after an awesome sleep in cold and dry air, made coffee and oatmeal as we broke camp. today's goal was Ash Grove, a seemingly pedestrian 50 or so mile ride. the weather was incredible today, clear and sunny and dry. even with a bit of remaining headwind, we rode on gently thru increasingly flatter terrain and reached Ash Grove in short order. barely broke a sweat today, so it was nice to finish the ride feeling somewhat fresh. i expected my legs to be trashed after the quad-shredding day thru the Ozarks and the long trek into hills and headwinds, but i felt surprisngly good today !
the services supposedly available in ash grove were mostly absent. we got the ok to camp in the city park, which was very nice. no restaurants open, with the exception of a mexican buffet fund-raiser in town. hmmm. BUT, there was a nicely stocked package store for wine and beer (gotta keep up with the happy hours...), so all was not lost !
my friends Reina and Randy live up ahead of our route near Jasper, so i called her this morning to see about arranging a visit while i was in the area. they drove out to meet us in ash grove for (another) happy hour and a spontaneous trip to pizza hut. had a great visit ! it turns out their ranch is ONE mile off the TransAm, so we planned to stop at their house on the way to continue the festivities. great timing, as we were planning a rest day anyway, plus the weather was expected to be bad during our stay, so fortuitous timing all around.
today: 53
to date: 1998
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 36 - Marshfield, MO
today's ride is dedicated to the memory of my mom, marion shelton, who left us this day 9 years ago. i always try to keep my memory of my mom as one of positive inspiration and not of mourning her loss. i know she'd think i was nuts for doing this journey, but she was always my biggest and most supportive fan in all my endeavors, so here's to you, mom !!!!
one of the logisitical considerations in planning each day's itinerary / destination goal is the fact that these small rural towns are not always within easy reach. sometimes the day would have to be almost too short or too long. today's choice by this necessity was marshfield, MO, 90 miles away. not so bad except a cold front was blowing thru during the day, bringing cool and STIFF headwinds. we grinded on thru almost 8 hours of saddle time and 20-30 mph winds all day to reach Marshfield. we were both toast at the end of this ride, which was replete with some flat stretches, but plenty of hills, too. the tough parts were climbing at 3 mph into a tough wind, and having a string of 18-wheelers come the other way to blow enough air to damn near bring me to a stop. very tough day, but we got there late in the day. a call-ahead to the city police was rewarded with the fairgrounds facitilies being opened up for us. bath house with hot water AND a hot shower !!! the thought of climbing into a hot shower after this ride was damn near orgasmic !!! took a LOOONG hot shower ! felt like new after that ! the only food we could find was a local chinese buffet, which did the job just fine. i'm finding that my appetite is off the charts after these long rides; i ate like i had a tapeworm, it seemed !!
by the time we had reached marshfield, the front had gone by and the air had cleared and chilled, with very low humidity. made for a fine sleep in camp across from the fairgrounds. best sleep i've had all week. nice.
legs were TOAST after today's ride, so a lengthy stretch before bed did me alot of good.
today: 90 miles
to date: 1945
one of the logisitical considerations in planning each day's itinerary / destination goal is the fact that these small rural towns are not always within easy reach. sometimes the day would have to be almost too short or too long. today's choice by this necessity was marshfield, MO, 90 miles away. not so bad except a cold front was blowing thru during the day, bringing cool and STIFF headwinds. we grinded on thru almost 8 hours of saddle time and 20-30 mph winds all day to reach Marshfield. we were both toast at the end of this ride, which was replete with some flat stretches, but plenty of hills, too. the tough parts were climbing at 3 mph into a tough wind, and having a string of 18-wheelers come the other way to blow enough air to damn near bring me to a stop. very tough day, but we got there late in the day. a call-ahead to the city police was rewarded with the fairgrounds facitilies being opened up for us. bath house with hot water AND a hot shower !!! the thought of climbing into a hot shower after this ride was damn near orgasmic !!! took a LOOONG hot shower ! felt like new after that ! the only food we could find was a local chinese buffet, which did the job just fine. i'm finding that my appetite is off the charts after these long rides; i ate like i had a tapeworm, it seemed !!
by the time we had reached marshfield, the front had gone by and the air had cleared and chilled, with very low humidity. made for a fine sleep in camp across from the fairgrounds. best sleep i've had all week. nice.
legs were TOAST after today's ride, so a lengthy stretch before bed did me alot of good.
today: 90 miles
to date: 1945
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Day 35 - Summersville, MO
one part of the camping experiences i have been enjoying is the opportunity to make coffee each morning. i brought a small Coleman stove and coffee percolator, so morning coffee has been a regular treat. just can't beat it ! i have also gotten into the habit of making oatmeal for breakfast; just heat up some hot water and BAM, hot breakfast to get the day going. simple pleasures !!
another pretty weather day today; i have been really blessed with good weather on this trip, with just a couple of exceptions in Tennessee and E'town, IL. the day's ride started serenely enough, but that changed quickly as we entered the Ozarks. the purported brutal hills rose up quickly, so the day was replete with long and much steeper climbs than i'd seen thus far. somewhat surprisingly, i got thru these climbs better than i expected, coming from pancake flat houston. as always, climbs get rewarded with nice fast descents ! druing the day, we stopped at Alley Spring, a very pretty area where we bumped into some locals who were spending a few days on their motorcycles riding throughout Missouri. they offered a welcome beer to dana and i as we visited this pretty spring and stream. even though the signs said 'No wading', i couldn't help myself and took a quick and refreshing dunk in the clear cold water !! moving on from there, we continued the relentless ups and downs until we reached our target of Summersville, MO. as it turned out, the purportedly available camping services weren't; the youth center was closed, and the proprieter wasn't very friendly or helpful. the city 'park' was unavailable, so we began to look for something more primitive/stealthy. while looking for somewhere to pitch tents, we found that finding an outdoor spigot to do some rudimentary cleaning up was not to be until we found a hose out in the back of a bank parking lot. this was a pretty dead little town, so dana and i helped ourselves to the only flowing water we could find and took our versions of showers, trying to be inconspicuous ! take what you can find ! another cold but welcome shower to clean up and was good to go. made camp behind a local church before walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner. got back only to find that a nearby timed outdoor light had come on, which wasn't so bad, but the horrific BUZZING coming from the light was unacceptable. ended up moving the camp into the backyard of an abandoned home not far away, so all ended up fine. have to say that there weren't many redeeming qualities about summersville !
really enjoyed the tough but navigable Ozarks today ! not a long ride, but a tough one !
today: 51
to date: 1855
another pretty weather day today; i have been really blessed with good weather on this trip, with just a couple of exceptions in Tennessee and E'town, IL. the day's ride started serenely enough, but that changed quickly as we entered the Ozarks. the purported brutal hills rose up quickly, so the day was replete with long and much steeper climbs than i'd seen thus far. somewhat surprisingly, i got thru these climbs better than i expected, coming from pancake flat houston. as always, climbs get rewarded with nice fast descents ! druing the day, we stopped at Alley Spring, a very pretty area where we bumped into some locals who were spending a few days on their motorcycles riding throughout Missouri. they offered a welcome beer to dana and i as we visited this pretty spring and stream. even though the signs said 'No wading', i couldn't help myself and took a quick and refreshing dunk in the clear cold water !! moving on from there, we continued the relentless ups and downs until we reached our target of Summersville, MO. as it turned out, the purportedly available camping services weren't; the youth center was closed, and the proprieter wasn't very friendly or helpful. the city 'park' was unavailable, so we began to look for something more primitive/stealthy. while looking for somewhere to pitch tents, we found that finding an outdoor spigot to do some rudimentary cleaning up was not to be until we found a hose out in the back of a bank parking lot. this was a pretty dead little town, so dana and i helped ourselves to the only flowing water we could find and took our versions of showers, trying to be inconspicuous ! take what you can find ! another cold but welcome shower to clean up and was good to go. made camp behind a local church before walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner. got back only to find that a nearby timed outdoor light had come on, which wasn't so bad, but the horrific BUZZING coming from the light was unacceptable. ended up moving the camp into the backyard of an abandoned home not far away, so all ended up fine. have to say that there weren't many redeeming qualities about summersville !
really enjoyed the tough but navigable Ozarks today ! not a long ride, but a tough one !
today: 51
to date: 1855
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Day 34 - Ellington, MO
even with all good intentions of getting early starts in the morning, today included, something about breaking camp just seems to turn it into a slow, methodical affair. space limitations do require methodical packing, for sure. still, late starts result in late arrivals later ...
another fine weather day today. took our time leaving Farmington. stopped at a cafe for a rare latte while Dana took the opportunity to visit the library for some Internet access. once on our way, we rode west toward Ellington. back to gently rolling terrain. made a sightseeing stop at elephant rock state park, another fascinating geological rock formation in the heart of granite mining territory. reminded me alot of growing up in Connecticut as a kid, going off and exploring and rock climbing in the woods. very nice. farther down the road, made another rest stop at johnson's shut-in state park to cool the toes in the clear Black River. moved on past Centerville into Ellington, land of the Whippets ! staked out a camp spot in the city park. only water available was cold tap in the rest room house, so took a cold water shower in the dark, and happy to have it to get washed up ! it's become both amusing and welcome to have the simplest of amenities. in all these small rural towns, it's a real treat to find hot water, and better yet, a hot shower !!
we had picked up some groceries in Ellington, so was able to cook up a hot meal to go with a cold beer. cooked up a simple combo of orzo, mixed veggies and tuna. YUM ! had a nice quiet place to camp in the back of the park. nice.
today: 68
to date: 1804
another fine weather day today. took our time leaving Farmington. stopped at a cafe for a rare latte while Dana took the opportunity to visit the library for some Internet access. once on our way, we rode west toward Ellington. back to gently rolling terrain. made a sightseeing stop at elephant rock state park, another fascinating geological rock formation in the heart of granite mining territory. reminded me alot of growing up in Connecticut as a kid, going off and exploring and rock climbing in the woods. very nice. farther down the road, made another rest stop at johnson's shut-in state park to cool the toes in the clear Black River. moved on past Centerville into Ellington, land of the Whippets ! staked out a camp spot in the city park. only water available was cold tap in the rest room house, so took a cold water shower in the dark, and happy to have it to get washed up ! it's become both amusing and welcome to have the simplest of amenities. in all these small rural towns, it's a real treat to find hot water, and better yet, a hot shower !!
we had picked up some groceries in Ellington, so was able to cook up a hot meal to go with a cold beer. cooked up a simple combo of orzo, mixed veggies and tuna. YUM ! had a nice quiet place to camp in the back of the park. nice.
today: 68
to date: 1804
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Day 33 - Farmington, MO
beautiful weather this morning. took the time to visit the popeye statue before crossing the Mississippi River. heading into Missouri, the roads were quiet and flat, rather nice riding. that changed as the day went on, moving into hillier terrain. passed thru Missouri wine country, seeing several wineries along the way; I never knew Missouri was known for wines. later in the day, I ran out of water and just happened upon the Crown Valley brewery. water bottle fill-ups and ONE beer (yeah, right...) which turned into 3 once the locals got their paws on us ! talk about fluid AND carb replenishments ! these were some excellent and cold beers. made the final push into farmington. setup camp in a local park. ugh, no showers, just bath sink cleanup. rudimentary, but does the job. grazed on some local Chinese food. nothing else was open !
as it turned out, not paying closer attention to the map addenda cost a stay in a new (and so I'm told, quite well set up with amenities) bunk house specially setup for touring TransAm cyclists coming thru. too bad, but camping was ok nonetheless...
today: 49 miles
to date: 1736
as it turned out, not paying closer attention to the map addenda cost a stay in a new (and so I'm told, quite well set up with amenities) bunk house specially setup for touring TransAm cyclists coming thru. too bad, but camping was ok nonetheless...
today: 49 miles
to date: 1736
Monday, May 3, 2010
Day 32 - Chester, IL
on our way west from carbondale, we made a short stop at a rare bike shop to get some tubes and stuff. with an absolutely beautiful morning, we enjoyed a great ride thru the flat farm country-side of south-western Illinois as we approached Cora on the way to Chester, a local stopped his truck to tell us about a nasty storm heading our way from the west. so much for the forecast of good weather! we tried to outrun the storm to Chester, but to no avail. we took a brief shelter in a dentist's office, and got the suggestion to head to the Fraternal Order of the Eagles post. food, drink, and as it turned out, a bunkhouse the town built especially for touring cyclists! how fortuitous ! Monday night was beach volleyball night for the locals, so we stumbled into a big social event. met many kind and fun folks here. one fellow named Larry pontificated on the finer points of frog-igging, the art of hunting and field prepping frogs. lovely !!! had a great (and free) place to stay. couldn't beat that with a stick!!
today: 57 miles
to date: 1687
today: 57 miles
to date: 1687
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Day 31 - Carbondale, IL
today we enjoyed a nice ride thru mostly flat terrain on the way to Carbondale. not much notable to say about the day other than it was nice to have an easy day in the saddle. crab orchard campground had alot of high water due to recent storms, but still had a very nice night to camp.
I had been having an absurd craving for sushi, and Carbondale had it !! after setting up camp and cleaning up, dana and I took a short cab ride to town for my indulgence. hit the spot !!
today: 69 miles
to date: 1630
I had been having an absurd craving for sushi, and Carbondale had it !! after setting up camp and cleaning up, dana and I took a short cab ride to town for my indulgence. hit the spot !!
today: 69 miles
to date: 1630
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