...and pedaled until I made it to the Poplar Bluff, Missouri Rotary club meeting twenty minutes before the starting bell at noon. The members of this club were very kind and allowed me to be the main speaker that day, so I stood for around 20 minutes and shared my experiences and campaign mission with them. At the end of the meeting a lady, Sandy Wood, offered her spare bedroom to me and asked if I would speak with her daughter who was interested in joining the Peace Corps. Of course I agreed, and she went back to work. The assistant principal of the local high school loaded my trailer and bike into his truck and took me to his school to introduce me around. After a fun meet-and-greet of the staff and some faculty, I was taken to the newly renovated town library to rest and wait for Sandy to get off work. While at the library I received a phone call telling me to walk a couple blocks down the street and be interviewed by the local newspaper. The reporter was a very nice guy and we had a good conversation about my project. Yet again, for the third time, I never heard anything from him afterwards and he didn't send me the article. I'm still working on getting the three pieces and linking them on my website. Sandy scooped me up after work and we went back to her house, and gave the spare bedroom and introduced me to her curious daughter and her boyfriend who were full of questions about the Peace Corps. The parents went to a dinner party, and the youths took me out to dinner and we talked about my time in Africa. I spent the rest of the evening resting, and working on the internet, and going to bed early. The next day was planned to be a doozy.

I left Poplar Bluff around 9:45 and headed North up Highway 67 which was a major trucking route through the Ozarks. So not only did I have to deal with the long, steep climbs of the Ozark mountains, but I was dodging 18-wheelers all day, as well as about a 40 mile stretch of construction. By the day's end I had made it 104 miles and reached my campsite in St. Francois State Park. I was so happy to finally make it there, my body was exhausted. The camp site was fully equipped and I was able to take a hot shower and fill up on water. I called my family, ate some food I bought in a Walgreen's in the town before the park, and feel into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning was supposed to be easy compared to the day before at only 50+ miles, but it turned out to be anything but easy. In the first five miles I had to stop on the upslope of a major hill cause my trailer tire was flat. I forgot to mention the first two in my last entry, but since leaving Little Rock, AR this was my third flat trailer tire. I had gone over 1500 miles without a single problem with my two little back tires, then, within a week, I came up lame three times. Since I only carry two spares and had already used them back in Arkansas, I had to use my patch kit and fix the puncture. I used what I had learned from the many flats I had in Niger (they have lots of thorns in the desert) and mended my inner tube. I continued on, going much slower than the day before due to a slight head-wind and the overall exhausted state of my legs. I can't be sure but I also felt that the climbs closer to St. Louis were much larger and more difficult. It was an especially hot day, and I stopped more times than average to refill water and drink some Gatorade. I had finally made it into the suburbs of St. Louis, where my Peace Corps teammate Piper Krausch lives with her fiance, when the same trailer tire I patched earlier in the day goes flat again. So I'm only a couple miles away from "home" on a very busy highway and I have to patch my inner tube again. I eventually rolled into my resting place for the next week two and a half hours later than I should have. I was so happy to be somewhere I could recuperate.

I arrived on Friday of Memorial Weekend and had a great time relaxing. We went to see the huge Arch, and went up 630 ft in the little "tram" elevator to the top and looked out and took pictures. (I'll post them soon, I promise). Afterwards we were going to walk around, but a storm had blown in. The next day Nate, Piper's fiance, and I went to the St. Louis Zoo, which is apparently the 3rd nicest zoo in America. We tried to go to the art museum and planetarium afterwards but they were closed. So we went to eat at the Italian restaurant Rigazzi's which had been in "The Hill", the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis since 1957. Very good food and their famous fish-bowl beers. On Wednesday I was able to do a thirty minute radio interview with Dana Daniels on 102.5 FM in St. Louis which airs Sunday the 31st. After the interview I spoke to the 20 member St. Louis County Rotary club about my project and was totally blown away when they wrote out a check for $400 to fund me through the midWest. I was down to running on fumes and worrying about continuing on, but they gave a much needed jolt to my campaign. I was feeling so good after that Piper and I went on the Anheiser-Busch Brewery tour and I learned a lot about beer, the company and St. Louis. There is a huge amount of history tied in with Anheiser-Busch and St. Louis, and I was very impressed. The only other brewery tour I've taken was the Biere Niger brewery in Niamey, Niger and it was NOTHING compared to this place. The factory complex is so nice and there is soooo much money put back into the company. The tour itself is run all day almost every day and has a lot of money put into it. Like I said, very impressed. The next day I went to speak at the much larger 200+ member St. Louis Rotary Club where I had only a few moments to address and explain my project. With the bigger clubs there is more bureaucracy so I didn't walk out of there with a check, but the president said they'd send something back to South Carolina to my Rotary point people. We'll see if they make good on their promise. I was able to walk around downtown for a bit after the meeting and I must say, St. Louis is a very beautiful city. I love the arcitechture and the history with so many of the buildings.

And now, I'm wrapping up my latest blog entry, packing my bags and trailer, and preparing to head out for the next leg of my journey, West across Missouri then through the vast plains of Kansas and the Eastern one third of Colorado up into Denver. I am planning on stopping in Kansas City for a few days to speak with Rotary clubs and I will do my best to chronicle my trip across the Show Me State (Missouri). Until then, thanks for reading and write or call me anytime!