Finally the fall weather is starting to creep into Missouri. The highs during the days are in the low 70's and at night with the windows open a cool breeze makes sleeping with a warm comforter necessary. I love this weather. This is exactly how the weather was when i visited the tiny island of Bornholm in Denmark one spring while in college.

Continue reading Denmark Weather...

I really should have blogged about his earlier, but word on the street is that Tour of Missouri is going to become an annual event. This is a rare opportunity for people in the states to get a glimpse of professional cycling. The race started this past Tuesday in Kansas City and is set to run 6 stages that travel through out the state. I just watched as the race made it's way down the street in front of my office to it's final stop for this stage in Columbia. Tomorrow the racers will come back to Jefferson City to start the second to last stage which ends in St. Charles. It is a pretty sweet event and although it seems to go by pretty fast, I think it is still a notable and cool experience. So, if you live anywhere close to Jefferson city or along the route to St. Charles you should check it out.The final stage will be a circuit around St. Louis on Sunday. I will be at the kick off of stage 5 tomorrow, so I hope to have more pictures and information after the weekend. In the mean time you can watch the race live on the Tour of Missouri website. This website also has lots of cool route maps and other articles about the racers.

Links:
Live Video
Live Text Updates
Tour Tracker, should have GPS information for the last two stages
ToM Update Dashboard

More images after the break

Continue reading Tour of Missouri Part 1...

I was surprised last week to find that Gadling, a popular travel blog, recommended the Lake of the Ozarks as a popular Labor Day destination. Since I have lived in a fairly close proximity to the lake all of my life it is easy for me to forget the wide scope of tourists that actually visit the lake each year. In all honesty I spent a good majority of my life trying to avoid the lake, because driving through the main strip it appears to be somewhat of a tourist trap. However, when I went to college I met a very dear friend from the Chicago area, and her family owns a condo at the lake. I have been fortunate over the past couple of years to become a surrogate addition to this family and thus have gotten to know the lake a little bit better.

Continue reading Labor Day...

Most of the travel I have done in my life has been by car. My childhood was spent taking road trips in the summer with my parents and two older brothers and camping in a "pop up" camper. The places we visited were historical sites and national parks, which can mostly be contributed to the fact that my father was a history teacher and my mother had grown up traveling in the same way. These vacations are some of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood. I recall waking up early and hitting the road at dawn. Within a day I could be running up mountain trails in Colorado or splashing in a river in Tennessee. I can directly attribute my love of travel to these early trips. I would look forward to these trips all school year and as the time approached even highlight maps and pick out campground from hefty directories.

Continue reading The not so far flung traveler...