Day 20: Montgomery City, MO to Fayette, MO

Friday, June 18th

After shuttling into St. Louis because of lightning and thunder, followed by a day off, and yesterday’s morning storms, high heat and humidity, and complications with directions, I know Dan and I were happy to be back on the bike today. We rose with the sun at the Lazy Days Campground in Montgomery City, where riders foraged in the snack bins for breakfast. Meal highlights include: Jose’s peanut butter and fruit loop sandwich, and Abhishek’s jelly, spaghetti and tomato sauce sandwich. Kevin led the team cheer (conducted in a whisper so as not to wake up any of the other campers in their luxury mobile homes) in Hebrew – not our most successful effort yet; perhaps we should stick to English?

Team “Count Me Out”, made up of Terence, Andrew, Sarah, Chris, Erica and myself set out for what was meant to be a 76 mile day. The day’s van drivers, Gayatri and Natalie (who had a second-round job interview, amidst leading the first leg – she does it all!) quickly realized that our directions would have to be revised because of some bridge closings. About 10 miles in, the team met up at Crane’s Country Store to seek shade and change some of the day’s route. Since a group of 28 attractive young people in tight-fitting spandex and chamois tends to attract attention, it wasn’t long before the owners of the store learned of the 4K’s mission, shared stories of their own cancer experiences, and offered to make a lunch donation. They supplied us with made-to-order sandwiches for each rider, some fruit, and two whole cases of Gatorade. Not knowing where will get food from when we wake up in the morning has proven to be a humbling experience, but it is this kind of generosity, from complete strangers, which makes the 4K possible.

While Kristine worked on re-routing the day’s directions over the phone with Joe (THANKS, JOE!!), our fearless first leg leader Natalie managed to “Ice” me (see http://www.newser.com/story/89862/oddest-new-drinking-game-icing.html for an explanation of the game that is taking the country, and the 4K, by storm). As you can imagine, the warm Smirnoff Ice did wonders for the day’s dehydration. After committing the new directions to memory, Team Count Me Out set off fifteen miles to the next water stop. We passed the time with talk of life after the 4K, and how it’s been great to live much more simply than we’d become accustomed to back home. It’s proven eye-opening to realize it’s possible (and enjoyable) to live with nothing but a sleeping bag, a duffel bag and a bike for 20 (and 43 to come) days.

Made water and lunch stops in the driveways of some very unsuspecting Missouri-ans. Our lunch stop host even took some snapshots of us to share with his grandson, who “would have loved to see us.” Made sure to eat and drink lots of water and Gatorade to keep from “bonking.” Our new route took us along a gravel road for a bit, where Pooja took one for the team to teach us all a lesson – walk your bike across gravel. Because she’s a champ, Pooja poured some water over the gash on her arm from a rock and hopped right back on her bike. Soon after, the invincible Henrik got his first flat of the trip – he is now one of us.

Natalie re-joined the team after she rocked her interview to let us know that the support vans would be shuttling us across a 3 mile-long gravel road that we’d be getting to soon. So Team Count Me Out stopped with the other groups to wait our turn to get driven across the gravel. To pass the time, Charlie took some glamour shots of Terence and Abhishek (they’ll be appearing in next summer’s Abercrombie & Fitch ad campaign), and Meaghan modeled what a nerd on the 4K would look like (imagine jersey tucked in, chamois pulled up high).

Not long after, Wayne from the church hosting us in Fayette arrived to save the day in his bright red pick-up truck. He graciously helped to shuttle the remaining groups across the gravel roads so that Meaghan and I might be able to get the Dairy Queen ice cream we had been dreaming of a bit sooner. A few of us may or may not have contemplated having Wayne drive us the few remaining miles into town, but when we saw Pooja pedaling away, that was all the inspiration we needed to bike ourselves to our host.

Showers at the local high school may have lacked the swimsuit spinners we have all grown to appreciate (YMCAs where we shower often have mini salad spinner contraptions that help to dry our wet clothes), but nothing else was missing from our visit to Fayette. There was enough food to feed an army, and it was so nice to have so many community members volunteer to introduce themselves after our team members did so.

Pooja was able to have her arm looked at by Fayette’s very own veterinarian who suggested stitches were in order, and his wife swiftly drove her to the hospital to get some staples to patch up her wound. Like a champ, Pooja keeps proclaiming that her arm isn’t bothering her at all – how is that possible??

Our hosts, like all the others we’ve met so far, were so gracious, and without knowing it, give us all a reason to get up in the morning when it feels like the last thing we want to do is get back on a bike. If we can inspire them half as much as they inspire us, then we’ve done our job.

-Dana Rampulla