Our Jail Hotel & the Cop Who "Booked" us

Carl and I had a wonderful reunion Thursday afternoon with the Missouri police officer who invited us to sleep in the town jail rather than in our tent on a steamy July night during our cross country bicycle tour. Mountain Grove Police Chief Dan Parker was a patrol officer in 1976 when he came across us pitching our tent behind a small church on the edge of town. We were iooking quite ratty, i'm sure, after another 100-mile day of pedaling. The officer told us then he had two empty cells we were welcomed to bed down in if we could make our way into town. We learned later he had another motive for enticing us to town. He wondered if we were runaways. Our parents told us later they'd gotten a call from the Mountain Grove Police department asking if our bike trip story was legit. The jail stay was one of the more unique places we bedded down on our bike journey that summer. Today, the old jail buillding lies a couple of blocks away from the new City Hall and police complex where we met Chief Parker late this afternoon with our families. Although 40 years had elapsed, Carl and I recognized the old rock building immediately when Chief Parker walked us there. It's now being used as the town museum. Their hospitality was outstanding. The welcoming committee included the dispatcher, a city alderman, museum director, and several other police personnel. They gave us all Mountain Grove PD T-shirts, pens and even waited with our dog inside out of the heat while we all walked to the jail.