Across the Mississippi

Good Morning! It's 5:30 am and I'm writing from the top of a hill in Eminence, Missouri. All of my bags are packed, my water bottles filled, and the directions are written down! I've been pretty good about keeping my journal updated, but this is the first online entry I'm doing. Gosh, I'm not even quite sure where I want to start...
First and foremost I would like to say hello to my beautiful aunt, especially because I know she checks the blogs all of the time and I miss her!

Recently my grandfather passed away. The team was just south of Chicago though, so I only had to hop on a train to get home. Nick's sister was graduating too, so not only was it easy to get home, I also had good company on the train ride back! Aside from the reason I had to go home, I actually enjoyed myself quite thoroughly. My aunt, my uncle, and my mom and I got to spend some good time together looking at old pictures and I got to catch up on sleep. The nap that I was planning on taking at 6:30 pm ended up lasting until 6 am.

Being with my family for a week though, kind of gave me a new perspective. I don't think that the team realizes what a great job we are doing working with each other. We are constantly eating, sleeping, and riding together and somehow manage to still enjoy each other's company!

On my first day back, the very first thing we did was cross the Mississippi River! It was an amazing feeling to be back on my bike and an amazing way to start my second leg of the trip. Missouri is a bit more topographical than we thought though and no exercize for a week and lots of hills didn't really agree with one another. My left knee wasn't very happy and with only ten miles left to go, I jumped up and down on my right foot until a lady pulled over was kind enough to drive me the rest of the way. The next day (yesterday) I drove the car, and today I'm going to let optimism overule riding in the car again. Well, it's time for breakfast and another wonderful day!