Days 12-14 Ozark Hills, Eastern MO Rednecks

Woke to chilly drizzle on Friday Sept 13.  Rode in steady clouds and occasional rain all day - a dramatic change from the heat and sun of previous days.  No real change in scenery: still hardscrabble farms with beef cattle if any livestock at all (maybe a few goats).  The first pine showed up - shortleaf I think, (P. elliotii).  Killed an hour chatting with Ben at the store in Bendavis.  Not much going on in Bendavis or at the store.  Bought a Bama pie in honor of Phil Bryce which I did not eat until today, and it had long since passed the "good til" date - but not to worry at the Bama pie can take time and neglect and still taste like it was baked yesterday.

On about mid afternoon I hit the deep Ozarks upon entering the National Scenic Riverways designation managed by the NPS.  Here the Ozark plateau is deeply bisected by river gorges that run clear and cold due to ample spring water sources - a stark contrast to all of the rivers I've seen to date which are polluted with Ag runoff, cloudy with sediment, and/or stagnant. A steep downhill brought me to the valley of the Jacks Fork, and an equally steep climb out of the valley put me back on the plateau, only to drop again into the town of Eminence and the Current River valley.  Passed through some excellent forest management by the MO Dept of Conservation on lands surrounding the NPS land.  The first evidence of Ozark tourism was to be found in Eminence, with river raft/canoe rentals, guided pack riding, and guided hunting and fishing.  Moteled it in Eminence.

This morning saw a lazy start and I felt sluggish, and immediately hit repeated 200-400' climbs, followed to quick drops, followed by the same climb again - must have repeated this cycle between Eminence and Ellington about a dozen times.  In Ellington I bought a 10" pizza with the works knowing that part of my lethargy was not enough to eat at breakfast.  I ate half and packed up the rest for later in the day.  The day was beautiful: cool, clear and fall-like.  After Ellington the hills subsided somewhat, but the prevalence of impatient pick-up drivers barely providing any clearance definitely increased.  One guy even flipped me the bird. Well F you too asshole.  Very narrow to no shoulders for much of the day.  I took to pulling off the road if vehicles were coming in both directions.  Due to the hills I averaged only 9 MPH today.  Decided late in the afternoon that I could make it to Farmington, and so put my head down and pulled into town after dark - 91 miles and probably 5-6K feet of cumulative elevation today - I was done when I got to town and tracked down Als Place Bike Hostel - a wonderful set up sponsored by the City of Farmington, with showers, bunks, full kitchen, laundry - everything you need.  The redneck factor is more prevalent here than anywhere I've passed through.  I think when you have rural poverty but no agriculture, as in southeastern MO, you get rednecks.  Elsewhere agriculture has a leavening effect and the people are more friendly and tolerant of bicyclists asserting their rights to a small slice of the asphalt.  Lots of confederate flags, which I don't quite get as MO was a union state, right (Missouri compromise)?  Even though it was over 150 years ago, they still feel like they got the compromise shoved down their throat.