Day Eighteen (45.5 miles, 700.6 total): Hill of Hell

RING! My arms flail around and I slap my phone off the cot. Ella jumps up in surprise when I start flipping around in the cot like a beached whale. Ella starts frantically licking my hand when I flip over. Too early, need more sleep. Everyone else is still completely crashed out on their cots. I try my best to not make any noise as I take the furry little monster outside. Ella starts stretching like she is doing yoga on the porch. She makes her way down to the yard and runs around for a bit. She jumps back up the porch and we head back in. Bob, Bill and Celia are slowly starting to get up now. We all pack up our gear like a herd of sloths and head out to breakfast. After a breakfast of bland biscuits and gravy, we set off for Summersville.

Storm clouds lingered over head as we cycled on down the road. Joel had sent us a message telling us about the hills to Summersville, but it wasn't what we expected. The hills came at us like a brick wall. It was like being on an Everest Expedition. We practically had to tie ropes to each other as we climbed up the road faces. Cars were not very accepting of us and made it known they didn't like sharing the road. Puffs of black smoke filled the air, as rednecks compensating with big trucks, smoked us as they passed by. Some cars would purposefully get to close and others would just follow until we pulled over no matter how much open road we gave them.

The air was thick and heavy, rain just waiting for the perfect moment to drop on us. We pushed on till we reached the town of Eminence. There, we stopped at a burger joint for lunch and to replenish our dwindling water supply. Thunder cracks the sky in the distance. We knew it was coming, we just didn't know when. After lunch, we all put on rain gear over our panniers and set off down the road. Having a good lunch and riding with friends, makes hills so much more bearable. Cruising on down the road, fat and happy. About 7 miles later, we reach Allie Springs. I had really wanted to stop here, but we are all huffing and puffing under the afternoon sun and we just want to move on. It also happened to be in the middle of two hills, so we didn't want to lose momentum.

Unfortunately, it didn't make much of a difference. This hill after Allie Springs, was officially dubbed The Hill of Hell. On and on it went, with a ridiculous grade that sapped the energy out of you. It was so long and so steep, that eventually all of us had to get off the bikes and walk for a while. The clouds were not far behind us, but the sun was cooking the pavement beneath us. Our feet were starting to burn through our shoes. It felt like my toes were being cooked like Pigs in a Blanket. Finally, we were done dragging ourselves up the hill and clouds passed over our heads for a little shade. We stopped for some water and a picture, then we headed off again.

We pedaled on late into the afternoon. After a few more hills, none as vicious as Hill of Hell, we finally arrived in the one horse town of Summersville. Bob and Celia looked up the directions to the community center and we set off down the street. They turned on to a gravel road, so Bill and I stopped for a moment not thinking that could be right. Bob said it was definitely the way so we followed down the unpaved path to nowhere. The gravel road did lead us to the community youth center and a small motel/inn right next door. Celia called the youth center, but they didn't allow cyclists to camp there or anywhere else in town. We were forced to stay at The Country Inn. Instead of getting several rooms, we split the price and all shared one room. It was a strange little room and none of the pillow cases matched. Not a single one.

As soon as we had brought all our gear in the room, those threatening clouds finally broke. It was an absolute downpour. Actually, it rained sideways! We opened the door and the rain was coming in sideways! We all took turns using the shower and settling down into the frigid little room. The storm moved on after awhile and Bob, Bill and myself set off to go to the grocery store and to get pizza. Celia stayed behind and played with Ella while we were gone. As we walked around the town trying to find the pizza place, we saw two Amish families on their horse drawn carts. The pizza place ended up being a gas station and we waited almost an hour for it to get done.

I finally met another cyclist headed west named Mark. He had a trailer pulled behind his bike instead of panniers. Once we got the pizza, we went to the grocery store and headed back to The Country Inn. Now that we are back in the air conditioned room with food ready to eat, I will drop the pen for a slice of pizza! I hope you enjoy reading our adventures and continue to follow us as we continue through the mountains of Missouri!