Day 34: People helping people

108 miles. Averaged 12.6 mph. We had another excellent night of sleeping. Free showers and free camping in a park under a pavilion. We are on a roll, it's not even fair. Within the first 20 miles we ran into three other cyclists stopped on the side of the road. Jen and Ken were riding recumbents and Sky had just rode up on a unicycle. All three were heading west. The reason for their stop was because Jen and Ken had a broken chain. They needed a special sprocket to connect it back together. Fortunately, we had one for them. It was great helping them out. People helping people, it's a magical thing. Jen and Ken are biking for the Donate Life organization in loving memory of their daughter, Alexandria. They're biking out to meet the child who received her donated organ. Check out their blogs at www.kenandjennc.blogspot.com and www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/6429. The craziest guy we've met so far was riding a unicycle across the country has a website as well. His website address is www.thirtysixer.com. After getting the chain fixed we parted ways. Great meeting each of you! The humidity has been pretty noticeable the past few days. Unlike the western states where it's so dry the sweat evaporates it immediately. Here, you're just sweating constantly. It's kind of cool. We made it to a small town of about 800 people called Hartville, MO. Who knew right in the center of town they would have a Subway. Someone has a sense of humor. We made it just before closing time and met two other cycling groups in town for the night. The first group was a 78 year old couple from Australia. They were riding a tandem bike and told us we have some hills yet to climb. Really nice people. We can only hope to still be walking by that age. Keep it up Frank and Barbara! The second group was Georgia and Chaz from Indiana University, go Big Ten! They started just a few days ago at the Mississippi river and are heading to San Fran. It sounded like it's been tough so far but we told them they'll feel great pretty soon. Shout out to Kevin Englebright who we met at a stop yesterday. He mentioned he had cancer and was fascinated by our trip so he decided to make a donation. Thanks so much Kevin! We'll be thinking and praying for you!

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Sky