Part 2, Day 10, Marshfield to Golden City MO

82 miles, 6:10 riding time, 13.2 mph average, 3809 ft ascent
Duane and i stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Marshfield last night.  We were concerned about the forecast of rain overnight so we didn’t want to camp out, and sure enough, we awoke to rain.  We decided to sleep in (0545), enjoy the hotel continental breakfast, and get a leisurely start.  I was apprehensive about starting the day in rain, but also didn’t want to hang around the hotel all day.  I brought a rain jacket, helmet cover and shoe covers and have hauled them up and down numerous mountains, so by golly, I better use them, which I did.  I rolled out at about 0930 in the rain, which takes some getting used to.  I don’t have photos for the first part of the day due to the rain.  Hurricane Barrry gave us another day of tailwinds, so I made good time (13.3 mph avg) over rolling terrain.  But, the Ozarks were not done with us yet.  About 30 miles into the ride I entered into a section of about 25 miles with numerous stream crossings...and I explained in my last post what that means..a steep descent followed by a steep ascent.  On one stream I saw what was left of a mill.



More on my continuing theme of pickups and tractors.




After about 65 miles I was running short of water.  There weren’t any towns for miles, so I rode up to a house and asked for water.  The guy was very nice and gladly obliged giving me two bottles of COLD water.  This is the second time I have had to go to a nearby house to ask for water.  I always check for dogs first.  Both times the people have been very friendly.  The guy also told me I would soon enter into “plowed field” country, and he was right.


No more stream crossings with steep ascents on the other side.  The landscape has transformed into what I imagine KS will be like, only flatter.  Tonight we are camping in a picnic shelter in the Golden City park.  There are bathrooms and showers, so we have all the necessities.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part 2, Day 6, Carbondale to Chester IL

Image
64 miles, 5:25 riding time, don,t know clock time today, 11.6 mph avg, 1329 ft ascent We got a late start today from Jack’s house.  I think we got started around 10:00. Our first task was to find a grocery store to reprovisiom.  Bike touring is all about managing hydration and calorie intake. Today our route would take us through a 38 mile stretch with no services. We chose to take the Mississippi levee alternate route which would take us into the River valley. I was surprised at the amount of water; there’s a lot of flooding. Farming in a food plain is full of risk.  The white mound between the silos are sand bags. About 20 miles in we came across an intersection with 3 road closed signs.  We decided to proceed and found out the signs were not kidding...nowhere to go but back.  We backtracked 3 miles to the Bottoms Up bar and grill to get advice from a local. Cristy told us the water was only 6 inches deep on one road, so we backtracked again and decided to go through the water; Crist
Read more

Part 2, Day 13, Eureka to Valley Center KS

Image
67 miles, 6:33 riding time, average 10.2 mph, 1614 ft ascent We got an early start today, leaving the city park in Eureka at 0600.  It was a nice park with a municipal pool, so we really enjoyed swimming and relaxing at the pool after yesterday’s ride.  Today our goal was to go off-route to Duane’s Aunt and Uncle’s house in Valley Center.  Duane is planning a rest day, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I will end Part 2 there.   The route out of Eureka was on Highway 54, which I described in my last post.  There wasn’t much traffic early in the morning, but the wind was blowing at about 20 mph from the SW with gusts of up to 30 mph.      There wasn’t anything to block the wind; this is wide-open country. This is a PANO photo from my iPhone. A disadvantage of front panniers is that gusting wind creates a force that turns the front wheel and causes me to swerve slightly.   When big semi’s pass they also create gusts that have the same effect.  The road was long and straight, so I c
Read more

Part 2: Day 1, Berea to Springfield KY

Image
79.8 miles, 6:41 riding time, about 10 hrs clock time 11.9 mph avg, 4065 ft ascent The day started at 0600 when a friend of Steve H’s named Shunnan arrived at Steve H’s house to ride with us,  Steve’s wife June drove us from Lexington to the same place in Berea where I left off last year (yes Rob, no gap!) The ride west from Berea was very green with rolling hills; much like riding in Maryland or Virginia.  This part of KY is about horses and farming.  The contrast with Eastern KY is striking; I did not see any billboards for rehab centers and the houses were very suburban until we got a ways from Berea, and even then I did not see the signs of dire poverty I saw in eastern KY.   I had beeen e-mailing a fellow Westbound TransAm rider named Duane who started his ride on 16 June.  I knew he was in Berea on the 4th of July so I was hoping to connect up with him.  At one point Steve, Shunnan and I missed a turn and as we were riding up a hill along come two cyclists going the other way.  T
Read more