Before I get into the day, three big thank you’s to folks who made my day: Theresa & sister Lisa, Rhett Butler & a stranger - I will explain below…

It was actually kind of cold last night with temp around 60 with wind and rain. We decided to forego the generator and a/c for open windows and perhaps the sound of rain, wind, quiet or all of it and I didn’t wake up at the usual <4am. Thus I departed late, around 5:45am and headed off into the foggy early morning.

The Santa Fe Trail is a road, plain and simple. Today it was also a busy road with huge loaded trucks going by at break neck speed hauling livestock, gravel, grain, etc. I pulled into the first town around 12 miles named Malta Bend - named for a ship that sank at the bend in the Missouri River. There was one intersection in the town of population 249 and there was a restaurant named Wagon Wheel that was open. I walked in with Lucky and we sat at a long hard wood communal table with matching sturdy chairs. The restaurant had a bar as you walk in and behind the bar was an open kitchen - everything done right their in sight by 2 women. There were two men eating breakfast at the other table - biscuits and gravy. One of the woman approached with a kind face and warm smile to take my order. The other two gentlemen were chatty and we all introduced ourselves - Theresa was the owner of the Wagon Wheel, her sister Lisa helps, she loves dogs - has 5 and a tattoo of a dog. She was smitten with Lucky and brought him sausage and bacon. Not only was she kind enough to share with us an interview, she also wouldn’t let me pay for my breakfast because I was a guest coming through town. My heart was filled with wholesome joy as I left.

in the next town Waverly, I was making my way past some very nice homes when a very small kitten appeared on the grass next to the street. It was so small and weak I thought it may have just been born since it was wet. Could have been thrown out of a moving car but couldn’t be sure who or why it was there. I decided to knock on the door of the house where it was. An elderly woman opened the door and asked if she could help me. I told her about the kitten on her lawn and very stoically she replied they don’t have cats. I told her we needed to do something and she agreed to walk over. She clearly had experience with animals in her life as I told her it was probably just born and she told me it was a little older as it’s eyes were open. She then pushed it to see if it was lame which it wasn’t and then she picked it up by the scruff and told showed me where it went to bathroom underneath. She told me she would take care of it, smiled and told me goodbye. I was relieved -

We pulled up into Dover as our final destination of the day and with no place to stay we were a little nervous. That is until Rhett Butler allowed us to stay at Butler Acres - a beautiful event center that is used for parties, weddings and such. He was also kind enough to provide water should we need. Thank you!

A full day comes to an end - I have been so very fortunate to meet so many wonderful, kind and generous people on the road so far.

Cheers,

David.