Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 19, 2003

Misery in Missouri
We began the day in Jefferson City and made our way to Fayette. This was one of the fist days where we became familiar with the fact that the Midwest is not necessarily as flat as we thought it was. The whole ride was full of rolling hills and twisting turns. The scenery was beautiful though, and the weather was great.



I did manage to experience a little more of that beauty than anybody else as I made a wrong turn and went about ten miles out of the way. I only realized my error when a car pulled up next to me and alerted me that I had made a wrong turn. Apparently, Gloria had seen me go the wrong way and stopped a car to ask them to let me know of my error. With my spirit sufficiently broken, I turned around and made my way back to the correct road.



Later in the ride as I was approaching lunch, I started having an intense sharp pain in my leg and almost simultaneously got a flat tire. Sufficiently beaten, I resigned myself to sitting by the side of the road and waiting for someone with a pump to pass by so I could inflate my tire. Gloria, who had helped me out before, became concerned again as I was close behind her before and did not show up to lunch in a timely manner. The van was sent to find me and I was able to inflate my tire and ride the quarter mile to lunch. The rest of the ride went relatively well. There were a few mix-ups with directions, but everyone eventually made it to Fayette.



However difficult my day had been, the night in Fayette was wonderful. We had an incredible dinner as usual, but what was really great was the number of parishioners who came out. They were an absolutely wonderful group of people and it was an absolute joy to speak to them. One lady was so kind as to show us one of the hidden secrets of Fayette. There is a peculiar window in the center of town, where if one stands the correct way there is a mirror image of the person who stands at the edge of the window. After this long day we all decided it was time to grab some sleep before the beginning of another day.