshing dip in a river to cool down.
A nice ride today, it seems like we have the hilliest part of the Ozarks behind us now.
We said goodbye to Jim in Centerville and we were off. There were still hills to climb and it was still humid and 99f (37•c) by late afternoon!
We decided to take a break at Johnsons Shut In’s National Park where where we went for a swim in the river. It was glorious, cool and refreshing.
About an hour later we dragged ourselves back onto the bikes and carried on. We had a brief navigational error near the grandly named Pilot Knob that added 6 miles to the ride but hey, the exercise will do us good!
We rolled into Farmington about 1730 and just made it to the TransAm Cyclery bike shop in time to get my front derailleur shifter sorted out. It was a 5 minute cable tension issue in the end but it’s something that I needed somebody with the knowledge to sort.
We then made our way to Al’s place the amazing bike hostel in town. The hostel is named after a lad that was a keen cyclist and promoted cycling and cycle related hospitality in the area. He succumbed to cancer at a very young age and the hostel is the towns tribute to him. It is a fitting legacy. Al is not forgotten.