Have I mentioned it's hot? Now we're in the 98-102 degree range and the humidity is in the 95 percent range. Anyone who has experienced that kind of combination knows how it feels. I thought to myself today that it is like riding a spin bike in a steam room. We're also beginning to move into corn country and ot's swearing too. We're getting out by 8AM and the mornings are very nice. The dangerous heat comes after 3:30 or so. Today our route had two big climbs and at 6mph you don't make enough breeze for cooling. We stopped at the town of Devils Elbow for lunch and the market was closed. We started getting nervous when we rode up a little further and saw The Elbow Inn. It is a big biker bar. We went in the door behind about a dozen people who had just come in off the Big Piney River. We sat down and immediately had a couple approach us wanting to know all about our trip. While Chandler filled them in I went to the bar to try and order food. It was really nice to feel like we were receiving a lot of respect for being out riding in the heat. The woman behind the bar told us that the kitchen was slammed and it would be 45 minutes for a burger. I told her we needed food but couldn't wait because the delay would put us smack in the worst of the heat before we got to Rolla. She followed me to the table and leaned in and whispered she could get ours out fast. I assumed everyone else wouldn't mind since they were all enjoying a cold beer. The beer looked quite good, but I know far better than to think I could ride in the heat after having one. Our lunch came in about ten minutes. We ate quickly and got back on the bikes for the last twenty miles. When we got to Rolla, I realized I was completely cooked. I started to pull into the first hotel we came to in Rolla and Chandler reminded me about dinner options so we pressed on another few hundred yards. We're riding some of the most beautiful miles yet. The forest is very dense to our sides most of the time. In fact, much more dense than the jungle of the Mekong in Southeast Asia. Tonight the cicadas and frogs are so loud I thought at first it was some kind of machinery. I brought Chandler a Lauren outside to enjoy the sounds and then a grove of lightning bugs started lighting up. It's been very interesting riding through different climactic zones and ecosystems. This is certainly a more verdant place than the Southwest.
Good job, my friends.
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