Day 32 - July 5, 2013 - Farmington, MO to Centerville, MO

Mileage - 12 by bike, 38 by car I think

Our gracious hosts, Dr. And Mrs. C in Farmington, offered to show us a local Civil War fort this morning, so we took them up on their offer.  We loaded all of our stuff into their van, as they were going to drop us off at Johnson Shut-Ins park to camp after a bit of sightseeing.  Mrs. C even packed a huge picnic lunch for all of us!

We went to check out Fort Davidson, site of a civil war battle.  We are history geeks, so this was right up our alley!

We drove to Johnson Shut-Ins state park for a picnic lunch, then headed to the campground where we saw a very disappointing sign at the check-in booth - the campground was full!  We should have known...it was the holiday weekend, after all.  We found the campground host, and they confirmed that they were full, and wouldn't allow us to camp without a space.  Ugh...

So we unloaded our gear from the C's van, and headed off to Centerville, where we knew we could camp at the courthouse for free.  It was only 12 miles away, but 12 Missouri miles took us 2 hours that afternoon!  Ugh, these hills are truly miserable!  The courthouse in Centerville had a great lawn, and we talked to the people at the sheriff station who told us that the station had a restroom that stayed open 24/7, so we were set for the night.  After a quick dinner at the diner across the street, we settled in and watched some episodes of Friends while the locals set off their remaining fireworks (which sounded like bombs going off - those things have I cost a fortune!).  Slept well aside from getting a little cold - when there is so much humidity in the air, occasionally our fleece sleeping sacks don't cut it on cooler evenings!  Usually we are so tired it doesn't matter much though.