Days 7 and 8

Day 7 was pretty laid back. I didn't do any riding that day because I wanted the chance to check out Shawnee National Forest.

First, I went to a local restaurant recommended to me by a couple that worked at the campground I was staying at. The restaurant was Rose's Kountry Kitchen and I loved it. It was a very relaxed and friendly place and the food was great.

Later on, I decided to check out the local attraction which was the cave that you can see in the pictures I previously posted. It was an amazing sight. Also, I can see why the river pirates and thieves chose the cave for shelter. When you walk in, it's instantly at least ten degrees cooler which was great relief from the hot sun. Also, there was a crack in the ceiling of the cave, giving it somewhat of a natural skylight.

After that, I went to the campground's restaurant and had the most AMAZING brownie sundae. Then, I pretty much called it a night.

Day 8 got started off with a bang and unfortunately an unanticipated one. So in the morning I make sure to wake up bright and early to get everything ready to go so I can get on the road right away because I had big plans for the day.

Sure enough I get going right about when I had planned to. First stop had to be Rose's and I'm so glad I stopped there. It was only the second time I had been there and everybody already knew me. I was greeted whole heartedly and one of the ladies that was in the back made sure to make her way out to say hello.

When I'm done there I'm just thinking of the road ahead of me and seeing the awesome sights at the Garden of the Gods. It was probably only ten minutes into my ride when BANG!!! I ran over something and it didn't feel good.

When I set out on this journey I thought I would have to do some minor maintenance, tweak a few things, and probably change an inner tube or two. Well what I had hit was a stiff metal wire and normally I just roll right over those but it had gotten kicked up and lodged in my gears. Not only that but it managed to pop out the wire that connects my rear derailleur to the shifter and throw my rear derailleur completely off. So my first on the road maintenance ended up being a significant one. Needless to say, I was on the side of the road for about an hour fixing everything. In the end, and I'm very proud of this by the way, everything was working and I have to say, pretty much as good as new. Gears were shifting well, upper and lower limits were set appropriately, not too bad for a first timer.

After that I wasn't sure if I was still going to attempt to go to the Garden of the Gods. But then everybody's advice started chiming in and I knew I had to do it because it's more about the journey than the destination.

There were a lot of hills getting there but as you can see from the pictures it was well worth it. Standing on top of those rocks and staring out at miles and miles of forest was incredible.

When I left there it was full steam ahead. As the sun was beginning to set a really nice couple pulled up and offered a place to stay but I knew if I stopped then I would have well over a hundred miles to put in the next day so I trekked on. I was riding well into the night and I'm proud to say I put in about 105 miles. My first century ride!

When I got to where I was staying, I noticed a little bar nearby with a big bud light sign so I had to stop for one or two. It was a neat little place with some really friendly people. It was funny because it was more of a country place with quite a few old timers but they still had a number of hip hop/rap songs playing. Poor white country boys didn't stand a chance. Anyway, had a blast and the next day I'm off to St Louis!