Ozarks

Hills. Then more hills. Top it off with a few more hills. I had 1st gear climbs today, with several grades greater than 10%. I also hit 45.8 mph on one of the downhills. There wasn’t much to see, although the area is beautiful. If you’re into a lot of camouflage and chewing tobacco, this is also a fantastic spot for you to come hang out. I passed several cars that were strangely parked in random spots along the road today. They did not appear to be broken down. Best I could tell, their owners were on walkabouts in the woods, looking to probably shoot something. Of course, it’s Tuesday. Why not? The other thing you get an absolute overdose of out here, besides the meth, is Christian music. Most restaurants and some convenience stores are playing it. While I have nothing against the genre, I don’t know any of the lyrics and can’t sing along - even in my head.

This brings me to one of my favorite part of preparing for this trip - really. My playlist. Thank you to many of you who might be reading this for your contributions. As I said, if you suggested it, I added it, no questions asked. Your suggestions bumped my list from about 1500 to just over 2000 songs. If I’m being truthful, I don’t love all the new stuff in there, but I’m plowing through and have yet to hit the skip button. Because of road conditions and traffic, I haven’t been able to listen as much as I’d like, but I’m working my way through alphabetically and I’m up to Beer Never Broke My Heart, by Luke Combs (which I do like!). At some point, I’ll try and link to a file with what I’ve listened to so far.

To date, I’ve covered 671 miles and climbed 28,800’ in 8 days of riding.

Lunch

View of the Current River from the Hotel balcony tonight