55 miles. Pittsfield, IL to Hannibal, MO
The church put out an awesome breakfast spread today that i still can't get over. It makes such a difference. One of the members, Jerry also showed a few of us some great magic tricks involving a chain that I wan't to make sure I memorize since I don't know any and they always come in handy.
Today we hit a serious milestone that i think we're all really proud of. It was not our 786th group picture but rather crossing the mighty Mississippi River into Missouri. It came around mile 19 and we headed down to the shore to chill out for a good 45 minutes and take it all in. We all dipped our feet in it and some went so far as to follow the "tradition" (?) of washing your face in it. It felt so cool to be physically and literally immersed in such a significant site of American History and identity. It's even funner since its not some like cool waterfall or crazy architectural wonder or something but rather just some lazy river that is so damn important. You can't help but think how those first settlers were happily mozying along on their way west when they saw this thing and we're probably like "Aww man, how we gonna cross this!".
Also, Missouri, the "show me" state. Seriously, could you think of a more innuendoish motto. We decided to give our own inerpretation.
It got me thinking a lot about world monuments in general and how to balance the awe and wonder of the history behind it with the fact that if you stare hard enough its really just another building or body of water, etc. Essentially I'm concerned with the slight anticlimax involved in such wonders. Rob interestingly pointed out that the real wonder and joy is in the journey getting there, especially on such a trip as ours. This resonated with me and my desire to live life by being present. Either way that river definitely is mighty and it was one of my favorite stops yet.
There were tracks that ran right along it and just as we were leaving this great locomotive started passing carrying at least 1 mile's worth of cars full of coal. It was pure insanity how much that engine was hauling. Several of us had to fight our urges to grab onto the ladders and follow the train down south, though that doesn't mean we didn't pretend to do so as we ran along it.
Right before lunch, I had a pretty liberating experience that I won't forget for a while and which I'll keep to myself. Oh public journals...
The weather and terrain were pretty similar though it was much hotter today and we saw our share of rolling hills. I was actually thinking today that I'm really excited for the rockies not only for the natural beauty but mostly for the fact that we're gonna show just how badass we are as we climb those impossible ascents. Well today Missouri apparently caught wind of this and just so happened to throw a few "mini-mountains", as we called them, our way. As we were descending one hill we could see this other monster ascent directly in front of us. It was literally gruesome. Some expletives definitely came out while still descending towards it along with like "Seriously!?". These guys just came all up in our business, no introduction or nothing. Flat, Flat, rolling, flat, HEY LOOK MOUNTAIN!. Needless to say we beasted them, but there was definitely much commiserating at dinner.
Right at the end of the day we came across the "world famous" Mark Twain Caves. They were kind enough to give us a group discount on the guided tour. These are apparently the caves where Mark Twain would go exploring and where he based many of the scenes from Tom Sawyer on. Hannibal, the town we're in, was in fact his boyhood home. Even without the history, the caves themselves were so cool. Like really, who would think rocks could be so fun. Just winding path after winding path. At one point we were even directly under the Mississippi River!. And Jesse James used to hide out there! It was also freezing in there at like 50 degrees. The tour was pretty informative, anecdotal, and of course filled with horrible puns but overall enjoyable. They apparently also had this Mark Twain impersonator who does shows everyday which i find just hilarious.
At showers today at the YMCA i used the hot tub shamelessly. The lady who saw me get in and moan with delight had nothing but shock on her face. Apparently she thought it was too hot, to which I instinctively responded "Not enough". It felt so great in there, muscles and all, definitely doing it every chance i get.
The Baptist church here put out a wonderful dinner including my first cheesecake on this trip. Afterwards we did more affordable housing presentations. Everyone had done lots of research but the delivery was just painful at times. It just drives me mad when people who are delivering a presentation read to you rather than talk to you. My intent is not to critique individual people but this is just a subject which actually gets me sorta angry in general. I feel that so often powerpoints are assumed to be boring slides with text so why bother doing anything else. I don't get why it still doesn't click with people that block paragraphs of text on screens don't help anyone and kill interest like we do the environment. Why can't we actually have some sort of public school structure for instructing young, impressionable children in effective presentation skills, both communication-wise and technology-wise. I mean seriously, most of the world's successful people are great presenters and why shouldn't cultivating this ability among our children should be a priority. Presenting well has so many other positive effects on one's self confidence, ability to communicate and interact with others, etc.
Ugh, wow haven't gotten riled up like that in a while. Basically i understand that we all had time pressures for these and such but I was so underwhelmed at some points by the delivery that i could'nt help thinking of this. Again, I really think this is a much larger and systemic problem within society and the way we prioritize education, not me directing anger at individuals who i love hanging around with on this trip. I could talk forever about this, but even I get tired of myself sometimes.
Paige has organized a game of Assassins for our trip and its starting tomorrow. I have a very harrowed history with this game both in high school and in college. Basically every time it comes around i get super pumped and plan out all sorts of deceit and strategy only to lose literally within the first hours to the most miserable random luck for my killer. The game is super fun to bring a group together but also legit stressful. I actually can't deal with that kind of heartbreak again so I'm hoping that maybe my blase attitude while have the opposite effect and make things somehow go my way. That being said, I can never quite control the inner ninja in me...
I am hapilly and officially lowering my elbow and crash wounds to minor status. I've stopped wrapping my elbow daily and they're all on track to heal just fine and scar beautifully. Also I'm hoping to include a picture soon of a tan line update. Mine aren't the most extreme by far but I think you guys might def be somewhat proud at the very least.
Also, mail came today! Thank you Becky! and Sylvia! Go mom and dad also for sending my sweet blue silicone squishy camping bowl that you can turn inside out and lick clean. Possibly top 17 best inventions ever. I can't wait to use it and eat something besides peanut butter for lunch.
Really great past two days. Just what i needed and was hoping for after that bad sweep experience. Looking forward to more bike and build fun. Finally a 6am wakeup! We get to sleep in!
No comments:
Post a Comment