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Fortunately I awoke feeling quite a bit higher than once I went to sleep. Lambert’s Cafe gave my abdomen a superb beating, however I bounced again surprisingly properly and was prepared for one more day within the saddle. We weren’t anticipating to do a lot sightseeing as we crossed Missouri, so the plan was simply to hit the freeway and put down some miles. That each one modified by lunchtime, after we stumbled throughout a historic marker in Van Buren, MO.
Van Buren was precisely one tank of fuel away from Sikeston and for the reason that subsequent first rate sized city was a pair hours away, we determined to get an early lunch after filling up with fuel. A pair native law enforcement officials advisable a Mexican restaurant in downtown which most likely wasn’t the only option after final night time’s “pig out”, however with few different choices we determined to offer it a strive. The lunch turned out to be good, however I made a decision to play it protected and take a stroll round downtown earlier than leaping again on the bike.
The Chamber of Commerce was situated proper throughout the road from the Mexican restaurant and had quite a few monuments and historic markers describing the historical past of Van Buren. As I learn by way of the historical past of the city, an indication describing a positioned referred to as “Huge Spring” caught my eye.

A fast dialog with one of many staff on the Chamber of Commerce supplied me with all the things I wanted to know and shortly we have been heading south on a twisty again highway main into the Ozark Nationwide Scenic Riverways.
I’ve to confess that I could not think about how a spring may very well be that spectacular. I spent my childhood on the creeks and rivers of Japanese, NC and have seen my share of springs through the years. Effectively, the springs we have now again in North Carolina are nothing in comparison with Huge Spring, MO. Quickly after we pulled into the park, the highway started to comply with a crystal clear river stuffed with vibrant inexperienced aquatic crops. A pair turns later the highway was a big car parking zone and the river appeared to finish on the base of a big cliff. As soon as we received off the bikes we may see the water churning out from below the cliff, forming the headwaters of the river. Pumping out 250 million gallons of water of per day, Huge Spring is a sight to behold. On the spring itself, the water has a particular blue inexperienced tint which quickly turns into clear because the water strikes downstream.

After leaving Huge Spring, we cruised the remainder of the best way to Springfield, MO with out incident. For the third night time in a row we camped at a KOA campground, this one situated simply off of the well-known Route 66. Moreover having loads of Route 66 memorabilia of their present store, in addition they had gemstone mining onsite, full with a sluice!

One other plus was this campground had the softest grass by far and at first look it seemed like we had your entire tent part to ourselves. This after all was not the case and by the point we had the tents in place, it was readily obvious that we’d be sharing the tent space with a swarm of hungry mosquitoes. Someway we should have timed our arrival with the final hatch of the season, so we retreated to the TV room, ordered a pizza and watched a little bit soccer till the mosquitoes settled down for the night time…

We logged round 240 miles at the moment, so we’re making good progress.

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