Cows tell all

July 21, 2013

Springfield, MO to Joplin, MO

Since Matt went to school in Springfield and lives just outside of the city, he hooked us up for all of our meals while we were there. Our final breakfast before leaving for Joplin was beyond amazing. We went to a Village Inn, a breakfast place in Missouri, and had the most delicious and hearty breakfast we've had all trip. Just writing about it now is making me hungry remembering how good it was. I spent the day riding with two girls I've become close with on the trip, Casey and Ellie, and our friend Jeff. Again, the clouds were out so the heat was bearable for most of the morning ride. In fact, the clouds made almost a second sunrise when they started to clear around 10 or 11 which was cool to watch. 

While on this trip we've heard that if cows are laying down then it means it's going to rain. Just before it started to rain, we passed a field with 4 cows in it--2 were laying down while 2 were standing. Clearly there was some confusion as to what the chances of rain were. Turns out it was only just a light drizzle, which is understandable that not every cow got the rain memo. However, when we biked by cows when it was drizzling, almost all of them were laying down. It was a relatively easy 80 mile ride, which seems crazy to say but it's true. We had a lot of fun talking and doing our sweepstakes video. Today's challenge was the best lip sync or voice over. This was our final product: 

We didn't win but we had a lot of fun making it. Riding into Joplin was also pretty cool. All I knew about the city I had heard from the news when they were hit with a devastating tornado back in May of 2011. The town was way larger than I thought it would be and a lot more rebuilt than I had anticipated. I'm so excited that we get to work here for two days! Since we rolled into the host site on the early side, I decided it was time to give my bike a real cleaning since it hadn't had one since before the tar had gotten all over it. I also switched my tires (the front went to the back and vice versa) and lubed up my chain. So clean and so fresh! This is what a bike and build girl looks like!