Day 21: Hitchin a Ride

We woke at 6am this morning in Houston, MO to a very chilly and dewy world. To our surprise, a couple people were  already strolling around the park! We gathered our things and hopped on our bikes for an 18 mile ride to breakfast.

Unfortunately, the gas station we were planning to stop at for breakfast was closed. But we found a woman walking along the road who was eager to talk to us and happy to fill up our waters for us. She was a missionary who was visiting some friends in the area, and asked to pray with/for us before we left. Things like this are starting to seem rather normal, since we've essentially been riding through the Bible Belt this whole trip!

We ended up riding another 20 miles before stopping for breakfast in a cute little town. The 20 miles after our stop were beautiful and bucolic, with lots of pastures and cows and horses. And much flatter than what we've been riding the past couple of days! Not a bad ride! And we got to stop at the Sonic in Ashfield for a limeade (good, but could've been limeier) before taking old route 66 over to Strafford, MO. There we planned to meet up with the family we had met vacationing at Cave-in-rock state park, IL. 

We showed up in Strafford with just enough time for a pickle break before our hosts Diana and her son Gabe arrived. They had graciously offered to drive us from Strafford to their home in Springfield, so we threw our bikes in their son's pick up truck. We learned on the way to their house that the whole family (including Diana's husband Dave and the older son, Luke) enjoyed hunting, fishing, and being outdoors.

We were so grateful to have a shower and a delicious home-cooked meal when we got to their house! After dinner, Gabe showed us a nest of several-day-old bunnies that he had discovered while mowing the neighbor's lawn. It seems that baby animals are a theme of this trip. We think the photo speaks for itself.

Tiny bunnies!

:) 

After Dave got home from work, we chatted with Dave and Diana (over a lovely dessert of strawberry shortcake). We really enjoyed hearing their thoughts on religion (they are members of a nearby Baptist Church). They actually ended up answering a lot of questions we had about church membership and the differences between different types of Baptists!

We spent the night in a very comfy bed in Luke's room (thank you, Luke!). His room was a museum of all sorts of interesting pieces of nature, as well as stuffed birds he had hunted and antlers from the deer he had shot. Diana had done much of the taxidermy herself! We were very impressed and enjoyed learning about taxidermy.

Overall, we had a wonderful stay with the Rauch family. We're floored that they would invite us to their home after a few minutes speaking to us in the park. Its good to know that that kind of hospitality exists in this world. We wish them the best and we hope that our paths will cross again some day!