Petition For Better Library Hours

Yo world, Alex here
We keep getting into towns right as the library closes or on weekends when they're not open. It's really frustrating! Well, we're currently in Licking (keep it clean, people) Missouri. We had to plan this library trip because we got to the library in Salem yesterday 5 minutes after it closed.
Soooo, since our last entry, we have already been through Illinois on a massive, beautiful, flat shortcut that we found. Our plan has actually become to "generally" follow the route that's on our maps, but to cut off all the pointless turns and winds that we can. It's actually been a lot more fun to find our own way across these states. We've decided to buy a state road map of every state we go through in order to find these beautiful shortcuts that exist. I would equate it to finding hidden treasure--You've just gotta keep looking and pay attention to find it! We're actually on a big shortcut through Missouri right now, and will pop back out onto the route tomorrow in Golden City, MO, a half day ahead of schedule.
Pete has told you all about his bike problems, and I'm happy to say that I'm problem free so far (knock on wood). We're getting some good footage despite the helmet camera being broken. We've gotten some great stills, and solid video.
We made two new friends also, Ben and Jonathan. We kept meeting up with them randomly in these towns and we ended up sleeping in the same places for several nights. Unfortunately, they weren't there for the big police incident last night though, although they would have gotten a kick out of it I'm sure.
The savage heat has cooled down a bit thankfully and we're able to bike longer. We've hit more hills here in the Ozarks after a great couple of hundred flat miles in Illinois, but Kansas is only a few days away, so the flatness of the pancake will be a nice change.
All's well in Missouri, except for the fact that we've still got 60 miles to do today...
Keep the love coming,
Al