Riding4Hope – Day 27, 7/24/09, Marshfield, MO
DAILY REPORT: The weatherman predicted a good day for biking. The high 80’s and the winds from the SW.
During dinner last night we had our Navigation meeting and discussed our ride today. We will be crossing the state line into Missouri early in the morning and then there will be a fair number of hills. In fact it would be more like one continuous roller coaster of hills. Should be a fun day of riding. This will be the most “ups and downs” we have done since we left Silverdale. We will be following the TransAmerica Bike route again beginning today.
We had a quick breakfast at Super 8 and were off riding the earlier morning streets of Pittsburg. It was nice and quite. As soon as we left town we crossed into Missouri and were in farm country. We spent the first 30 miles riding along rows and rows of corn. We had a unique opportunity to watch a crop duster fly over the corn and spray some type of herbicide. He was just skimming over the corn’s tassel. It was neat to watch. Then at the last moment we would pull up and just clear the trees at the edge of the corn field. Looks like a fun job!!
While biking the back roads we had our first detour of our trip. Fortunately it ultimately didn’t effect our over all route. A quick check on the Blackberry Google maps confirmed we were sill on track and didn’t add any mileage to our trip. That is a big concern when you already know you will be biking 100+ miles that day.
We stopped for lunch at a small little town of Everton MO. Skip had found a nice park. It had taken him a while to find the town. Turns out that Garmin didn’t have the town in it’s data base. Go figure.
The afternoon temps had increased significantly and so did the hills. They (hills) actually were a lot of fun. There were a few lactic acid burners but nothing too bad. Everyone of those peaks in the above graph was a hill….quite a few hills you might say!! We found that the Missouri drivers are very courteous. They would stay behind you until they were absolutely sure there was no traffic coming and then carefully pass you. It was nice.
One of the small towns we passed through was Ash Grove. It’s claim to fame is that Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone live there. We passed by the old homestead but didn’t want to bike down the 3/4 mile gravel driveway.
We arrived in Marshville to find Skip sitting in Taco Bell waiting for us. In fact I believe he said he was on his 14th iced tea. We weren’t too, too late; it was only 6 PM. We decided to have dinner there at Taco Bell (Thanks Peter!!) It turns out that our hotel was going to be in a town 15 mile south – Seymour. I wasn’t going to be able to convince the boys for an other hour ride, so we loaded up the bikes in the trailer and headed off.
We are staying at the Seymour Country Inn. Dexter the owner is a WWII and Vietnam vet and gave a very nice discount on our two night say. Go Navy!! Thanks much!!
We have a welcomed and much needed rest day tomorrow. Over the last six days the boys have ridden over 625 miles. Pretty impressive!! Next week the mileage will drop off a little to account for all the climbing we will be doing through the Ozark Mountains.
Thanks for joining us…..ride safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
(David, John, James & Skip)
Signing out 7/25/09; 1200
