Day 40: Ellington to Summersville

This morning I awoke at 4:30. I donated $10 to the hostel. After packing, I rode my bike to the only cafe in town, the Vintage Market Cafe. I chatted with three locals named Jeff, Richard, and Rick. Rick asked me if I carried a gun. I said no. He was surprised. I guess he has a hard time trusting people. These three locals informed me that there will be a lot of log trucks on the road and there will be some hills. That's the last thing I want to hear. After eating two eggs, a pancake, two sausages, and hash browns, along with some coffee, I started riding around 6:45 AM.

The Vintage Market Cafe

Thick fog in the morning

There was a thick fog covering the landscape. I did see some log trucks and there were definitely a lot of hills. Around 10 AM, I arrived in Eminence. I stopped by the post office to send back my old panniers and other small things that I didn't need. I also gave the bullet that Jacob gave to Crispin to the post office worker since he said he has a gun that takes that bullet.

On turtle duty again

Downtown Eminence

After the post office, I tried to go into the library to print out more contact cards since I had ran out of them. Unfortunately, the library was closed at the time. I ended up having a Philly cheese steak and fries at Margie's Place, a bar and restaurant frequented by the locals.

Not the best Philly cheese steak, but still good

I had about 19 miles left to Summersville. On the way there I saw a visitor center for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. I stopped to check it out. The ranger told me the visitor center is closed until Memorial Day but I could come inside to take a look and fill my water bottles. I was very grateful. He also told me to check out the spring and the barn not far down the road. So I did.

The red barn next to the spring is like something out of a painting. Imagine living next to a spring! I just hope the water doesn't overflow and flood the barn. I talked with a couple of folks there, told them about my trip, but I didn't have any contact cards with me so I couldn't let them know about my blog.

Red Barn and spring by the visitor center for the Ozark mountains

After a few more hills, with one that I rode down with a speed of 41.4 mph, I arrived in Summersville. The first thing I did was to visit the local library. The librarian, Kathie, helped me get on a computer so I was able to print out more contact cards. After cutting them out I handed one to Kathie. She taped it to the library's bikers log book.

I thought about keep going to Houston. But after eating some chicken strips and a fried burrito at the gas station convenience store, I was too tired to go on. When I asked someone at the city hall of a place to stay, I was informed of a park behind a motel. I'll be camping out there tonight.

Veterans memorial at Summerville

I went to the local hardware store to get a bolt and a screw for the bike mirrior I had bought in Farmington. The mirror fell off my bike when I was riding today. After a bit of searching, the store owner was able to fix my mirror with a new bolt. The mirror is better than new!

Right now I'm at the library again, using the internet to type up my blog. Not sure if I'll get better cell phone signal as I go west. I'll have to see as I go.