Oct. 22 – Drive-ins and Road Kill

Today I left the Transamerica Trail and headed south towards Tennessee. I took highway 19, a two lane road much like the ones I had been riding through Missouri, down to highway 60, a 4 lane highway with a lot more traffic that would take me to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. As I rode down highway 19 I came across this – pretty much in the middle of nowhere:

For some of you (including me) this will bring back memories – the rest of you will be thinking, “ I think I saw one in a movie or tv show once”. Nice to know that Drive-ins are still alive (and hopefully well) on the back roads of Missouri! I wish I could have gone – even to the Taylor Swift movie! Even though highway 60 had more traffic than the roads I had been riding, I was more relaxed as there was a nice wide shoulder – I didn’t have to keep looking back to see what was coming up on me and stress out when it was a logging truck or semi or other huge vehicle. There were a few climbs, but they were gentle as overall the land was sloping down to the river basin. I just took a few short breaks and rode over 80 miles, deciding to stay in a hotel in Newton that night. Since it was Sunday most of the restaurants were closed, but I found a pretty good Mexican place open where I enjoyed a gigantic and delicious dinner at the bar. The next day I would be leaving the “Show Me” state. You know one thing that Missouri showed me? Road Kill, and a lot of it. Here is my analysis of Missouri road kill by species: 1.Raccoons 2. Armadillos 3. Possum 4. Squirrels 5. Everything else. Thankfully for you, no photo evidence of this count is available.