Day 24 & 25 revisited, Day 26 (6/17/09)

Day 24 (6/15/09)
During the evening hours a front went through, but skis were clear for the start of Monday's ride. We left with the forecast of strong afternoon thunderstorms. We left Marshfield, Mo. with the intention of riding 136 miles, through the thick of the Ozarks. Fortunately, St. Christopher was watching out for me again. About 63 miles into the ride, just shy of Houston, Mo. (in Texas County of all places) we encountered rain. Nothing horrible, but of course, it started while we were on the busiest, most treacherous road we encountered that day. We rode in the light rain, southbound into Houston, about 4 miles, and only because St. Christopher was watching out for me, we missed our left hand turn to the east. That necessitated a stop to look at the map and the very dark clouds in the direction we were to turn. "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" Jere wanted to go, time was a waste'n. Tim and I could not convince Jere to err on the side of caution and to take shelter. Fortunately, the support team pulled up, and Jere's son, Josh said; "Dad, there's lightening where you're heading". That convinced Jere, that maybe we should look for shelter. Fortunately, right beside us was this big metal lightening rod of a shelter, a car wash, that we took refuge in, and none too soon because the storm quickly was upon us.
When the rain let up a little, we ran next door to a Chinese restaurant for lunch to wait out the storm, while the support team stayed in the car wash with the van and watched (not washed) the bikes. Here is where St. Christopher comes in. Because of the rain delay, we no longer had time to ride the 136 miles, so we had to shorten the day to only 108 miles thereby spending the night in Eminence, Mo. Eminence was smack dab in the middle of the Ozarks, with steep accents and decents; another 28 miles would have done me in. Even the next morning, with fresh legs, that 28 miles out of Eminence was not an easy task. I again thanked St. Christopher for the weather delay and the resulting shortened mileage day. We all survived to ride again another day.

Day 25 (6/16/09)
Just as the evening before, storms passed through the area overnight, but we awoke to weather radar and the local news stations broadcasting a second line of sever weather moving toward our direction. Jere, still in the go, go, go mode, was ultimately convinced to wait this storm out, on one condition, we had to agree to leave no later than noon, no matter what. Tim and I conceded. Fortunately, the storm passed and by noon the rain had stopped, we only had to deal with wet roads for a short period of time before the hot, humid weather dried them up. With our latest start of the trip, we still logged 92 miles for the day, putting us into Farmington, Mo. about 6:00 p.m. Again, St. Christopher was watching out for me. Because Jere and Tim were cheated out of the 136 miles on Monday, they set that as their goal on Tue. and wanted to make it across the Mississippi. Tuesday was spent riding through the meat of the Ozarks in hot and humid weather. We barely limped in with 92 miles, the 40 additional miles to the Illinois state line would have done us all in. Since we are on a timeline to make Yorktown, Va. by Sunday, June 28th, if we continue to log 100 miles per day, something we have been able to do so far, Jere and Tim have stopped pushing for the 136 mile day. Little to do they know, St. Christopher has my back on this one.

Flat tire tally: Jere - 3, Sam - 2, Tim - 2. Not to be outdone by Jere and Sam each getting a flat tire within moments of each other in Utah, Tim out bests them, but getting simultaneous flat tires and losing his water bottle all on one particularly tough railroad crossing.

Day 26 (6/17/09)

Today's weather adversity was the temperature, not thunderstorms. Before we began this trip, Tim had aspirations of logging a 200 mile day. He figured with a good tailwind and the flats of Kansas, we could accomplish the fete. Unfortunately, the winds in Kansas failed to blow in the right direction. We did accomplish a double-double; however, not in miles. Today we rode 106 miles (10 more than we planned due to navigational dysfunction) in 106 degree weather (heat index measured at the end of ride). At the beginning of the day I weighed 190.5 lbs and after the ride I weighed 184.5 lbs!

The crossing of the Mississippi was supposed to be a momentous occasion, to be relished. In stead it was an anticlimactic, death defying crossing. We crossed the Mississippi at Chester Il, (famous for the Popeye illustrator). The last 12 miles of Missouri, leading to the Mississippi, across the levee and flood plane, was a heavily traveled roadway, with no shoulders, congested with coal trucks outnumbering passenger vehicles 3 to 1 and everybody was hell bent on going some place fast. The 2 lane bridge crossing the Mississippi had no shoulder, and the fog line, smack against the bridge railing, was missing huge chunks of concrete. To top it off, the expansion joints were every so slightly narrower than our road bike tires. There was absolutely no opportunity to admire the view of the river or relish the milestone, because death by coal truck was omnipresent. On the Illinois side of the river, at Chester, there was a small pull over, with a "Welcome to Illinois" sign, a bronze statute of Popeye and a port-a-potty, where we stopped to eat and thank our good fortune for surviving the gauntlet. We finally made our planned destination of Carbondale, Il, home of Southern Illinois University and the fighting Salukis (strikes fear in you doesn't it?) . http://siusalukis.cstv.com/ot/saluki-mascot.html . Thursday's goal is Marion, Ky., 100 miles hither.