ST. L. MO.

howdy,
the accent is gettin thicker as we move i.o.a. rails to trails were not as
nice as minnesotas, but still pretty.  i fell on a slippery patch and only
got some skin torn off, and went with crooked handlebars for about a
week an a half.

we have meandered from the flood zones of cedar falls and cedar rapids,
where we had awesome sleeps in abandoned backyards with prolific
apple trees.  then we met john, an indescribable character who took us
to a town called west branch where we slept in his haunted house
(seriously!) he's renovating.  his wife beth took us to a barn dance
where i burned about 7000 calories swingin my pardner dosey-doe-ing
all around the floor.

from iowa city, john drove us all over the countryside showing us this
and that, various demolition/reconstruction projects he's working on,
like old churches and brick opera houses.  we ate lunch at "teets and
tobe's" and sheri was asked if she believed in jesus.  john wants a
building in winnipeg (for free) if anyone has any leads....

we made it to fairfield, the big thing there is meditation, and they all
worship maharishi.  we stayed in kate's backyard and she introduced
her roommate, erik, who's job it was to meditate for the greater good of
the world.  erik gets paid 700 bux a month from a texan oil tycoon that
owns 29 rigs in the gulf to meditate(!) and offset the big bad oil karma. 
this place was so fucked up, but we found delicious coffee and saw a
rock an roll show for free where i sat next to the mayor.

then we went to dancing rabbit, an ecovillage near rutledge missouri. 
once we hit missouri we were in misery cause the hills became STEEP. 
i started to walk my bike up some hills, how pathetic.  rutledge is in the
middle of amish country, lots of braids, bonnets, beards and buggies.

from there, some annoying folks trying to be kind crossed our path. 
somehow, we attracted the people that wanted us to stay in their warm
homes (it was getting cold outside) but AT A PRICE: they wanted us to
listen to their life stories as well as the gossip in the neighbourhood as
well as the history of their house as well as their relatives medical history
as well as their dog's habits as well as bla blah blah.  it was a week of
headaches, altho i was thankful for the cushy mattresses and warm sleep.

we jumped into illinois to hit the pretty calhoon county with high white bluffs
and the mississippi beside us.  thru grafton, i ate catfish and drank cider.

now we're in st. louis, couchsurfing and seeing all the free stuff we can.
there is some awesome stuff here: art, farmer's markets, apple harvest,
greenspace, food, but zero bike culture.  i think i've counted 14 bikes on
the road since we've been here (including us).  st. l mo is super friendly,
everyone wants to talk to you, everybody smiles and some ramble on the
streets about jesus.  every building is made of bricks, which surprises me. 
there is a lot of industry by the river, an st. louisians don't really have a
connection to it.  too bad, we just picked up huck finn to kindle the spirit of
the place.

we're thinking about hopping a boat outta here?  that's probably a pipe
dream.  we're waiting to leave after the dias del muertos (nov 2)

ciao, daniela