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.

popeye statue

A mostly pleasant 51 mile ride today. We left Carbondale at 6:30am hoping to beat some severe thunder storms in the forecast. We made it to camp in chester, illinois by noon completely dry. We’re outdoors but under cover so bring on the rain. We rode several miles along the Mississippi river sometimes riding on the top of a levee right next to the water. The bike felt like brand new after all the work that was done on it in Carbondale. The shifting was jumpy and chain stretched so after work everything is working well. The last 10 miles broke the reverie of the day. We hit a busy road with guess what….. more coal trucks. I hope the below picture gives you a perspective on how huge these trucks are. We made it safely and early so it’s like a half layover day. Stay tuned. We cross the Mississippi first thing tomorrow morning.

coal truck

mississippi river view from levee

Layover in Carbondale, il. I’ll be hanging out doing laundry and looking for likely migdol progeny. Back on Saturday in marion, Kentucky I had a feeling that I might see Connecticut before Illinois based on the way I felt. After a good rest we got an early start headed to the ohio river. It was a quick 12 mile ride, then on to a small ferry(see picture) and into Illinois. Sunday early is proving to be our favorite riding time. No trucks and little other traffic. The church traffic starts around 9:00am so by then we’ve gotten 20-25 miles behind us. We’re so far south in Illinois and we’re riding due west so we’ll be outta here and in Missouri on Thursday. The rest of Sunday morning we cruised along the ohio river on a country lane the width of a driveway with no traffic and no dogs. Found a great place for lunch in golcanda. Another great burger. The place had home made cakes and pies. I couldn’t pass up the chocolate cake with white frosting. That was always my favorite birthday cake choice. Not as good as mom’s but o.k. just outside the restaurant was a levee(see picture) built after a devastating flood in 1937. Note that the road passes through the levee. When the water rises they drop in gates into slots in the concrete walls on either side of the road to keep the flood waters contained. Everything on the river side of the levee gets wiped out, but the other side is protected. Stayed in a very pretty state park with a swimming pool, but no flush toilets at our camp site. Monday was a very quick 54 mile ride into Carbondale. Everyone has bike issues so we rode straight to the bike shop so we could leave our bikes overnight to be worked on. My biggest thing has been my tires and tubes. I went three days in a row having a flat each day then two days with no flats, but not to take a chance I needed an upgrade. They are putting gator skin tires on and a special layer of material that goes between tube and tire for extra protection. My bike also needed a good cleaning lube and complete tune up which means they check and adjust all cables, shifting stuff, wheels, spokes, brake pads, etc. I hate to leave my nice room at the super 8, but I need to get to the post office to ship some extra gear home. My cold weather stuff won’t be needed until Colorado. Laundry, pharmacy, back to the bike shop. Can’t wait to get the chores out of the way so I can go to the nearby barnes and noble to browse and get a cup of good coffee.

care package from caryn

care package from the talkow's

levee along ohio river