Yesterday, Ted and I did an unplanned breakaway. We were the first one to lunch at mile 70...but as a result, I did not have a lot of energy in my legs this morning. I thought I would take it easy today. Good plan, but I was not able to execute it due to the Missouri terrain. I may be exaggerating a tiny bit, but it seemed like I went over 3000 of these Missouri roller hills. In total, we climbed nearly 6,000 feet. Look at the elevation profile to get a sense of the hills. Down. Up. Down. Up. And so on. You pedal hard going down to reach 25-30 mph for the momentum....but the momentum gets you up about half of the next hill...so you then stand and pedal as long as you can stand it. If it is a short hill, you make it over and immediately start again. BUT if your pedaling does not make it to the stop, you then sit down and grind it out in your low gear...which is painfully hard in its own way. So, even though I was going to take it easy today, I had to work very hard....and now I have had two hard days in a row...what will tomorrow bring for me? Yesterday there was prediction of rain all day today. Fortunately, Bart -- who I rode with most of the day -- and I made it to the hotel around 3:50pm before the Thunderstorm with lightening and heavy rain started at 4:00pm. Scott was last on the road today...and Bart and I were next to last on the road today. Due to the lightening, Scott got picked up by the van around 5 miles from the hotel and shuttled home. Beautiful land and views in Missouri....quite pleasant....unless you are riding your bike, in which case it become a bit of a torture chamber! Tomorrow we will be in Quincy, Illinois.