rainbow over wheat field

Tuesday. Easiest ride of the trip. 55 miles, one flat straight road, cooling breeze, nothing but corn, cows, wheat and soy beans. Made it to larned, Kansas by 11:15am. We’re staying in a church that’s air conditioned and a shower in the adjacent pastor’s house. Great hospitality. Last night it was way too hot to cook so out for pizza at gambino’s. I made sure I got a seat facing the door. Even with air conditioning in the motel last night I didn’t stop sweating until about 2:00am so it was terrific to get up and take a shower.

I'm joining Joe!

I've been working out and have joined Joe and the gang on the road!
Caryn

Sunday was hot and windy riding 78 miles from eureka, Kansas to newton, Kansas. The ride ended at the newton town park with a plunge into the town pool. We hung out at the pool, took showers and headed to the air conditioned Episcopal church. The last 38.5 mile were on one road that was straight as a laser with no commercial establishment of any kind. The van was very efficient running up and down the route filling water bottles. It was way too hot to cook so we went out to all you can eat Chinese buffet. I did have my first flat tire since Carbondale. I realized the tire was flat when I tried to pump up the tires as we do each morning. It was a heck of a lot easier changing it inside the church than out on the road in the hot sun. there is not much shade in Kansas. Also, Kansas is not really flat. The hills are very, very gentle, but there are ups and downs with wind 10-15 m.p.h. coming out of the south or south/south/west which is not right in our faces but is only helping the few miles we sometimes head north. When the wind is helping I’m able to maintain 20-25m.p.h. which really makes the miles roll along. The just not enough of a following wind. Today jumped up from a 56 mile ride to a 65 mile ride due to a detour to avoid a road flooded by the little Arkansas river. Except for heat(see photo documentation) today was as close to flat as I think we’ll get. Also had a great 2nd breakfast at joeys diner at the 30 mile mark. The best blueberry pancakes west of newtown. We were supposed to camp at a town park in sterling, Kansas but the the forcasted low temp of 85 tonight andy found us a cheap motel that under any other circumstances I would never consider, but there’s aie conditioning and some hot water and best of all I have my own room so I should be able to get a good night’s sleep and even take a shower in the morning before hitting the road. We bid our co-leader dave an emotional goodbye this morning. While andy is with us the entire ride dave needed to not be away from home so long. Scott joins us and dave goes home. It was a prelude to what I think will be a very emotional parting in Oregon several weeks from now. We are 11 individuals who are thrown together in a virtual 24/7 constant togetherness. Friction can not be avoided but for the most part very strong bonds have been formed and it won’t be easy to say goodbye at the end. Dave was great and will be missed by all.

beer club for men

joeys diner-great blueberry pancakes

friday and saturday

Left pittsburg at 6:30a.m. on Friday trying to beat the heat. Got in about 20 miles before the temp reached 80. On a day that was forecast sunny and hot for our 58 mile ride to Chanute, Kansas, we got surprised by a storm. You can see forever out here so the storm appeared dead ahead. I pulled off the road to consult with some construction workers who just happened to have the weather radar on their cell phones. A severe but isolated storm was passing across our route from southwest to northeast. I stopped for 10-15 minutes and watched it rain with thunder and lightning just in front of me and in a flash it moved off our course and we were able to continue with no danger. Got to Chanute in time for lunch where I found a sports bar and watched some u.s. open. We stayed in an air conditioned church that had no showers so we rode over to the town park took showers and enjoyed the cool church for the rest of the day. Today was a 64 mile slog through constant rain sometimes light and sometimes pouring. It was too warm to gear up so I rode wet the whole day with it clearing up just as I got to eureka. Same deal as last night. Showers at the park and sleep in the air conditioned church. We learned that Kansas is not really flat. The hills were nothing like what we dealt with earlier, but they certainly got our attention. Tomorrow is a 75 ride with sunny and mid 90’s forcast.

caryn at her birthday party today with ben,josh, emily, and alix

there are hills in kansas
the first junk food place that i did NOT stop at

judy preparing dinner

ralph on the road. photo by brother mark

Special posting of pictures taken by ralph's brother mark

levitating alice

ralph and david solving global warming

brain trust comtemplating dinner biker joe blogging then worn out from blogging

chronology begins below

continuing my important research

Wednesday. Started out before 7:00am to try to beat the heat. It had to be 90 by 9:00am on a day that was supposed to be 68 miles. Rest day tomorrow makes the ride a lot easier know after 8 days and 429 miles we’ll have a day off and no more hills for awhile. About half way into the ride with the flattening terrain obvious we’re having lunch in golden city when informed that the road ahead was closed due to the flooding from the heavy rains two days ago. Please forgive me for over doing the pictures in golden city. I couldn’t help myself. Our detour added almost 10 miles to the ride as the temp reached mid 90’s with heat index over 100. Learned a bit about heat and wind as we road in all four directions as we navigated around the detour. Riding directly into the wind is the coolest but also the hardest to make progress. Riding with a tail wind you go real fast with “no chain” but it’s very hot. The most comfortable is cross wind. The wind is refreshing without unduly impeding forward momentum. I rode straight to the super 8 in pittsburg, cranked the a/c and drank about 2 gallons of water. It’s still morning and I’ve already been to the post office and completed a laundry run. I had lost track of father’s day but was happily reminded with all the stuff in the mail. Cards from donna,Benjamin, david, Jessica, josh, Emily, alix, ami, and andy. Cookies and cake that are delicious probably from caribou. Beth has a great book for me but I asked her to hold onto it as I’m really over weight. Starting tomorrow morning we ride 7 days in a row and end up just short of the Colorado border. We will ride aprox. 400 miles almost all of it on one road rising about 2300 feet so it’ll be pretty gradual. The wind rather than the hills will determine level of difficulty. Weather forecast shows a chance of rain tomorrow and then sunny and hot for the next seven days. I think we will welcome the high country out there in front of us in about 10 days. time to catch some u.s open. Later.






Tuesday. We woke up this morning to ominous black clouds. By the time breakfast was finished a violent electrical storm was upon us carrying very high winds. We intelligently sat t the rain dly hoping our ride would not get ppd. Someone got the brilliant idea to go hunting for a coffee shop in town. Believe it or not Freda’s diner was the happening breakfast spot in town so by 8:00am we had two breakfasts and zero miles. By 9:30am the storm let up to a light rain with no thunder and lightning so we geared up and got on the road. It was pretty chilly so I put on head to toe water proof stuff. It worked great except once you’re warmed up after the first few hills it gets very hot. Luckily after 15 miles the rain stopped and the gear came off. Because of the late start I didn’t get to camp in ash grove, mo. until almost 3:00pm. Of course that included time for a great lunch at the local diner. After extensive personal research I’ve concluded that almost every little town has a diner just like the beloved sandy hook diner. They all have their regulars who all know each other and are called “honey” or “dear” by the waitress… and it is always a waitress. There must be something about males need not apply. There’s not even any ordering, because everyone has the same thing every day and the waitress always gets it right. While we’re staying at the ash grove town park, we’re actually in a house adjacent to the part. Mr Varn left his house to the town and it was available for us to use. No beds, but lots of floor space, bathrooms, and a kitchen. The big bonus is air conditioning. Big day tomorrow!!!!!

pointing out the obvious re: kansas sign

in honor of tom and ralph. try to read the bumper sticker of van with woman

c
crew at the landry


flat and straight as far as the eye can see

andy's haircut

high water at campgrounds

geared up biker joe' head to toe goretex

waiting out the rain at freda's

Sunday was a very mixed up day. Right out of camp in eminence, mo we rode what seemed like straight up hill for seven mile in the pouring rain. There’s a couple of pictures taken along the ridgeline just as the storm was dissipating. The rest of the 42 miles was mostly flat with gentle rollers. Great second breakfast at just the right time in a little café and no rain the rest of the way into Houston, mo. I discovered a great drink at mcdonald’s. iced mocha. We camped in our first town park(see picture). I rolled out my pad and sleeping bag under a pavilion so no tent erection was necessary which made the morning organizing a bit quicker. There were tennis courts and a swimming pool. Unfortunately the pool is closed on Sunday I guess so as not to interfere with church. Of course the showers were in the locked pool area thus unavailable to us. Sleeping on the ground, so shower, we’ll probably be eating road kill soon. I’m also starting to identify with the carl hiassen character the former governor of florida but I can’t think of his name. just before dark a group of six young riders pulled into camp. Almost every day we meet up with other cyclists going both east and west. Mostly solo riders but a few couples and one father/son. The group that joined us in camp last four different groups of riders that joined up all early twenties. One girl. The guys were all buffed and studly not that I was interested. Two solos, one brother team, and one boy friend/ girl friend. They lit up there little camp stoves and ate all the really healthy crunchy type food. Then after dinner all but one started smoking cigarettes. I simply couldn’t help myself. I went ballistic and started lecturing them. I had to be pulled off by a couple of guys in our group. Some of them actually admitted to smoking while riding. So much for the illusion of a healthy life style. Today we are pretty much out of the Ozarks. 64 miles of gentle rollers through pretty farm land. The soil does grow much more than grass so this is cattle country. The next few weeks should be flat to gently rising as we go through Kansas and then start the big stuff in Colorado and Wyoming. Tonight is another town park in Marshfield, mo. Great showers!!!

david taking improvised shower at town park

tom trimming alice's hair

town park houston, mo

ozarks ridgeline

We’ve had beautiful weather for several days now, although it is certainly summer in Missouri. Hot and sunny high 80’s with little cooling at night. It’s hard to drink enough water. As we’ve left the mighty Mississippi behind we’ve begun the assault on the Ozarks. Yesterday had only a few hard climbs and only 42 miles total riding from Farmington to lesterville. We stopped at a fascinating state park call Johnson shut-ins. Don’t ask where the name came from. It’s a huge recreation area with the main draw being a river that runs through granite creating all kinds of interesting water flows and rock formations. There’s a few pictures below. We stayed in a camp ground that had to be designated as the number 1 party campground in Missouri. Being Friday night you can imagine the rowdiness of the beer drinking crowd. The party went way beyond reasonable. I was so tired I slept without a problem. Many of the rabble-rousers continued at first light which was fine because we’re up and rearing to get on the road.
Today’s ride started gently enough with rolling farmland. Then bam!!!! Straight up. The hills were either steep and short or long and reasonable grade, but it was never ending. The quick downhills never allow me to recover from the previous hill and then it’s right into the next one. I believe today was the hardesr day yet and probably would have been a deal breaker three weeks ago. Ralph turned 60 today. Ralph is a retired banker and along with tom are our two ultraconservatives. Both great guys that the rest of us try to not engage in political discussions. Ralph’s brother Mark joined us for the last two days on the rode and will head home after tomorrows ride. He lives here in Missouri. Tonight we’re at a more family oriented campground. We’ve been promised quiet time at 11:00pm. We’ll see.

johnson shut-ins state park

camping on the front lawn of the farmington, mo fire dept

Last night in chester turned out to be quite interesting. The town is the birth place of elzie segar the creator of popeye. There are statues of the popeye characters all over the place. The pictured statue is right on the banks of the Mississippi river just where we were about to cross. Our residence in chester was on the grounds of the fraternal order of eagles which is basically a bar and restaurant that turns over all profits to local charity. The folks were the most hospitable people we’ve run into so far. The road sign pictured was one block away. Felt just like home. This morning we met at the popeye statue for a group shot and then andy blocked traffic with the van so we could ride safely over the river. The road was very narrow with zero shoulder. We rode along the river for a short time and then began a very hilly 40 miles to Farmington, Missouri. Total for the day was 49. The forecast had been for rain with thunder and lightning, but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. Upon entering Farmington I found a traditional drive-in restaurant for lunch. There was no indoor option so I just pulled up on my bike and got served. Burger, fries, root beer float. It reminded me of the lark and a& w. we’re camped for the night in front of the Farmington fire department.