I made it to Ash Grove at 1:20 for lunch. At Huffman’s Restaurant, the Huffmans told me that a couple had left at 9 am that morning, heading for Marshfield. Right then, I decided that Marshfield would be my stop for the night.

There were some minor annoyances in getting to Marshfield. Some sections of the road had fresh, sticky tar, with loose gravel. The gravel would fly up and stick to me and the bike.

At Marshfield, I called city hall to ask about camping in the city park. I told the man that I was at the Conoco across from Wal-Mart. He mistakenly thought I meant the other Cononco, and gave me wrong directions. Eventually, I found the park. It was about 2 miles from the business district, and had no showers. I searched carefully for the cycling couple. Had I found them, I would have stayed. As it was, I decided to go back, have Cavatini at Pizza Hut, and get a motel room. I had logged 90 miles that day.