Crossing the Mississippi

We hit a couple milestones today. We passed the 2,000 mile mark and we crossed the Mississippi, leaving Missouri behind and entered the Land of Lincoln, Illinois. But it was hot. And  humid. And after the two days of legendary rolling hills, today's ride was a butt buster.

As I write this with the TV on in the background, I keep hearing about the Severe Thunderstorm Warning for this area (Quincy, IL) and for where we're heading (Springfield, IL). Must be a front going through. It should have gone through by the time we start our 105 mile ride tomorrow at 7:00.

The rolling hills of the prior two days flattened out and  therefore I can't grouse about the climbing but the heat was a big worry. We caught a train passing under us at one point then moments later another coming in the opposite direction.

Bit by bit, stopping at convenience stores for V8 juice or Chocolate milk, we managed to make it to the Mississippi at mile 74.  Yes the river is massive but I couldn't get a snapshot from the road and bridge we took. Although the bridge was two lanes in each direction, there was no shoulder so four of us had to ride abreast and "take the lane" and let cars follow us until we negotiated the span. We've occasionally had to do this before but not in such congested traffic.

Taking pictures at the Illinois state sign was another risky maneuver, needing to wait for traffic to thin out before the photographer could take the shot. I feel like I'm heading for home,

now.

149 Hills to Kirksville

The secret is out: The 7:00 departure group is the fun group. We stop for pictures, ice cream, pie and occasionally bacon cheeseburgers. Sometimes just for a breather. Some of the "Italians" - see Breaking Away - the fast paced group, if they're nursing an injury or just having a bad hair day will leave with our group. Not a snarky comment. It is offered with sincere respect and admiration for their many unique charms and remarkable cycling capabilities. I want to be like them when I grow up.

This is our last full riding in Missouri. Tomorrow we cross into Indiana. At about mile 34 today, Team 7 rolled into a convenience store for a quick break: Chocolate milk, energy food and quick  recharge. While there I chatted with local guy who asked where we were going. To Kirksville via Rt. 11. His response to that was "Sure are a lot of hills that way. Good luck!"

He wasn't fooling. But we did have good luck. Cooler weather than yesterday, no mechanical problems or punctures. And the rain stayed away! I felt like a kid much of the way rolling down long stretches to see how fast I could go and seeing how far up the next hill I could go. The road was mostly empty of traffic (was today Saturday?) so we really had a great chance to enjoy the quiet of the countryside for a good portion of the day.

However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. There was some "language" coming out of my mouth while going up some ugly pitched hills only to find myself chagrined at seeing triplets or quadruplets yet to follow. At mile 50 we stopped at the Maple Hill Market outside of New Boston. There, Pauline and Arlene (mother and daughter team) had put out some bagged lunches for us. That with a cold beverage of choice made for a great break with 28 miles still to go of those "special" hills. Eating outside there I noticed a faded signpost with distances marked for LA, Tucson, and other points. Wow! LA is over 1,800 miles behind us already.

Keeping to task, the miles continued to fall away and at about 3 miles from today's destination hotel, my bike turned into the local Dairy Queen for necessary therapy. Bacon cheeseburger, Dr Pepper, fries and ice cream sundae.

Striking Blue Barn. 

LA 1,880 miles behind us...

Muddy shoes from last Thursday's adventure.  

Rolling into Chillicothe

Chillicothe's claim to fame is this is where sliced bread comes from. The guy who invented commercial bread slicers comes from here. Who knew?

I had one of my hardest days today. Only 86 miles and 4700 feet of climbing and we've had much tougher days but I didn't prepare well enough the night before. Instead of eating and drinking immediately after yesterday's ride, I fussed with cleaning mud off my bike and shoes and delayed eating by over two hours. Bad news for replenishing my energy reserves. Result was I really struggled throughout most of a very hot and humid day.

The Missouri roads between St. Joseph and Chillicothe were beautiful. Undulating rolling hills for nearly the whole ride. Some were so well spaced that you could roll down one at such a good clip that it could roll up the other side. Ah, but not all were so evenly spaced. There were 140+ of these rollers some with rather incredible pitches 12 % by some calculations. For me it was exhausting in the heat and humidity. But I did make it to the hotel around 2:30 pretty good time considering.

There was a surprise along the way in Maysville. Every year the historical commission prepares a welcome for he CrossRoads tour riders. "Buck" gets up a 3:00 am to make cinnamon rolls, town ladies make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they put out water and bananas. The photographer from the local paper takes a group shot and we all sign the register at the historical museum.

We all gathered just outside the town center and then slowly rode two by two into town to the reception. It was a great time.

I made sure to hydrate and eat once I got in today because we have even more rollers tomorrow with more climbing than we had today. Turning in early tonight.  Couple shots below from historical museum in Maysville and a shot of the rolling hills taken by fellow rider Matt. My shot just didn't capture the true experience.

Man from Maysville actually rode his bike around the world. It explains the local fascination with our cross country riders.

There will be mud...

Roller coaster of a day on today's ride to St Joseph, MO. Started out humid and very warm when we all left Topeka, Kansas but somewhere around mile 38 it turned really bad: the skies ahead turned black, it started to lightening ahead, then thunder, followed by hail then a good old fashioned downpour. I stopped to take a picture at the top of a hill then realized it's not the smartest thing I've ever done...

Rain was so bad the CrossRoads support team pulled us off the road and made us get in the back off the support truck. We looked like a bunch of illegal aliens from Kansas trying to make it to the Missouri border. Plan was to wait out the lightening to see if we could continue to ride or not.

Decision was made to transport everyone down the road a mile and a half or so to a gas station/convenience store to wait it out. I was a bit bummed but if we had to take the bump, I was too wet and miserable to complain.

The convenience store was a hoot. A local joint with pizza, burgers, chicken fingers and fries. We flooded them and soon they were out of burgers and fries and were down to only tater tots and chicken strips. But no matter. The cocoa was thin but hot and the seats were dry and warm inside there. We waited about two hours when we got the word.

Those who had already missed a day or portion of a day riding earlier in the tour were called out to load up into the vans and were taken ahead to the hotel. The remaining nine who hadn't missed a day yet were told they could stay at the store until the vans came back.. If the weather cleared, they may be allowed to finish the last 45 miles.

I have a little survivor's remorse that I was allowed to continue when my core team - my friends who I hang regularly with - had to go on to the hotel.

After about a 3 hour delay, we got word that we could ride on. I was in a group of 4 that got to leave  before the vans returned from the hotel. The remaining 5 left about a half hour after my team.  Dang if my Garmin didn't run out of power. I really needed to hang with these guys so I could find my way to the next hotel.

We did cross the Missouri River and into Missouri today. Our 7th state. Sprinkled Pacific beach sand  at the base of the state sign for good luck.

Big surprise was the road detour. I remember the tour operator said to forge on ahead because road closures didn't always pertain to bikes. Gulp. Let's see if this really plays out well or not.

Two ways you can look at this. 1) We slogged through a nasty stretch of mud over a closed road that led to an open field where we crossed finally over to pavement. Yes it was a bloody muddy mess but  we were on target with the directions.  AKA "adventure" 2) We could have taken the road detour and kept our bikes clean. But those 5 who did got turned around and got off track and added a bunch of extra miles (And hills) to the end of their day.

Let it be said long day.  We got in after 5:00 pm. I missed the 5:45 Route Rap as I was hosing the mud off my bike and shoes before it turned to cement. I also missed dinner at Applebee's choosing instead to munch on the substantial snacks offered by the Drury Inn (Potato Soup, Chicken Tenders, Garden Salad, Hot Dogs, I was stuffed.  Caught up with my friends there in the hotel lounge and although the they were not happy about being bumped they were more than happy to razz me over my slogging it out.

We have another 80 plus miler again tomorrow, not sure what the weather will be like. Probably wet. There will be mud.....

Steven King could have used this material...

We knew it was going to be tough going today from our briefing a couple days ago. Six thousand feet of climbing and unfavorable winds with chance of thunderstorms over 105 miles. We had tougher rides but it would be a long day in the saddle all the same.

The first 20 or so miles were a bit of a surprise. The roads out of Abilene were gentle rollers with a touch of a tail wind. This soon changed as the humidity increased and winds turned to what can only be termed as nasty. It was tough going to our first SAG at about mile 30 but we celebrated our halfway point on the tour there.

We were urged to head out quickly as winds were picking up and rain was to follow soon. We seemed to race the winds and rain clouds like Elmira Gulch in The Wizard of Oz. It did rain lightly but cleared slowly around mile 50. It remained oppressively humid. The climbs got steeper and longer  as it got gradually hotter. The landscape was great as we moved into the flint hills. Many cattle along the route of green rolling hills. Some would run with us.

The 17 year Cicadas are awake. What a racket. It was eerie rolling past stands of trees and hearing the steel scraping noise swell and receded as we passed grove after grove. It was unearthly. What also started getting my attention was the number of bicycle sculptures(?) along the route. Twister bikes in trees, bikes that looked they were being eaten by some mechanical dinosaur. It was weird. Started me thinking of the totems from The Blair Witch Project.

The final weirdness was the White Bike at an intersection. I was told it was a memorial to someone who died from a bike accident at that spot. Creeped me out. Partly due to sweating profusely in the 90 degree heat, the noise from the Cicadas, and being tired. Luckily, we stopped for ice cream and pie with only 14 miles to the Hotel. Best apple dumpling I've had. We sat and ate our snacks while the ladies club played dominos, and some old men sat on the other side of the hall reading their paper.

Nice break. Still a long day. 

We like Ike!

Day off in Abilene! Quintessential small town farming community. AND boyhood home of Dwight D Eisenhower. His presidential library, museum, boyhood house, and tomb are all located on a nicely manicured campus in town. Thought I'd only spend a couple hours here but the museum and story of his life and accomplishments were really absorbing. So much so that I cancelled my haircut appointment later in the day. I realized I just wouldn't be able to make it back to the hotel on time. Well worth the time and trip.

What struck me most about Ike's story was how a humble a man he was. He saw it as his duty to serve and give his talents to not just the country but to the world when we were facing the darkest of times. The two decades spanning planning and executing the D-Day invasion through his terms as President were times unlike what we've seen before. From commanding the joint allied forces to overseeing post war America including building the interstate highway system and endorsing our fledgling space program, Ike was there. A great day getting acquainted with the man. I didn't know that both Democrats and Republicans wanted him at the top of their ticket. Are there men/women like that today? Rather sad to think about it.

Spent remainder of day walking thru small town and having lunch at great lunch and trinket shop. Got the tip and directions on this place from Betty at the hardware store. On the way there a loud siren blasted away for a minute or more. Learned later in the day was that it was the first Tuesday of the month test of their Tornado Warning System. Whoa. Different set of issues and priorities here.

The girl who took our order at our lunch stop was no older than 14. "Johnny" was helping her mom at the shop now that school was out for the summer. Leaving our luncheon and walking the tree lined streets back to the hotel, we realized it started feeling like summer. Tomorrow's 105 mile ride to Topeka will be a change from the cool rides we've become accustomed to. I see 90's in our future...

Capped off the day with a trolley ride to the Farm Table just on the outskirts of town. Great place. Old farmhouse now restaurant. Favorite of Ike's when he came back to town. We treated our driver and his wife to dinner there.

Ike's final resting place

The tree lined grounds

Trolley ride it the Farm Table for dinner

Ike sat here...signed underside of chair at the restaurant. 

Chicken Fried Steak and Country Gravy was a hit. 

So were the home made pies.

Make mine Lemon Meringue! Awesome! 

Stampede in Abilene!

From the description we got at the nightly Route Rap meeting, the ride from McPherson to Abiline was going to be a good opportunity to kick back and take some time for snapshots and maybe a coffee at a local shop (or two).  More overcast than yesterday, I re-thought my riding gear at the last moment and added a vest...can always take it off once we're on our way but can't add clothing you don't take with you. Being the second day with an hour delay to usual kick off time, the rain that started around 5:30 had time to dissipate by 8:00. We keep dodging those bullets.

Due to some construction, once we started our ride the seven of us in our departure time slot had to take over the whole lane of the highway for a little more than a half mile... it was a little hairy pedaling while hearing a tractor trailer dieseling  on our rear wheels. We were like a stamped of neon colored cattle racing ahead of the Mac Truck wrangler. Provided a good jump start to the day for sure. Soon after that half mile or so, the break down lane reappeared and we were able to pull over and let the truck and cars by.

Not to stretch the analogy too thin but after a 10 mile stretch keeping with the herd, I needed to pull over at a gas station for a brief bio-break and urged the others along as I would catch up further down the line. That was the plan.  But after a great chat with the sweet lady at the gas station - she asked me "Mercy! Did you just ride your bike up that long hill?!" At first I thought she was kidding, then realized it was Kansas so that little slope must be the big hill around here - everything is relative, right? - "Yes, Ma'am." I said with genuine sincerity. We talked about how cool and wet it had bee so far this year and she wished us well on the rest of our journey.

I didn't catch up with my core riders until about mile 30. I was just enjoying a leisurely pedal with another rider who was looking to rest his knee and take some pictures. It was a superb day for it.

We started noticing a distinct change in the landscape. Although flat, there were more rolling hills, more trees, wheat fields already about 3 feet, corn, and just generally more green everywhere. Pasture lands were populated with herds of sheep, and cattle. At one point we stopped our bikes to take a picture of some wide open spaces when I noticed what looked like a ribbon blowing off in the distance. After a minute the ribbon morphed into dozens of cows cresting a hill and stampeding to the road where we were.  I fumbled to get my phone out and get a video of it. While filming the herd, something spooked them. They started to retreat back over the rise. Strangest thing I've seen. Swarming cows. As they disappeared over the rise, I realized I hadn't hit the record key. Smart phone? Not if there's a dunce operator.

Glad to have day off tomorrow. Abilene is small town 16,000 population and home to the Dwight D Eisenhower homestead an museum. Looking to catch the tour tomorrow.

Looks like a family farm...

Cows going home after stampede. 

Going there tomorrow...