Day 12 - Mitchell to Prairie City

Location

Woke up early and tore down camp. Brett took off while the rest of us continued to pack our things. Had a fairly steep climb outside of Mitchell, followed by a flat run. Nothing to complain about.

I got out a bit ahead of Cam and Sean while cruising across the countryside. While in the middle of nowhere, a car heading the other direction slammed on it's brakes and stopped just past me. Turning around to see what the deal was, I saw a lady lean out the window and proceed to yell at me about some cougars she had seen up the road. From what I caught, one of them was a cub. This immediately had me excited, as I have never seen a large cat in the wild. I took off down the road eagerly checking both sides of the road for any sign of wildlife. Within a minute or two, I began to question why the lady had made such a big deal of warning me about the cats. Was I in serious danger? Do cougars regularly take cyclists as food? As the minutes went by, my excitement faded somewhat as I picked up my pace. How fast can cougars run I thought. In the end I didn't see a cougar, which is somewhat disappointing, yet a bit comforting.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Made it to the small town of Prairie City and found Brett at the city park. Each took turns cleaning up in the public restroom, then we once again attempted to find a camping spot. The park was considered, but the "No Overnight Camping" signs seemed a bit alarming. Finally Sean and Brett saw a young woman at a nearby recycling dumpster and explained our situation. We were invited to camp in her backyard and immediately took for their house. Rachel, as we later determined her name to be, introduced us to her husband Adam. Apparently Adam had done some riding, so could relate to our situation. Both were very kind, and had an adorable young daughter. Once again, the kindness of strangers shown upon us.