Riding4Hope – Day 30, 7/27/09, Farmington MO
DAILY REPORT: We’ll have a southwesterly wind and the temp should be in the mid 80’s. Another great day for riding!!
So we started off the day with a nutritious breakfast of yogurt, granola, pop tarts, and Nutella spread on bagels. Thank goodness we are burning all these calories so we can eat pretty much anything!!
We briefed the ride, route, safety, etc and were off. Right out of town were climbing hills, catching our breath and climbing more hills. We actually had a pretty good time. Skip drove by about an hour later. We flagged him down for water and my crank was making an annoying clicking sound. Made a couple of adjustments and the problem seemed to go away. I’ll watch it and see what happens.
We stopped at a rest stop in Ellington and when we started riding again; John discovered he had a flat rear tire. So that is number four for him. He found a little wire which no doubt came from one of the hundred blown out steal belted radials we have passed along the shoulder of the road. In reading a number of other cross country biker blogs; this is normal. In fact I remember reading that on one day a guy had 20 flats from these wire shards!! Hopefully we won’t ever come close to that record!!
By the time we got into Centerville; Skip was starting to get worried about. There was no cell coverage so he couldn’t verify how far out of town we were. Just as we got into town; Skip was getting ready to go find us. We had a nice lunch and then were on our way.
After lunch we were studying the map; and a nice lady offered a few suggestions. She gave us a little short cut that ultimately shaved off 10 miles from our ride. As Martha would say; This is a good thing!!
The rest of the afternoon was nice riding. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened. Stopped for an ice cream and water at a bait shop. Very nice folks. Filled our water bottles and the attendant was a prior Marine….or as they say; once a Marine always a Marine!
We arrived into Farmington and called Skip for directions to the Hotel. It turns out we made good time because Skip was just checking in. Must have been that short cut we took!!
We had dinner at Pizza Hut and while we were there we met JR and Netta who were very nice. They gave us a very nice donation. Thanks!!
Well, tomorrow we leave Missouri, cross the mighty Mississippi and enter our eight state – Illinois. The weatherman is predicting rain in the afternoon, so it will do us well to leave early and get into Carbondale IL soonest.
Thanks for joining us…..ride safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
(David, John, James & Skip)
Signing out 7/28/09; 0130
