The Adventure ends early

I could tell you that I'm still on the road. But I can't. I flew home last Thursday. After riding 60 miles from Washington, MO to St.Louis on our 'off day', and subsequently having only about four hours to explore St.Louis, I couldn't come up with a good reason to continue. That was day eleven on the bike without a full-day break. There are parts that start to hurt after that many days and miles on the bike.
So from the Quincy IL Dairy Queen (where I was able to get a free Blizzard from the manager, using my birthday and bike miles as my reasons), I called my friend Tricia and asked her if there was any good reason to continue if I wasn't having any fun. Nope, came the reply. I surprised Brent and Dwight w/my decision to rent a car in Carbondale, IL and drive to St.Louis the next AM to catch a flight home. It was the right thing to do.