I knew today was going to be a tough ride. Afterall, we are in the Ozark Mountains. The part of the Ozarks we are in is very different than the Ozarks depicted in the Netflix hit \u201dOzark\u201d. We are not near the Lake of the Ozarks. We are riding a section of road that goes up and down. Up 250 feet, down 300 feet, up 350 feet, down 200 feet over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We left Ellington around 8 am and headed west. Immediately the road started the roller coaster ride. The road is narrow with no shoulders or a very narrow shoulder. In addition there is a rumble strip along the white edge line rendering the shoulder, if there is one useless. Some of the hills were 10 to 14 percent in grade. In one case it was over 16%. My bike computer does many things including showing the grade of the road. It is GPS based so it has to be somewhat accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ride from Ellington to Eminence was tough. It took Sue and I just under 3 hours to cover the first 30 miles because of the terrain. We stopped at the Dairy Barn in Eminence for cold nourishment. At 11 am when the Dairy Barn opened up people were already lining up for ice cream. By 11:30 all the tables were full. After 50 minutes of waiting, eating and waiting Greg and Bill showed up. They looked exhausted and between down. Shortly after they got to the Dairy Barn Sue and I left. We were rested and fed and planned to make our way to Houston. Plus we wanted to stop at Alley Spring & Mill National Park. The grist mill and spring are on the backside of the commemorative quarter for the State of Missouri. The grist mill and spring are reported to be the most photographed feature in Missouri. After seeing the mill and spring I can understand why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n