Amazingly, as soon as you cross the border into Missouri, the humidity becomes so thick that visibility is cut in half and the clear blue skies of Kansas are replaced with a hazy, milky, gray mist. There are however, trees, rolling hills, streams, ponds, grass and farms, so I'm willing to take the bad with the good and enjoy the scenery once again.

That afternoon, I arrived in the town of Golden City. There's not much to Golden City anymore, the main street is basically populated with empty buildings and dilapadated signs that recalled a much more prosperous time before WalMart moved into Lamar 15 miles away. About all that's left in town is a cafe, a bar, and a gas station/convienence store. The one bright spot of the town seemed to be it's city park. While the grass was burned out and brown from the prolonged heat and drought, there was a nice flower garden that seemed dutifully maintained. The park also had a baseball field, two pavillions, one with bleachers and one with picnic tables, and public restrooms. Being extremely hot and humid and just entering the heat of the day, I decided to call it quits and camp in the city park.

Still early, I didn't want to set up my tent, so I parked my bike next to the pavillion with the picnic tables, took out my sleeping pad and spread it across the top of one of the tables. I layed down and took a nap for an hour and a half. When I woke up, I noticed a father and son playing catch on the baseball field, so I continued laying on the table and watched them, happy to have something besides myself to occupy my mind. When they were done, they began to walk back to their house and walked right by me. I greeted them as they passed so the father came over to talk. Apparently they were from St. Louis and were in town to visit his mother who lived on the edge of the park. "How far are you going today?" he asked.

"This is it. It's too hot to go any further."

"Where you gonna stay?"

"Well, I guess I was planning on camping right under that tree over there. The sun's still shining pretty bright, so I figured I'd hang out here until the sun got a little cooler."

"You know there's a place in town that puts up bikers."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm not quite sure where, but I'm pretty sure it has beds and air conditioning. A whole lot better than sitting here in the sun."

"I would say so."

"Are you gonna be here for a while?" I nodded yes. "Well, let me go ask my mother where the place is, so we can get you set up for the night and out of this heat."

"That would be great, thanks." So the man and his son continued onto the house and I just layed on the picnic bench watching the birds nest in one of the rafters of the pavillion. About a half hour later, the man returned.

"Well, I got you set up with Paul Throckmorton. He just lives around the block where he's expecting you." The man then proceeded to give me directions to the house when a white BMW pulled up. An older gentleman exited the car and introduced himself as Paul.

"Are you travelling alone?" Paul asked.

"Yup, just me."

"Well, in that case there's no need to put you up in the hostel. I usually use that for bigger groups, but since it's just you, its a lot easier to put you up in my house. Why don't you pack up your stuff and follow me, I just live around the corner." I then thanked the father for hooking me up with Paul, packed up my trailer