August 15: We went from Van Buren to Dexter, MO. The campground Wildwood RV Park was unattended, no website, and didn't answer their phone. We rolled in to town unsure if we were going to have a place to stay that night as there were no other campgrounds that we could find in our searches for 25-30 miles. It actually turned out to be a nice place with many permanent residents. The gentleman in site 1 was the person in charge of the joint while the owners were away. Pretty uneventful stay. The first part of the ride was super flat and fast. As I got into Poplar Bluff to meet for lunch the heat turned up. About a 1/4 mile after lunch my brand new Gstor Skin tire ripped open and was toast. There was a Dunhams sport store close so I walked over but they did not have any road tires. So, Rebecca came back and saved the day. I was back on the road no more than 5 miles and my brand new Conti 4000s tire I just put on had a torn side wall, exact same damage. By this time it was HOT and I was back on the busy highway. So, I had some electrical tape and psyched the side wall hoping it would hold. I limped back to camp and called it a day.
August 16: We went from Dexter, MO to Columbus, KY. We found a state park there that has full hookups. The first state park with such amenities. Columbus-Belmont State Park on the Mississippi.
The horse flies were terrible, but we still managed to spend some time outdoors.
Charlotte found a frog and ended up smothering it to death...haha...kids! We warned her not to handle it so much, but she obviously thought we didn't know what we were talking about. In this photo it is still living.
August 17 (incident day): We went from Columbus to Cadiz, KY and were introduced to the awful KY drivers. I'm not going to go into great detail here, but lets just say that John was side swiped by a car going 45-50MPH. He was only 15 miles into his ride that day. After a careful inspecation at the hosptial John was cleared to ride again. He took the rest of the day off from riding...clearly a sound choice.
We were able to enjoy the pool at the Kamptown Campground in Cadiz and venture to a nearby Cracker Barrel for dinner. It turns out we had been at this exact Cracker Barrel previously when headed south on I24.
August 18 (theft day): We went from Cadiz to Bowling Green, KY. Yes John was back on the bike and rode 95 miles!
The KOA site was amazing...patio and right next to the pool!
We were off to a great start after the events of the previous day. While I was at Kroger taking this photo...the kids loved the car cart!!
Someone decided that our trailer hitch was a nice looking piece of metal and stole it right off the back of the truck while I was shopping. If you have had a trailer weight distribution system before, you know that this is a major bummer! It isn't any old ball hitch.
Luckily we were near a Camping World and while the staff in the store could use a few lessons on customer service, we were able to solve our problem. BTW, solving our problem meant getting a whole new hitch system...and the new one is not a nice as the old one. We are hoping that the RV dealer back home can get the replacement part for us so that we can sell the new one when we get home.
John: My bike ride to Bowling Green was great. I will use the phrase "get back on the horse." I needed a good one and got it. I rode all on major roads with big shoulders and I am glad I did. I spent some time at the Jefferson Davis memorial and went to the top of the monument. It is an interesting part of our history.
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