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DAY 12

Everyone's ready for a flat day...it's not today!

ROUTE: Festus MO to St Genevieve MO	DISTANCE: 46 miles	WINDS: SE 5-10 Do I hear headwinds again? But not bad at all.
WEATHER: Mostly sunny with temps in the mid 80s by afternoon.	TERRAIN: Rolling to real hilly in spots	TOTAL CLIMBING: 3160 feet give or take depending on which route they took.

RIDE OVERVIEW: Today looks like a day for SPONGE BOB, SQUARE PANTS! Since it was a short day, Karen and I wore our Sponge Bob jerseys and didn't get to ride with many folks today so most of our photos were of us in Sponge Bob...thanks to the North Ride group who labeled me and my bike as SB.

Boy are we ready for a short day. I think everyone after yesterday were happy to see the mileage today...46 miles. I hate to tell them that sometimes these short days seem to take more energy than some of the long ones. It was a beautiful morning and it was nice to have a little time to get some things caught up. We had the usual...people standing around like buzzards over a dead carcass waiting for me to show my face around the luggage van. When I open the door, I get covered with luggage. It's a challenge to keep ahead of everyone when loading the luggage...especially when we have a later than before sunrise load. I should get hazardous duty pay for all the flying bags that come our way.

Our departure took us out highway 61 for about 5 miles where we turned out into the country for a nice leisurely ride along the top of a ridgeline. The terrain was on the rolling side, but many of the "climbs" were the type you could get a good bit of momentum before starting up. We didn't get to see the river officially, but some of the riders toured downtown St Genevieve where they went to ride the ferry and to do some sightseeing. We had two routes available to us after the SAG. One route went out in the country up and down ridgelines along some very scenic farm land. The other route took everyone downtown St Genevieve via route 61 and then out another county road to the motel. Their route was also very scenic after town for the last 6 miles to the motel. Either way, the mileage was similar it just depended on how much time people spent downtown. Basically, our 46 mile day allowed everyone to get in town or the motel by noon so there was plenty of time to see historic downtown.

St Genevieve was first settled by the French on the west shore of the Mississippi River in the late 1740s and was part of the large territory held by France in North America. History recorded a disastrous flood in 1785 that forced the gradual migration of the town to the higher ground where it's located today. The town has retained its French heritage even though this area was ceded to the Spanish in the 1760s and later becoming part of the United States. Much of its charm is due to the preservation of much of the early settlement with its narrow streets and fenced gardens along "French-colonial" style buildings.

Ever since I've been leading rides down the river I've heard strange stories about super natural happenings in these areas...fact or fiction? Just before Karen and I arrived at the SAG, we saw possible signs of an alien ship flying over the tree line above the road (below left). We are getting into the area where there are several sightings every month that many believe are just hoaxes...I'm a believer after what we saw today. Judge for yourself...I made a quick count of all our riders to insure they were all still with us. I also monitored everyone's behavior, but no one seemed to be acting strangely...at least no stranger than usual. We'll keep you posted if we hear of any other unusual sightings.

After everyone got in today, we had lots of time before dinner and rap so I offered a clinic on minor bicycle maintenance entitled "Care and feeding of your bike" (below right). Just about everyone came by to discuss everything from lubrication to how to adjust a saddle (I told you there wasn't much to do where we were staying). During the question and answer period, 71 year old Don asked an important question about how to adjust his seat in order to maintain his ability to have children in later life. After a very thorough description of how to adjust fore and aft, tilt, and height to keep pressure off the tender parts...his eyes just rolled back and he said he was sorry he asked and he'd probably just have to be impotent.

After dinner, we had another activity...the famous ABB T-shirt swap. Barb led the festivities while everyone tried to hock their precious Ts. Barb didn't even take a shirt to swap and she ended up with 2...that's how we get so many in our closet. Steve was showing off his "I © NY" when Barb noticed the shirt was so long that even as tall as Steve was, he could still use it as a night shirt as it came down to his knees. Someone commented that if he tucked it in it would only say "I ©."

Tomorrow we have one more day of climbing before we finally get to the river delta. Several riders are looking forward to riding some flat terrain...they'll get their wish soon and they'll be asking for a hill to break things up...we'll see. Our last concern is the weather in the gulf. It looks like we may have to deal with some foul weather before getting to New Orleans...hopefully we are still far enough away for it to clear out of the south...we'll take it a day at a time...for now, it's dry.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY: "My legs were breaking today."

"Boy, what a ride. We took TT to T, then T to DD, then we turned again on DD at the T."
"Then the road turned into OO."
"OK."
"No, OO."
"Oh."
"NO...OO!!"
"Oh Gee."
"NOOOOO...OO!!!"
"Oh never mind."

DUH OF THE DAY: Goes to Steve Groves today. Barbara was doing laundry when Steve walked in with his and stuck all his clothes into the dryer. Barb asked him if he'd washed his clothes out in the sink and he said, "Yes, sometimes except when I can find a laundromat like this to wash my clothes." Barb said, "So you didn't wash them out today." "Why, no," was the reply. "Then why are you putting them into the dryer instead of the washer?" Barb asked. "Oops, I guess your right." was all he could come up with.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Karen and I were both elated when we filled our bingo cards with B-32!	All Clark could say was that some of the scenes at the overlook today were just "hair raising."
At the overlook, me and Sponge Bob posed for a photo against the scenic backdrop of the valley below. Karen asked me to move back...bad move!	That may have been just a little too far back! It was a looooong way down. Save me Sponge Bob!!!!
Everyone enjoyed the SAG today at the scenic overlook. Sponge Bob hadn't climbed back from the valley floor yet, but everyone else was in good spirits.	Jack and Julius show good form on Hwy 61 today.