On into Kansas

Time is really flying by, we have been on the ride now for over 5 weeks and we are about 1/3 of the way across the country.  Now that we are moving out of the mountains and hills of the east and Missouri the daily mileage is starting to pick up.
On Tuesday the 7th we rode to Marshfield, MO with lots of hills but the hills are getting smaller, not real long climbs but lots of little ones and some with up to 14% grade. Still a lot of work on the bike.  This ride was thru rolling country side with nice farms and ranches.  We did come across three posted detours for bridges out and decided to risk it and rode on and were able to get across all three bridges,  Enough work has been done to allow us to ride through. Camped at a city park in Marshfield and did the usual for dinner and a card game before hitting the bag. 
On Wednesday we headed out and rode to Ash Grove with the same type of riding on nice rolling countryside.  The roads in Missouri have been nice with good paving and these are the best marked roads of any state that we have been in so far.

Temperatures continue to be well into the 90's every day and on the road the temps get to well over 100. I can't say that I am getting used to the heat with the high humidity but it is not bothering me as much.  I just keep drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Ash Grove is a small city and again we stayed at the city park. The shower was close and had hot water so life was OK in Ash Grove.  It is amazing how just the availability of something like a shower can mean so much.  We did have a lot of climbing on this day and really it may be the last of the really hilly days.
Thursday had us up about 5:45AM and headed into Kansas.  The ride information indicated that we would ride about 20 more miles in the hills then things would change. And it was correct, hills for about 20 then the landscape just started to flatten out a lot.  To be sure there are rolling hills, and now added to the  mix was a wind out of the south southwest at about 15 to 20 mph.  Not a straight on headwind but enough for some of our folks to notice. After 63 miles we crossed into Kansas.

Now that we are in Kansas we will have the winds and flatter riding, well a little flatter. Arriving in Pittsburg after 71 miles we rode again to a city park where we have a nice camp site next to the local baseball field, so we are treated to a ball game each night.  We are staying over on Friday for a rest day and will head out again on Saturday. Thursday a friend of Deloris, who is on our ride, showed up with a nice dinner for us and it was good to get a home cooked meal.  This lady (Terry) rode with Deloris last year on an ACA ride. Thanks Terry!

Well it is now Friday and laundry is done, a really good breakfast is over and here I sit in the Library (air conditioned) doing the blog thing and catching up on other computer stuff.

Below is a picture of the Five Amigos

From the left are Sjef from Holland, Jason from London, myself, Terry from Moab, UT, and David from England. This is the group that plays cards every evening, creates a little havoc in camp and we all tend to ride somewhat together and watch out for each other.

On across Kansas, Life is Good      Bobo

Missouri

We finished riding in Illinois on Thursday when we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri.

The weather has gotten very hot and now in Missouri we are back into hill climbing, lots of small hills but hills none the less.Farmington, MO was a very nice town for an overnight and I had to replace my chain, it was toasted and I was having trouble shifting. We did get to watch a Little League Ball Game in the evening and it was a nice diversion.Tacos were on the menu and while they were good they were not very filling, especially with the riding we are doing.

On our way to Lesterville on Friday, one of our riders crashed while moving from the highway to the shoulder of the road. She lost control mainly due to about a four inch difference in surfaces and a very stony and rutted shoulder.  Jill is out of the tour with a fractured scapula, broken ribs and cuts and bruises.  We all wish her well. On the way  into Lesterville the school temperature sign registered 105F while riding on the road my bike computer registered 113F. It was HOT.  We camped on the Current River and a swim cooled me down.  A couple of our riders really suffered from the heat and had a hard time recovering.

On Saturday we rode to Eminence, Mo and this was a hilly ride with some good climbs. We thought we could  beat the heat by leaving before seven but it got hot quickly. This was only a 52 mile ride but with the temperature reaching 113F on the road it was a very tough day riding. Once again I drank and drank fluids all day and made it into the Circle B Campground OK.

At the Circle B I was able to get a motel(really basic motel) room for Sjef and myself.The best feature was the AIR CONDITIONING! When Sjef got in he was really worn out.  He fell onto the bed and did not move for at least a half hour.  But being Sjef he was soon up and about and asking for a beer. We went into town for Dinner and it was a good meal. 

Eminence is the County Seat for Texas County.  There are a total of seven thousand residents in the county and the big issue in this area is the reintroduction of Elk into the National Forests in the area.Ranchers and farmers are against it and everyone else is in favor.  This is a beautiful area with the Current and Jack's Fork Rivers with lots of tubing, rafting, kayaking and canoeing on over 100 miles of unpolluted waterways.  Everyone is working hard to keep it that way.

We had a rest day on Sunday and that is just what I did most of the day until I had to prepare dinner . As cook for the day we had chicken, bratwurst, baked beans, salad and watermelon.  Not a bad meal if I do say so myself, although Jason and Sjef helped a lot.

Today,(Monday) we rode 42 miles to Houston and we are camped at the city park with a swimming pool and showers at hand.  Nice.

Life is Good   Bobo

In Illinois

We made it to Illinois, the land of Lincoln, We took a small ferry across the Ohio River on Sunday. We were lucky since a week before the ferry had not been running due to flooding. The river is still very high and the current is swift. The ferry after leaving the south shore went about a quarter mile down river before turning back upriver and heading for the north shore.  A nice ride and a little time to relax.
The weather is finally sunny and it has gotten really hot. Including today (Tuesday) the highs have been in the ninety's. Seems that we are either going to have 60 with rain or 90 with sun and no in between. I have decided the 90 with sun is better than the 60 with rain. Sunday night found us at Dixon Springs State Park and it was very nice, with our own shelter for eating and cooking.  There was a pool and hot showers.
Saturday morning in Kentucky, while riding in forested areas we began to hear a loud whine coming from the woods, and this wen on for two days until we were well into Illinois.  Turns out that an insect, called the cicada, was hatching and then flying into wooded areas to shed their outer layer.  The noise was never ending and even while camped at the state park they kept up their noise all night.  In the morning there were a few on my tent and the took off before I could get a picture of them.  We seemed to ride out of the noise on Monday. By the way these insects only come out every thirteen years. Oh lucky us.

While riding on Monday (Memorial Day) we stopped at a restaurant in Goreville IL for breakfast. They always give cyclists free pie when they stop in and on Memorial Day they provide veterans with a free meal.  We went in and had a great breakfast but Terry and I, the only vets in the group did pay for our meal and told the owner to give a free meal to someone needy.  She agreed to do it and I believe she will.
Today is Tuesday and we have a layover day in Carbondale IL. Last night we went to a Lone Star Steak House and had a 14oz rib eye steak.  That tasted superb after a week on the road with group cooked food. We have had some good meals but on Sunday evening our two cooks really hit the low mark for the group cooking.  They made pasta, not enough and the sauce was terrible, with very little meat in it.  They received no kudos from anyone and they will not be paired up again. The big employer here is the Southern Illinois University. Since school is out the city is on a slower pace.  This morning we went to the local bike shops and picked up a couple of little things including a kick stand.  There are too many places where it is hare to find a location to lean the bike against.  The kick stand is a nice addition to my bike. I spent  a little time this afternoon cleaning and lubing my bike.
So far all of my equipment has been working beautifully.  The wheels peter White built for me are great, ant Ortlieb panniers are absolutely waterproof, and the gearing on the bike works great for me on the hills and on the flat stretches. One of the guys at Geneva Bicycle Center turned me on to "Dumonde TECH lubricant" for my chain. This stuff is great. I put some on my chain for only the second time on the ride and the bike has been quiet and smooth running, Thanks guys. I did purchase a new Thermarest sleepi9ng pad a couple of weeks ago and it is more comfortable and easier to carry than my old pad.  I gave the old pad to a hiker while we were in Damascus.

In a couple of days we will cross the Mississippi and head into Missouri.  They tell me we will encounter the worst drivers of the entire trip in Missouri.  Time will tell, but so far the Illinois drivers have not been near the quality of the Virginia or Kentucky drivers.







Life is Good     Bobo

Oh Kentucky

Riding thru Kentucky has been an awakening, from the coal strip mining and poverty of eastern KY to the beautiful farmland of central and western Kentucky.  It is easy to tell where the state spends its money, it is not in the eastern part of the state.This week has been another with lots of rain, cold and cloudy weather.From Berea, KY we rode to Harrodsburg and stayed in a YMCA. There is a nice park with a replica fort form the 1770's when this city was the first permanent settlement west of the mountains.
From Harrodsburg we headed to Bardstown adn were scheduled to stay in a state campground.  With a severe weather alert going on Sjef and I decided to get a room at the Bardstown Inn.  A good decision since the storms did hit in the middle of the night and while not real severe, there was lots of thunder and lightning. On the road the riding has taken on a routine in central Kentucky. Rolling hills and nice farms.
Out of Bardstown we were off for White Mills where we stayed at a Volunteer Fire Dept. We had an 84 mile ride today and it really went well with most folks in by 4 PM. this was our longest ride to date on the tour and my average speed was the best yet at almost 12 miles an hour. This was a very rural fire department with some old but very operational equipment.  I did camp this night an of course we had rain in the morning but not too much.
On to Utica, KY on Friday and into another fire house. We ate at a convenience store and the food was not tooooo bad but it was filling.  Again the riding was rolling hills with some actual flat stretches. Since we entered the central time zone on Friday some of the folks woke up at 4:30AM managed to wake everyone else up also.  They heard about that.
Today, Saturday we rode to Marion, KY not NY.  This was a 74 mile ride and for the first time we rode through areas that had been under water just two weeks ago, I mean really under water.  One of the roads we were on was at least under by twelve feet. Those areas really had a bad oder to them.
Tonight we are at the Methodist Church in Marion and this is nice, showers and all.  We head into Illinois in the morning so we have knocked off another state.  To date I have ridden over eleven hundred miles on the trip.  We are making progress.
Life is Good     Bobo

Kentucky

Finally out of Virginia, it was a great state to ride thru but after two weeks you look forward to getting into the next state.

The one good thing that came with Kentucky was that within 10 minutes of crossing the state line the sun came out and the temps began to go up.  All the way up to 85 on Friday. Eastern KY is three things, coal country, poverty and lots of very long climbs for bike riders. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were four of the toughest days in the saddle that I have ever had. Four days of climbing some big hills, the longest was 3 miles long going up 1500'. Then there were many many climbs in the 1000' range.  In these four days we climbed about 25,000'.  The grades ranged from 6% to 16%. NOW that is is over we can look back on it and feel really good about our cycling.  A few of the folks had to walk some of the steeper climbs but I do believe it is easier pedaling up then trying to push a fully loaded touring bike up a steep grade.
From Breaks Park we rode to Hindman, KY and stayed at the Knotts County Historical Society. Yup, on the top of a hill and I pitched my tent on a terrace further up the hill. It was a good time all except for the lousy pizza for dinner.
Saturday found us riding to Boonville, KY, Daniel Boone is a large historical figure in these parts. To bad this part of KY is dry.  A beer really tastes good after 60 miles of hill climbing.  I had cooking duties on Saturday and kept it simple, pasta with meatballs (frozen) and Ragu along with a salad and watermelon for desert.
Sunday we headed for Berea, Ky which is a very nice city with Berea Collage.  I am sitting in a local cafe typing this on Monday afternoon.  Last night we they tell me we had two thunder storms go thru; one around midnight that I did not hear and another around 5AM that I did hear and it was a beauty, lots of thunder and lightning.  I slept right thru the first one and I am sleeping really well in the tent. Stu, a friend of mine really needs to get out and enjoy tenting more often and then he could get his master campers certificate.  Oh well, one can only hope.
We have a rest day today (Monday) here in Berea and it is now sunny and 85F with high humidity.
A good story; When we were headed for Breaks Park on Thursday we stopped at a nice country store and talked with the owners, a nice couple that I mentioned in my last post.  What I forgot to mention was that as we stood outside getting ready to ride again, a fellow pulled up in his 1960's vintage truck, (this truck has never been washed or cleaned). Well he gets out walks up to us and asked Sjef where he is from, Sjef responds Holland, fellow says "where the hell is that". Then he asks Kelly where she is from and she responds Seattle, fellow says "God lady you sure are lost". He looks at me and asks where I am from and I respond Rochester, NY, fellow says "We don't much like Yankees around here" Now years ago I might have responded but in my old age I am getting a little smarter so I just kept my mouth shut, (Linda, can you believe it?).  We got on our bike and rode away. By the way, he had been washed about as often as his truck.
One last note, yesterday I found out the Charlie Shakeshaft, a very good friend died the other day while riding his bike. He just collapsed while riding and was pronounced dead at the hospital.  Charlie was one of those rare individuals who positively touched everyone, a friend, skiing companion, cycling companion and I will really miss Charlie.
Today life is a little duller because of Charlie's passing but it will be good again soon.
Bobo

Into Kentucky

Friday we ride out of rainy Virginia and into hopefully sunny Kentucky.  The last two days have been tough because of the weather, temps in the upper 40's or low 50"s, cloudy and rainy.  On Thursday we left Damascus, VA and rode a short 38 miles to a Methodist church in western VA.  The ride was short but there was one 1500 ft. climb along with a bunch of shorter climbs.  Rain during the downhill slowed us all down. WTF does the sun ever shine in western VA? Purchasing food in the back areas can be a problem and last night we ended up eating some kind of crappy pasta and boiled hot dogs, yum mailto:yum~!@#$.
Today, Thursday, we woke up to more rain, heavy rain today. But ride we must, so out we went and again we had a relatively short ride of 46 miles but today we had 4 major climbs, another 1200 ft. climb and three five to seven hundred ft. climbs.  In the cold rain you get to like the climbs because the effort keeps you warm.  However on the 7 mile downhill this  morning I was the coldest I have ever been on a bike.  Finally we came into a little corner store and stopped and got a cup of coffee for $0.25, yup, 25 cents. Crappy coffee but hot.  That helped and about 6 miles later we found a much better store with way better coffee and a very nice couple who own the store.  They gave us the lowdown on the rest of the ride to Breaks Interstate Park.  After the last two climbs with good downhills in clouds and no rain we climbed to the park entrance.  At least 12 of the 15 in our group have decided to get motel rooms in the park.  Nice rooms at a reasonable price. For the first time in four days I am clean, dry, and warm. And this really is fun.  Once settled in our room we have been chatting with the other riders about our fun day in the rain. Easy to do once you are dry and warm. We will be eating dinner tonight at the restaurant in the park, it is supposed to be good according to the locals.  We will see, maybe possum stew or raccoon chops.
Life is Good    Bobo

More of Virginia

Riding through the hills and mountain areas of this state is really nice with rolling roads all well paved and the country roads have little traffic.  On Saturday we rode to Christiansburg and stayed at the Presbyterian church with turned out to be very nice with a large kitchen and carpeted area for sleeping on, and it was dry.  the last few days have been cloudy cool with temps in the 50's and occasional rain during the day.  Not the best riding weather but we pedal on.  Stopping at local country stores is always a treat, everyone asking questions about where we are going, why we are going and how long it will take; but it is a lot of fun and everyone has been very friendly.  Now that we are into western VA the dogs are on the loose and a few have come out but no one has had a major problem.

A typical stop  at a country store.

On Sunday we rode to Wytheville and again cloudy and rainy. The ride itself was full of short steep climbs with many grades of 10% to 14%. The last climb into Wytheville was the toughest of the day and of course just as we got to the top of the climb the skies opened up and we had a torrential downpour, with no time to put on rain gear so we rode it put to the Methodist church where we were staying Sunday night.  Again a great choice with full kitchen facilities and carpeted sleeping areas and HOT showers..  Lots of laundry to wash so over to the local laundromat and got that done.
Monday found us on the road to Damascus VA, very close to the Tennessee state line.  This was a ride with three climbs that rose over 900 feet each with grades from 3% to 12%.  the climbing was actually fairly easy since most of it was done at around 4%, but the downhills were fabulous! On the last good decent I had to slow down for a car that did not like to take the curves and switchbacks very fast.  I did get up to 40 mph and on a loaded touring bike that is a good speed to take curves. We are staying a layover day in Damascus and we are at the Iron Horse Campground.  It was built in 1996 and no one has done a lick of work on the place since then.  Sjef and I got in early and rented a small two bed cabin for the two nights.  Others who got in later are camping in a shelter or out on the lawn. Damascus is a big town for Mt biking and is also a crossroads for various trails on the Appalachian Trail system.  There are a number of bike shops and hiking outfitters but no good restaurants that we have been able to find.  But the do have the Dollar Store.  Today (Tuesday) is cold and rainy so here I sit in the local coffee house typing away on the blog.
Who knows when I will see a good wifi spot again, tomorrow we head toward Kentucky and should cross into that state on Friday.  We will also have the toughest climbing days of the entire trip late this week. 
Life is Good   Bobo