Hot, Humid and Hills through Meramec Springs

Meramec Spring

We are back on the bike today, heading from the Jefferson City, MO area south into the hills of the Ozarks.  While we had several days of very mild weather coming into Jeff City, it is back to the more typical hot, humid July weather.  Throw in 77 miles and 5400' of climbing, and it made for a challenging day.  Here is the track for the ride.  Beth and I rode the tandem for the first 48 miles and Nicholas finished up with me near Steelville, MO.

Near the end of the day we stopped at Meramec Springs Park to see the huge trout that live in the spring and see all of the trout they raise there.

So many trout you could almost walk on the water

The big fish that live in the spring.

While we were at Curt and April's house, Beth celebrated a birthday.  With the help of a friend, Loria Yeadon, I got her a pretty unique present, an autographed personalized copy of the "Modernist Cuisine at Home."  Nathan Myhrvold is the primary author of the book as well as a co-founder of Intellectual Ventures where Loria is an executive vice-president.  Loria had a copy of the book, arranged to get it autographed by Mr. Myhrvold and shipped to Beth's mom's house in Jeff City.

Nathan Myhrvold  is quite the renaissance man.  He entered college at age 14, has a PhD in astrophysics, has won Memphis barbecue championship, been a guest judge on "Top Chef", is a published nature photographer and was the chief technology officer for Microsoft for a number of years.

The MoDOT Orange Barrel Man

We want to thank Curt and April for letting us stay at their house while we were in the Jeff City area, take up a big chunk of their driveway with the RV, loan us a truck when we needed to go somewhere, use their garage for tuning up the bikes and feeding us multiple times.  It was good to spend a few day in the same spot to get ready to finish up our trip.  Three more weeks and Nicholas will be home again!

Another reminder, Jim and Heidi are trying to raise money for World Bicycle Relief.  They have made great progress toward their fund raising goal and now Trek Bicycles is matching all of the donations they receive in July.  So if you would like to donate follow the link below.  (Read more about the effort)

Click Here to Donate

Taking a break in central MO

Installing the skylight before it gets too hot!

We arrived in central Missouri on July 4th and we have been taking a little break from riding.  We have had some time to spend visiting with both of our families. Beth had a chance to catch up on the pile of laundry that had been accumulating and cleaned the RV from top to bottom.  I installed the replacement skylight today and hope I don't have to do that again.  

I spent several hours cleaning and lubricating the bikes.  The tandem was in need of some pretty serious work.  I pulled apart and lubricated the bearing on the main drive axle, found the source of a couple of shifting problems (bent rear derailleur that I straightened), new tires and new chains.  The tandem seems to take about 3 times the maintenance of a regular bike, but it well worth it to able to ride with Beth and enjoy the trip together.

We have one more day of R&R here in the Jefferson City area before we resume our ride across the USA.  We'll be restocking the RV tomorrow with groceries, getting propane, and finding a car wash to clean off the bugs one more time...a really big car wash!

I am actually getting a little antsy to get back on the bike and tackle the hills.  We plan be in south-central Kentucky by next Saturday where we will to visit Beth's older bother, Jeff and his wife Yolie in Clarksville, TN.  Then ride on to a rest day and make a side trip to Mammoth Caverns National Park.  Then it's on to Cumberland Gap and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

4th of July in Central MO

The roller-coaster hills of  north-central Missouri

We have reached another milestone on our trip.  We have made it back to central Missouri where Beth and I grew up and Nicholas lives.  We had a good time today riding from my brother's house in Versailles (pronounce "Ver-sales" in MO) to my parents house in Eldon and then on to Nicholas' house in Wardsville.  A ride down memory lane.... so to speak.

The weather over the past few days has been absolutely fantastic for this time of year in this part of the country.  Around this time of year 95 & 95 (temp and humidity) is the norm, but we have had temperatures in the low to mid-80's for several days.  You can't ask for any better at this time of year around here.

We are back in hill country, so the climbing footage has gone back up again.  Yesterday was a 90 mile ride from Harrisonville to Versailles, MO with 4300' of climbing... never going above 1000' in elevation.    (Track for yesterday)  David, my younger brother, just happens to have an RV pad in the side yard at his house that was put there by the previous owner.  So it was really convenient to stop and hook up right at his house.

We went to dinner with David and his wife, Cheryl at "Captain Ron's" on Lake of the Ozarks.  The 4th of July weekend is usually one of the busiest weekends for the lake.  We had seen a lot of traffic on highway 52 getting to David's house... more than I liked with the narrow shoulder and rumble strip. It looked like it was probably going to be a pretty busy weekend looking at the restaurant parking lots.

Beth and I were up early to ride 22 miles to our home town of Eldon and visit my parents.  Along the way, Beth struck a "gold mine" of Missouri license plates finding 2 plates in 2 miles along highway 52 and a third on the way to Nicholas' house.  Just to cover her bases, my brother had already given 3 plates that were hanging in his barn.  Now we have plenty of Missouri plates.... still not sure what we'll do with them!

While we were at my parents, we got a kick out of watching the acrobatic squirrel trying to steal food out of their bird feeder.   It was really entertaining to watch it just outside the living room window.

Just a reminder if you would like to contribute to World Bicycle Relief to help Jim and Heidi reach their fundraising goal, here is the link:  (see "Plowing Across Kansas..." for more info)
Click Here to Donate
Have a happy and safe 4th of July.

"Pop" (89) working in the garden 

We're not in Kansas anymore...

After 5 pretty hard days, we left Kansas today and rolled into Missouri.  Thankfully the weather has been exceptionally good for this time of year. The highs for the past 3 days have been in the mid-80's and the wind hasn't been too bad even though it hasn't been helpful (cross or slight head winds).  The only thing I really was hoping for was some good tail winds which I only saw in very short spurts.  I think a little wind in your face is a good trade-off for mild temperatures.

Yesterday was our 70 mile "short" day. (Here is the track) We were finished riding by 1PM.  We stopped at an RV park east of Osage City, KS and took quick showers.  Then we headed 25 miles north for Topeka and the state capital building.  After Nicholas and Beth took a quick tour, we found a great park east of town where I took a much needed nap and they played Catan.

We drove on to Lawrence, KS to meet up with our biking friends, Marci, Jason and their 2 year-old daughter Harper for dinner.  We were hoping to do some riding with them sometime this week, but their schedules just didn't line up with ours.  We had a great dinner and filled them in on the trip.  They checked out the RV and Harper had a good time playing with Mo.

After some ice cream, it was back to the RV park for some much needed rest.  Today was an 80 mile ride across the Missouri state line.  We stopped for lunch in "Miss B's Cafe" in Louisburg, KS.  I had been looking for a small town cafe to have a late breakfast or lunch for 3 days and hadn't found one in the last 250 miles.  Miss B's definitely fit the bill.  Nothing like an omelet, hash browns and blackberry pie with ice cream for lunch!

In a previous update, I had talked about Beth's quest to find a license plate from each state we rode through somewhere along the side of the road.  After more than 300 miles in Kansas, she still hadn't found one.  She had been really excited on the first day in Kansas when she found a plate on the side of the road within the first 5 miles in the state.  Too bad it was a New Mexico plate and we hadn't seen another one since.  So yesterday, while she was waiting for Nicholas and me in Osage City, she saw a junk yard and went in to ask if they had any Kansas licenses plates that she could have.  They were nice enough to give her one, but it just wasn't the same as finding it along the road.  Well today, as we were leaving Louisburg and almost to the Missouri state line, I found a Kansas plate on the side of the road to keep the streak alive.

We are spending the night in Harrisonville, MO, south of Kansas City. (Here is the track for today)  The plan for tomorrow is to ride 94 miles to Versailles, MO to my brother, David's house and then ride on to Nicholas' house in Wardsville, just outside Jefferson City, MO on the 4th of July.  We'll spend a few days "resting" (laundry, RV cleaning, bike cleaning/tuning/repair, maybe replace the RV skylight, restocking the groceries, etc) and visiting our relatives in the area.

Here are the current riding stats after 5 complete weeks on the road:

(keeping up that 500 mile/week average, but that won't last with our stop in mid-MO)

Map after 5 complete weeks of riding.

"Plowing" Across Kansas... And a PSA

Bales of wheat straw

We are making great strides in getting across Kansas as quickly as possible.  We have put in several long days of riding.  In the last 4 days we have gone 94, 104, 119 and 118 miles.  I have never done 3 centuries (100+ miles rides) in a row before.  I have done 4 in the last 6 days, so we are really rolling up the miles.  We are currently in Herington, KS which is straight north of Wichita.

But now for the Public Service Announcement.

Jim and Heidi, our son and daughter-in-law who live in Seattle, have had a great opportunity come their way.  Last week they found out that they are going to be a part of a Pro-Am racing team which will travel to France for a 4 day charity racing event in late July called Trois Etapes (read more at the link).  This will be a fully supported race just like the pro's with a support car, race radios, the whole nine yards and they will be racing in the mountains of southern France.  Now for the hard part.... As part of the team they have to raise a substantial amount of money for their team charity, World Bicycle Relief.

World Bicycle Relief is a non-profit organization focused on addressing transportation hurdles in rural Africa. They have local assembly facilities and offices in Africa where specially designed bicycles to help kids get to school, allow healthcare workers to visit more rural patients, and to assist farmers getting their products to market are assembled. World Bicycle Relief has distributed more than 135,000 bicycles and trained more than 850 field mechanics over the past seven years. 

Jim and Heidi have teamed up with two other local Seattle cyclists who are also on the team and they are calling their effort Racing 4 Buffaloes. Buffalo is the name of the bike that World Bicycle Relief designed specifically for the rugged African environment.  As a team of 4 they have a goal to raise $60,000 for World Bicycle Relief.  Clark and Randy, the two other riders from Seattle, have been fundraising all year.  They have given the team a great start toward the goal but they need your help!  Jim and Heidi are getting a really late start since they have jumped in to replace two riders who have dropped out and left a big fund raising shortfall.  

Jim and Heidi would greatly appreciate you donating to World Bicycle Relief to support their team on such short notice and most importantly the worthwhile objectives of World Bicycle Relief.  100% of your donation goes directly to World Bicycle relief and is tax deductible; Jim and Heidi will be paying all of their own travel costs for this race.  If you feel it is a worthwhile effort please make a donation of any amount you see fit.  You can contribute directly by following the link below and it will be credited to their team's fund raising goal.

Click Here to Donate

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog.... 

As I mentioned before, it is wheat harvesting season.  A lot of the wheat harvesting is done by contractors from around the country going from farm-to-farm.  Yesterday (Saturday) must have been the day to rotate fields.  We saw 10 or 15 of these semi's hauling wheat harvesters flying down the road.  We were riding in pretty good cross winds most of the day and when one of these monsters comes flying by at 65mph, you need to get your head down and wait for the air blast and road debris to clear.  They clearly aren't very aerodynamic.  Nicholas and I met two these semi's side-by-side, one passing the other, on this same road. We were both looking for a place to hide and the wind blast from two of them was pretty impressive.

We have been pretty lucky the last couple of days with the weather.  It was 106 F when we rolled into Eads, CO a few days ago, but the temperatures have been dropping everyday since then.  It was about 95 when we arrived Scott City, KS and in the mid-80's yesterday when arrived in Great Bend and the low-80's today when we hit Herington, KS.  However the wind was a bigger factor today, blowing very steadily at 10-15 mph out of the north-northeast.  Except for some very short sections where we headed south, it has mostly been a cross wind all the way across Kansas.  So much for getting any good tail-wind rides across the plains.

We are now into the eastern section of Kansas with rolling hills, more like northern Missouri.  Today, coming into Herington, I had a little section where the road turned to gravel for about 3 miles, but at least I got to cross one more famous trail along the way, the Santa Fe Trail.  That should pretty much cover the famous western trails.  We spent plenty of time on both the Oregon and Lewis and Clark trails in Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Tomorrow is scheduled as a "short" day at 70 miles to Osage City, KS.  We'll stop there and drive about 25 miles to Topeka, KS to visit the state capital building.  Then Tuesday, we'll be leaving Kansas and heading for our old stomping grounds in Missouri.

Again, if you can help Jim and Heidi with their fundraising for World Bicycle Relief, we would all greatly appreciate it.

Hey Dorthey!!! We're in Kansas!

We have said "so long" to the mountain states and moved on to the great plains!  I'm wondering if the Kansas tourism board made sure there was wheat planted next to the "Welcome to Kansas" sign.

We have put in some long days to get here and we have had to adjust our daily routine to account for the hotter, windier weather.

After spending the night in the church parking lot in Rush, CO, Beth and I left the RV at about 6:15 on our way to Eads, CO via Kit Carson.  By leaving early, we got in about 50 miles before the temperatures and winds picked up.  After we leave, Nicholas sleeps a while longer, does his cross-country training run and then catches up to us about 3 hours later.

Nicholas finished up the day with me and got the better end of the deal.  The first 57 miles had a lot of rough, cracked pavement which is pretty hard riding on the tandem.  When we hit US 287 at the 57 mile mark, it was a nearly new concrete pavement with a big wide shoulder .... and a tail wind for the last 20 miles south to Eads. By leaving early we had completed the 94 miles by 1:30 in the afternoon which was nice since it was already 96 degrees with a good wind from the east.

When we got to Eads we found the sign for the half-way point of the Trans-America Bike Route.  In general we are following the Trans-America route, but have deviated several times to get to places like Helena, MT; Topeka, KS; Jefferson City, MO; Nashville, TN (do you see a theme here?)... And Beth and I both wanted to finish at Kitty Hawk, NC (not a state capital).  So when I was planning the route, the Trans-America route was just a starting point.

Today, Beth and I got another early start on our way to Scott City, KS.  Right as we rolled into Tribune, KS at mile 57, Nicolas pulled up behind us in the RV... perfect timing.  I finished up the day solo and actually enjoyed riding through the Kansas farm country.  There is a lot of wheat harvesting in progress in this area of western Kansas.  The wind was down to only 4-6 miles/hour, but of course it was almost straight out of the east and in my face the last 50 miles.  Still no good tail wind to blow us across Kansas and looking at the weather forecast, there may not be one for the next several days... only head or cross winds.  Here is the track for today at 104 miles.

I have sometimes wondered what happens to those giant hay bales if they sit around too long.  Today, I saw a big operation that uses a front end loader to dump them into a machine that grinds them up into fodder and shoots it into a semi-trailer.  Maybe they haul it over to one of several of the huge feed lots that I passed a few miles down the road... now that was a sweet smell when it was already in the mid-90's.

Tomorrow is another long day... my 3rd century in 5 days with a planned 119 miles into Great Bend, KS.  This will is the longest ride planned on the trip... by a couple of miles.  The next leg into Herington, KS is only planned at 116 miles.  At the current rate, I may make 2000 miles of riding in the month of June.

The wide open spaces of Kansas... and this section at least had nice pavement.

No Services Next 95 Miles

Just a quick post.... we road out of Colorado Springs late this afternoon. I have been waiting the whole trip to see this sign.

About 15 miles east of Colorado Springs on CO highway 94 is the small town of Ellicott.  This sign is posted on the eastern side of town...

We are spending the night in the RV in the parking lot of the Community Church in Rush, CO (pop <50) about 32 miles east of Colorado Springs.

The goal for tomorrow is to make it to Eads (about 93 miles from Rush), but we have an option to stop in Kit Carson, CO if the wind gets too bad.

We may be a long way from a gas station, but at least my cell phone hot spot is still working!