The weather has really been cooperating since we survived the drowning we took four days ago. Cloudless skies, moderate temperatures, and the wind blowing from the north half of the compass have made our southerly trek more enjoyable.
We came across a hilly ridge to traverse 10 miles into today's ride. There was a very steep section that sent Wendy's grade alert on her Garmin into red alert and had me gasping for more air. The above photo was taken several miles later. Wendy was just cresting another of the rolling hills in the ridgeline.
North of our destination for tonight we came across this scene. I had always thought farmers turned the corn stubble (left after harvesting) under but I guess some of them like to burn their field to the ground. This was a huge burn and we saw other separate burns underway as well.
It turns out that large cotton farms can be grown in this region. Wendy grabbed some cotton balls for the next noisy campground we happen to stay at.
A little further down the same road we came across these large rolls of cotton balls.
We stopped in at the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. Karen pretty much runs the place. This was a great place to view alot of town history and memorabilia. We were looking for a place to pitch a tent on such a nice day. She had some suggestions that we had already vetted with no luck. She gave us a couple of other options as well but in the end her recommendation for one of the hotel options in town convinced us to stay put. She started to give us some restaurant recommendations in town then out of left field asked if we'd like to try some of her homemade chicken and dumplings. We of course said yes. She put us in charge of the Chamber for 15 minutes while she made the round-trip to her home to get the chicken and dumplings. I can't think of anything that says "Welcome to Charleston" better than some home cooked food. Karen gave us a history lesson on the towns annual Dogwood & Azalea Festival around the 3rd week in April each year while we ate and talked.
We said our goodbyes and headed a few doors down to the local ice cream shop which also had alot of character.
So if you ever decide to ride the Missouri side of the MRT, make sure you stop in and say hello to Karen then head on over to the Scoop Ice Cream Shoppe.
