August 3- Eminence to Centerville, Mo.

A thunderstorm came through in the early hours, and it was still raining hard when we got up, so our start was delayed until 10 o'clock.

We decided to name the first section of this day's ride, 27 miles from Eminence to Ellington, "The Trail of Tears".

Right out of Eminence our legs got their wakeup call, a short 13% hill. After that it was one right after another in the 10%-13% range. We were beginning to feel that we could grind our way over just about anything. Well no, we couldn't. Our first downfall was running out of steam on a 15% hill. We couldn't restart on a grade that steep, so we had to push the bike to the top of the hill; the first time we have ever had to do that.

But not the last. Not long afterward we hit a 3-step hill of 13%, 15% and finally 18%. We had to stop on the last of those and push the bike again. The limiting factor was not running out of breath or tiring, but simply the leg strength needed to turn the cranks against the force of gravity. We later did get over a 15%'er without stopping.

We wonder how roads like these in the Ozarks came to be. They go right over hills instead of around them. If the roads originated as wagon tracks, pity the horses or oxen. It is even hard to imagine that cars and trucks in their early days had the power to carry loads up such steep hills. And if it ever snows around here, forget it.

At the town of Ellington we turned onto a different highway which was built to avoid such steep climbs. After a total of 46 miles for the day we reached our destination, the little town of Centerville. We had called ahead to reserve a spot at the Butterfly Inn, a recently-opened "Bed and Breakfast: You Make Both". After what was our hardest day of the whole trip so far, it was a welcome  oasis. We had the use of a whole comfortable 4-bedroom house. It also featured something we have not seen since we began: a bathroom scale. Sandy has lost four pounds. I've lost eight. Our host was a little younger than we are, a Vietnam vet who stayed in the Army to retirement and had a second career with Homeland Security, working with teams which provided relief at all the big disasters, including tghe Oklahoma City bombing, 9-11 in New York, Katrina, and most recently the Oklahoma tornado this year.

Just around the corner there was a diner and also a little store where we picked up some cold adult beverages to reward ourselves.