Day 7: 6/2/23: Johnson's Shut Ins State Park, MO to Chester, IL

It felt like I literally had to climb my way out of Missouri.  The last 3 days have been long days with a lot of climbing. 

I made it into Illinois and am camping at Chester, the home of Popeye.

Pic below of me, Larry and Jan.  They are a married couple from Columbia SC.   They are staying at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, where I am also staying.  They are riding a tandem bicycle from VA to OR.  This is their first bicycle tour, but they both are backpackers.  They agree that this trip is Jan's, who recently retired, idea, and Larry just went along with it.

Total miles today: 88.2

Day 6: 6/1/23: Houston to Johnson's Shut Ins State Park, MO

Last night the group of 4 riders (The Cuatro) staying at the park said they were getting up at 4 a.m. today.  I figured they were just early risers that woke up early.  Well, at 4 a.m. cell phone alarm clocks started going off. Spinning off Tom Hanks speech in "A League of Their Own" about "there's no crying in baseball," someone needs to give them a speech about "there's no alarm clocks in bike touring" :) Just use your internal clock.  Also, there's enough to wake you up when camping that something will wake you about the time you're shooting for.

Also, as I was heading out this morning, one of the members of The Cuatro was grinding coffee in his coffee grinder he brought on the trip.  There are certainly different luxury levels of bicycle touring.

Below are photos of several cyclists I met throughout the day.  They all started in Yorktown, VA, at various times and met along the trip.   They are all headed to Astoria, OR.

Steve (Chesapeake, VA) and Lou (London)

Eric (Hawaii)

Noel (Australia) and Illen (Washington)

Total miles today: 101.9

Day 5: 5/31/23: Ash Grove to Houston, MO

Sunrise pic from today.

Today I rode through a couple pop-up thunderstorms.  In my rear view mirror, I could see the first one approaching me rapidly by the rain hitting the road.  It reminded me of the scene from "Jurassic Park" where they could see in their Jeep mirror the dinosaur behind them gaining on them.  I didn't have my rain covers in my panniers so I quickly pulled off on an incline to put my rain covers on.  I got them on just prior to the rain arriving.  As I pushed my bike to get started again, I blew out my sandal.  I'm determined to finishing this trip with them before permanently retiring them.  So now I'm trying to limp home with a broken shoe and broken tooth crown :)

Pic below is Nam from Vietnam.  He has been in Boston awhile and is returning to Vietnam in 2 months.  He decided to see the US by bike so he is riding BR 76 and Western Express routes from Yorktown VA to San Francisco CA.

When I made it to the city park in Houston, it looked like a tent city (pics below).

There were 7 other touring cyclists already there to spend the night.  They all are headed west and are biking from Virginia to Oregon.

Below is a pic of Jay, Michael, Dan, and Carl.  Jay put a "companions wanted" listing on the Adventure Cycling website for a cross country ride and the other 3 signed up to join him.

The other 3, Rodney, Owen, and Gerrie, (pic below) connected with each other on their individual cross country trips and have been camping together several nights.  Gerrie is from the Netherlands, Rodney Indiana, and Owen North Carolina.

Total miles today: 114.6

Day 4: 5/30/23: Pittsburg KS to Ash Grove, MO

Pic below of Jesse and his sidekick, Splinter.  They are from Denver and are biking Bike Route 76 from Virginia to Oregon.

Below is a scenery pic from today.  I liked the red wildflowers next to the golden field.

I rode through a section of short steep hills in Missouri.  On one occasion while I was pedaling 4 miles per hour up a hill, during the hot part of the day, a car passed me with it's emergency flashers on.  When I crested the hill, I discovered the car had stopped in the lane of traffic about half way down the hill.  The emergency flashers were still on, and a lady got out of the car as I approached it.

I thought, "On no, is she mad because I slowed her down - or what?" She actually got out of the car and asked me if I needed some cold water.  I must have looked in pretty bad shape for her to stop, but I was actually feeling pretty good.  I said sure, and she handed me a 1 liter bottle of water.  This wasn't just regular water, it was Hawaiian Volcanic water.  I drank the entire amount over the next few hills and it boosted me over those.

Because she gave me water, I forgive her for committing the ultimate cycling sin - stopping me halfway downhill.  I didn't get to fully enjoy the fruits of my hard labor getting up the hill :)

I'm staying at the cyclists hostel in Ash Grove tonight.  I've stayed here twice before and have always had the house to myself.  Tonight, Brett (pic below), from Maine will be joining me.  He is an experienced cyclist, but this is his first bicycle tour and he is going across the country on Bike Route 76.

Total miles today: 72.5

Day 3: 5/29/23: Toronto to Pittsburg, KS

Last night started off interesting.  There was a bird in a tree that was near my tent that made a distinct click followed by a couple of loud caws over and over again.  This went on well after dark and all the other birds had quietened down.  It became such an annoyance that I got out of my tent and threw a couple of rocks in the tree it was in.  This shut it up for awhile, but it eventually started again.  Either it finally shut up or I was so tired that I fell asleep.  Not sure what exactly happened, but I got a good night's sleep.

Yesterday was definitely a ride through beef country and today was grain country (see pics below).

Below is a pic of Richard and Gage, who are camping at the same campground as I tonight.  They are friends from high school and have been on the road about 2 months.  They initially agreed to walk across the U.S. from coast to coast.  They walked from West Virginia, where they are from, to Baltimore, MD.  They then walked to Pittsburgh, PA, and stayed at a bike hostel there.  They were convinced by cyclists to go talk to folks at a bike shop in Pittsburgh about cycling.  After talking to the folks, they decided to buy bikes and bike across the country.  They are headed to Houston, TX, And then on to CA.  They may then ride up the Pacific coast to Washington.  Gage is a guitarist (has it with him) and Richard is a singer/songwriter.  

Total miles today: 105.4

Day 2: 5/28/23: Cottonwood Falls to Toronto, KS

I started off this morning with a scare.  "The Duck" was missing.

Yep, that duck.  I was beginning to have a "Wilson" moment Tom Hanks had on "Castaway." I have followed that duck a lot of miles and was starting to fill a void.  I searched my camping area thoroughly, and, fortunately, "The Duck" was found.  He's in my bag where will safely make it home so I can decide the best, safest way to put him back on his roost.

Biked by this little fellow this morning and decided it would be best to take it's picture from afar.

A couple of pics below of green eastern Kansas.

I got on US Bike Route 76 by in Cassidy and will remain on it to Marion, KY.

Pic below is Didier.  He was born in France, but has lived in Australia for the past 38 years.  He has a son in Virgina and came to the U.S. to visit him.  He is biking from Virginia to Oregon on Bike Route 76, and has been on the road for about 1month.  He is then going to visit another son that lives in California.

Total miles today: 90.3

Day 1: 5/27/23: Manhattan, KS to Cottonwood Falls, KS

Below are a few pics from my ride today.  After Manhattan, I rode through the small towns of Council Grove, Strong City, and then Cottonwood Falls, where I will be camping in the city park.  

I posted some pics of those small towns in a blog I did a couple of years ago when I rode almost the same route.  In fact, most of my route this trip will mirror my previous trip.  

Today, I had to take a detour because the road I traveled a couple of years ago was closed.  The detour took me on about 10 miles of gravel roads, but they were good to ride on for the most part because they were hard packed.

One of my biggest concerns this trip is a tooth.  About a week ago, I broke a crown on one of my teeth and the majority of it came off the tooth.  I bought some over the counter "dental glue" to try to glue it back on till I can get home and see my dentist.  It stayed on about 6 days and it came off again.  I glued it back on again, and it lasted a couple of days.  It came off again this morning while I was eating breakfast and I glued it on again.  It's just all part of the adventure:)

Total miles today: 74.2