Day 49 Mitchell

Wednesday 7th July.

Today we woke early with every intention of getting a few chores done in the morning then starting riding in the afternoon, however this did not go to plan and we ended up enjoying a relaxing day off. We had breakfast with Dave then we walked a few blocks to visit the Mitchell Corn Palace. This is a building that is covered in corn on the cobs that are different colours and are used to create murals and artwork on the outside and inside of the palace. The actual building is used as a theatre and stadium for basketball games etc and is redecorated annually. The locals actually refer to it as a huge bird feeder as the corn attracts the birds to munch on it but it has been around for years and brings in huge revenue to the town as it is a major tourist attraction and has actually been our immediate highlight for a good week or so.

We took a ride to a supermarket to make packed lunches for the next couple of days as from now on as we head West the towns get more sparse and we need to be even more prepared. We also took a ride to the AAA office where as Dave was a member, we were given free road maps of all the states that we have remaining to the end of the trip which is great as we were on our last map.

Back at Dave’s we researched the second half of our trip which was beneficial as we now realise we have lots more highlights to see and have a renewed excitement however the mountains or ‘big hills’ as I have been told to look at them still seem very daunting. I actually prepared some interesting stats this afternoon which show that out of the 49 days so far we have had 13 days off and have spent our nights as follows… warm shower hosts 11, camping 19, random strangers 13 and hotels 6.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by Dave and chatted the evening away. Dave has been extremely kind by making us feel so welcome in his home and by inviting us to stay a second night, thanks so much for everything!