We took a left and made our way down a rolling street, lined with stately houses with lawns the size of a football fields.
We made it to Clayton, a metropolitan suburb of St. Louis. We stopped for a cup of coffee at a little cafe called Half and Half. A waiter, in an obligatory blue v-neck shirt, greeted us with some great menu recommendations and questions about our trip. It was a great introduction into this fabulous city. After we cooled down and felt rested, we made our way towards REI to fix our stove. We were flying down a hill only a mile past the cafe and eyed a beautiful public pool. This pool was smack in the middle of the Clayton financial district. With two towers marking huge diving platforms, Brant and Reid were sold. We skidded to a stop and pulled out our suits and swim trunks. The boys went and asked the front desk how much the pool cost, and came back with their tails between their legs.
"You have to be a Clayton resident to get into the pool."
We packed our suits back up, and inched our bikes down the sidewalk. As we were about to get on the road, a young dad and his kids stopped us and asked where we were coming from. And Reid responded with, "Well, we were going to the pool, but you have to be a resident. But we biked from California."
And the dad responded back, "Anyone who biked here from California can be my guest!"
So we turned around and introduced ourselves, and then thoroughly surprised the lifeguard at the front desk. We paid our dues and suited up, and spent the next three hours jumping off the 5 meter platform and getting to know Kevin and his children.
Kevin invited us to come over to his house for pizza afterwards. So we biked on over and played soccer with Harry and Alex in their backyard. We ate St. Loiuis style provolone pizza with their big family. Many neighbors came over to see the hoodlums who had rolled into their neighbor's yard.
The next morning we all shared a wonderful meal of fresh coffee and pancakes from-scratch with peaches and blueberries before heading off to the big Saturday farmer's market in Tower Grove Park. This felt like Disneyland to Brant and I, and we splurged on peaches, fresh homemade popsicles, and fresh bread. The market was right next to the park's wading pool and old art deco bathhouse. We got our toes wet and sipped lemonade in the humid St. Louis morning.
We all walked home to meet up with Jerry and a neighbor girl, Emily, to bike down to the Arch and to the infamous "City Museum." Dana had told us that if their was anything to spend money on in St. Louis, it was this place. The old shoe manufacturing warehouse from the turn of the century, was purchased around 2002ish by a local artist. This guy had a vision, I don't know exactly what that dream was, but this museum kicks booty--with caverns, labyrinths, suspended airplanes connected by wire tubes, a schools bus floating off the roof of the building, and a 7 story slide. Oh my goodness, it was perfect chaos. We all played like nine year olds, and went home utterly pooped.
The next day was errand day. Brant and I took the MetroLink train to the western part of the city in search of the REI, and Reid and Hannah took the MetroLink to the airport. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Hannah, who flew home to visit family and to start preparing for the upcoming school year. With her bike all packed in a cardboard box, we stepped off the train and waved goodbye to our dear companion and friend. Sad day.
We continued on our journey, and found Whole Foods and Trader Joe's along the way. We came back prepared for our next few days of riding with a fixed stove and good grubs.

We biked about 80 miles and camped at the Vandalia Lake Reservoir. With our crew dwindling to just the boys and I, our daily milage picked up. Mostly because we have to get Reid to the east coast so that he can fly back to Davis to start his masters program in public health on August 5th.
The following day we pedaled the most miles I have ever ridden in one day: 106! We pedaled from Vandalia, Illinois to Tera Houte, Indiana. And I was totally proud of myself. We landed in Tera Houte just after a thunderstorm, and the campground we pedaled to was deep in tall trees and forrest and the moisture in the air made the place feel like a giant swamp. We were all pooped, so we made burritos, took showers in the camp showers, and laid down for bed. Not even five minutes after hitting the pillow, did a Raccoon start dragging our bread bag away across the campsite. Reid watched our bread bag scoot across the dirt in the dark and he knew something was wrong. Seconds later, both Brant and Reid had their bright headlamps out to scare the raccoon and retrieve the stolen goods. We hung our food up at a raccoon safe height and continued on with our sleeping.
The next day we had 72 miles to pedal to our dear friend, Louis, in Indianapolis. Brant and Louis studied together at Cal Poly, and Louis just moved to Indianapolis for a job as an environmental engineer for an up and coming algae wastewater company based in the capitol city.

It was a great way to experience Indiana. I never would have imagined Indianapolis to be full of so much culture, art, and good food. But it just goes to show that there is life outside of my Californian bubble. Not to say that I want to get up and move to Indianapolis, but there are a lot of good things going on there.
That is one of the greatest aspects of this trip. We are going through a part of the country that I really had no interest in seeing. I have always had a great interest in seeing The South, in the Great Lakes, and in the East Coast, but I would have never gone out of my way to see Kansas, Missouri, or Indiana. In doing so, I feel like I have seen a new side of America, and have found much of it to be quite beautiful...
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