The nut pictured below is the type that fell with a loud thud all through the night around our tents. At about 5 a.m., one was a direct hit on my tent and woke me from a sound sleep.
Also, at some point in the middle of the night I thought I smelled a skunk, and became concerned about what to do if a skunk tried to get my food, which happened to be in my tent with me. The guy in the campsite next to us confirmed that there was a skunk scratching on his tent in the middle of the night. He said that he shined a light on it, and, fortunately, it ran off.
Today started with a buzzard fry. We were sitting near the entrance to the state park when a very loud pop happened almost right above our heads. I didn't know if we were being shot at or what had happened. I looked up just in time to see a buzzard with sparks coming out of it falling to the ground. He/she had unfortunately got into some transformer wires on a utility pole and got fried. A park ranger came out of the office and asked if we were okay, and we said yes but the buzzard's not.
We found a great restaurant near Columbia called MarcyJo's Mealhouse (pics below).
MarcyJo is the sister of Rory Feek, who was married to Joey. Rory and Joey were a husband and wife country music and bluegrass duo. Joey (wife) got cancer and passed away in 2016 at the age of 40. The waitress said MarcyJo and Rory are from Kansas, and that is the reason for the Kansas reference inside the store.
The weather was near perfect during today's ride. The route again today was on mostly quiet country roads.
One community we went through was Bending Chestnut. A few pics below of information regarding the community's name and a couple of buildings at the primary crossroads.
When we were checking in at the campground at Montgomery Bell State Park, a lady from California, named Shelia, asked us about our bicycle trip. I overheard her telling the campground attendant that she has a reservation, but she had parked her RV near the state park's lodge and unhooked her tow vehicle to find the campground.
As we were pitching our tents near the campground office, Shelia came over and asked if one of us could do her a favor and ride with her to help her find her RV, and then drive her car back to the campground, she would drive the RV. This would allow her not to have to hook her tow vehicle back to the RV, which she said is a pain. I went with her and was able to help her with this matter. As many times as folks have done good things for me on my bike trips, it felt great being able to help make someone else's life a little easier.
Shelia is quite the adventurer herself. She is 78 years old and has been traveling the country in her RV alone, except for her little dog, Snowy, for the past 10 months.
Total miles today: 66.5
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