Days 36-41 - July 9 - 14, 2013

We are combining our week off into one post! 

July 9th - Since we love the National Park System, we decided to drive from Springfield, MO to Diamond, MO to visit the George Washington Carver National Monument. It was a fascinating exhibit that told their story of one of our most amazing innovators. 

July 10th - We took off from Springfield to Fort Scott, Kansas. Fort Scott is a really cool little town with amazing history. The sun was brutal on this day, but we walked all around that fort because it was an incredible look into history. We then drove to Chanute in a hurried effort to try to get to the post office to pick up Erica's shipment of Sheps (the missing little pig mascot),but thanks to a lot of road construction, we did not make it to the post office before it closed. We then got back on the highway and headed for Kansas City. 

July 11th - We crossed the border back into Missouri for a stop in Independence to see the Harry Truman Home and presidential library and museum. The Truman home was amazing...it was touching to hear about how much Harry Truman and his wife loved the home and how they longed to return to their normal lives after his time in office.  We also found a bike shop, and Erica got a new pair of bike shorts, as she sent two other pairs home after discovering they are very uncomfortable on long rides!

Later that evening, we caught up with our pals, Lisa , Erin, and Meredith and new pal Jen to have dinner and drinks back in Kansas City at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium before heading to see Brandi Carlile at The Crossroads. We actually saw a lot of our friends at this show and got to meet some folks who have been so supportive of our trip. Brandi and the band played a great show...their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" just keeps getting better!

July 12th - On this day, we made the long road trip to Denver. We made a quick stop in Topeka to see the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The site is amazing, set in an old school. There were a number of school groups there and it was so cool to see them engaging in learning about this part of our history. Then it was then on to Denver. When we rolled into town, we had dinner with our fellow road tripping pals at the Breckenridge Brewery. 

July 13th - Red Rocks day arrived at last! Erica and I didn't really have any plans for the day, so we drove to Arvada and picked up a cooler and some drinks to take to the show, then we ended up going to Golden and up to Lookout Mountain to Buffalo Bill's gravesite and museum. 

Pretty soon, it was time to head to the venue. We met up with more friends who were tailgating in the parking lot, but then a nasty storm rolled into the area and dropped a ridiculous amount of rain on us. We weren't sure they were going to be able to have the show, but soon the rain slowed down and after a small delay, we got into the venue and were ready for an epic show. Brandi and the band owned that place that night and played their best show to date. It was an incredible night of music. 

July 14th - We headed east back out of Denver and headed to Wichita to return our car and get ourselves back to a decent point to pick up the trail.

Day 35 - July 8, 2013 - Eminence, MO to Winona, MO (and Springfield, MO)

Mileage - 12 by bike, 100 or so by car

I woke up feeling like I'd been run over this morning.  It was the same illness that I got early in the trip - sinus pain and congestion, sore throat, and I was exhausted.  We loaded up the bikes to get ready to leave, and I was already worn out and had to sit down on a bench outside the hotel.  This was not going to be a good day...

We did some research, and found that Enterprise would come pick is up about 30 miles away from Eminence.  30 miles of steep rolling hills...sounded miserable to do when sick, but we didn't have many more options!

We started out, and it was pretty hot and humid already.  I was really struggling, and by about 7 miles in, I was having to walk up even the smallest of inclines.  This was going to be a long day.  It took us 2 hours to go the 12 miles to Winona, MO...

That was where we happened to roll by a hardware store that also rented u-hauls...the wheels in our heads started turning, and we stopped in to see how much it would be to rent one to get us to the town that Enterprise would pick us up in.  It was a family owned store, and it just so happened that the daughter of the owners lived out by where we needed to be, and she offered to drop us off, and she drove a pickup so our bikes would fit!  Nice people are so amazing!

So she drove us the last 20 miles of our day, we waited probably 3 hours until Enterprise had someone free who could come pick us up, we filled out paperwork on the rental, and drove a couple of hours to Springfield, MO, where we would pick up our next rental car to drive to Denver.  After some dinner at Mel's favorite place, Chipotle, across the street from the very first Steak and Shake, we requested our complimentary goldfish from the front desk of our hotel, and turned in.

Day 34 - July 7, 2013 - Eminence, MO

After waking up and eating a couple of protein bars, we started getting ready for the day. We left our little hotel room at the Eminence Canoe, Cottages, and Camping and started packing up our bikes to leave. It may have been early in the morning, but the humidity was already out in full force, and we were drenched in sweat before we even got on the bikes. 

We had been discussing plans the night before about how to get to a rental car facility so we could drive to Denver for Brandi's show at Red Rocks.  We sat outside and spent more time making plans to get to a rental car...and we realized we would only have to ride to a neighboring town to get within range for the rental car company to pick us up. This news took a huge weight off of our shoulders and allowed us to take an actual rest day, not a forced rest day due to weather. And since we happened to be at a resort offering canoe trips, we decided to try our hand at kayaking. Oh, and we just have to say that if you ever find yourself in Eminence, you should stay at this resort. It's really nice and the people who own it are super kind and they have the sweetest dogs that hang out in the resort office. 

We went back to our room and got ready for kayaking fun! Since we weren't totally prepared for our 4 hour kayak adventure, the owner kindly took us to the nearest gas station that offers food "River Ready" (aka sandwiches in ziplock bags) for folks. Pretty soon, we were on the river in our bright orange tandem kayak, ready to kick back and maybe even out some of our horrible tan lines. 

The Jack Forks river is beautiful. The clear water is cool and stays the same temperature almost year around since the river is spring fed. We enjoyed the calm water and being able to see all kinds of fish in the river and all of the river turtles perched on the logs, enjoying the sun. Our 4 hour river trip went by way too fast, but we had such a great time. A day of rest was exactly what we needed. 

We ended the day with a pizza and salad dinner, and fell asleep watching "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel. 

Day 33 - July 6, 2013 - Centerville, MO to Eminence, MO

Mileage - 48

Oh boy...the elevation map for today's ride looked positively horrifying!  It got chilly overnight, and the super high humidity doesn't help, and when I'm cold (Erica), the last thing I'm ready to do in the morning is crawl out of my warm sleep sack and pack up camp!  So I drug my feet, then we grabbed breakfast, and finally got on the road.

We had a long climb out of Centerville, but we took it in stride and made it to the top of the first big hill.  My route mapping app showed a different (and more level route), so we turned off route to give the alternative a shot and try to make our day  a little more bearable.

Well...I need to learn my lesson with that app.  We rode at least a couple of miles down this alternate path, and found the county road the app suggested we turn down next.  Annnnnd...it was gravel...again.  We can handle a little bit of a gravel road, but the app wanted us to stay on it for over 30 miles.  In the middle of nowhere.  With no cell service.

So the first bummer of the day was that  we had to backtrack to the original route.  We had wasted some time, but were still in high spirits, since it was early in the day.  We stayed on a fairly major state road for a while, with a shoulder, and even though it was hilly, it was manageable.

We got to the town of Ellington around noon, and it had been a tough day already.  We were tempted to cut the day short and tackle the really tough part the next day, but we needed to keep on schedule to make it to where we needed to be in order to get ourselves to the Brandi Carlile concert at Red Rocks Ampitheater on July13th.  So we ate a lunch of pizza in a really great little place called Saso's.  The food was great, and we chatted with the lady who owned the place about our trip.  She had lived in Oregon, not far from where we will end our journey, and in California, not far from where I grew up.

After Mel finally pulled me away from the quarter-pushing machine (whatever those thing are with the arms that push quarters off the ledge - in Missouri they actually return the quarters to you if you win.  Super addicting, and a waste of money!), we headed off into the great unknown...

The first few miles weren't bad, and we started to let our guard down a bit.  Then Missouri struck back...

The hills got very, very steep.  With little downhill involved.  And they just kept coming.  I think we decided that Virginia and Kentucky had a love-child and named it Missouri.  The hills has the incline of the mountains in Virginia, but with the rolling qualities of the Kentucky hills that don't give you any momentum on the downhill to get up the next hill!

We walked up a zillion hills.  And it was hot.  At one point, I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and actually cried. And I don't cry about anything!  If I could have quit and teleported home in that moment, I would have done so without hesitation.  

We wanted the comfort of a real bed after a day like this, and when we got within 7 miles of Eminence, we finally got cell service back.  We called every place on the map, but only found one room available.  The combination of the holiday weekend, a horse event called "Trail Days" in town for the weekend, and Eminence's main industry of river-floating tourism meant everything was packed!

To make matters worse, the lady at the place we were staying told us that we would have another half mile uphill to pedal once we got to town to make it to the hotel.  If the drivers in Missouri hadn't been so generally rude, we would have thumbed a ride!

We finally made it, and ordered some calzones from the one place in town that delivered food, and crashed.  This day had put us through the ringer - emotionally, mentally, and physically!

I only managed to take the two pictures today, both because the day was awful, and because my phone was low on battery because it spent all day searching for service.  I wish I had pictures of the following things we spotted though:

1.  There was a horse crossing sign in the Ozark Scenic Riverways park.  It was just the usual yellow sign, with a silhouette of a horse on it, but someone had added a horn to the horse so it looked like a unicorn.  To this creative person - thank you for the laugh on a craptastic day!

2.  We saw a ton of pickups with lift kits, loud mufflers, and crappy vinyl pictures/lettering on them in Missouri.  Today, one hillbilly who happened to pass us a couple of times had the following on his rear window (exact spelling):  "If my truck's too loud, your too old".  Wonder how much that genius paid for that one!

3.  A man, wearing only camouflage shorts, complete with suspenders, but no shirt or shoes, wandering down a back country road.  He sees us coming, and takes off running through gravel toward what I hope was his house.  Classic...

Day 32 - July 5, 2013 - Farmington, MO to Centerville, MO

Mileage - 12 by bike, 38 by car I think

Our gracious hosts, Dr. And Mrs. C in Farmington, offered to show us a local Civil War fort this morning, so we took them up on their offer.  We loaded all of our stuff into their van, as they were going to drop us off at Johnson Shut-Ins park to camp after a bit of sightseeing.  Mrs. C even packed a huge picnic lunch for all of us!

We went to check out Fort Davidson, site of a civil war battle.  We are history geeks, so this was right up our alley!

We drove to Johnson Shut-Ins state park for a picnic lunch, then headed to the campground where we saw a very disappointing sign at the check-in booth - the campground was full!  We should have known...it was the holiday weekend, after all.  We found the campground host, and they confirmed that they were full, and wouldn't allow us to camp without a space.  Ugh...

So we unloaded our gear from the C's van, and headed off to Centerville, where we knew we could camp at the courthouse for free.  It was only 12 miles away, but 12 Missouri miles took us 2 hours that afternoon!  Ugh, these hills are truly miserable!  The courthouse in Centerville had a great lawn, and we talked to the people at the sheriff station who told us that the station had a restroom that stayed open 24/7, so we were set for the night.  After a quick dinner at the diner across the street, we settled in and watched some episodes of Friends while the locals set off their remaining fireworks (which sounded like bombs going off - those things have I cost a fortune!).  Slept well aside from getting a little cold - when there is so much humidity in the air, occasionally our fleece sleeping sacks don't cut it on cooler evenings!  Usually we are so tired it doesn't matter much though.

Day 31 - July 4, 2013 - Chester, IL to Farmington, MO

Mileage - about 48

Today started off with my little route mapping app getting us lost in the little town of Chester, IL.  Once we finally found the bridge, we checked out the Popeye statue in the little IL welcome center right next to the bridge across the Mississippi.

The bridge wasnt anything fancy, but had an interesting story - the two middle spans had actually collapsed into the river in the 40's during a tornado.  Luckily, there wasnt much wind as we crossed!

Just across the two lane bridge (luckily not that busy in the early morning), we found the Welcome to Missouri sign, near two gas stations and a fireworks stand.  Exciting stuff guys.

Here, we saw a woman go into the convenience store at 9am, emerge with a tall can of beer and a fountain cup with ice in it, pour the beer in the cup, and get back in the car.  At least she wasn't driving, and I guess it was the 4th...

The first part of our ride was flat, then we were hit with our first taste of the Missouri hills we have been hearing about.  After a few more, it actually flattened out a bit, and it appeared that we were at the highest point around, we had a good view of everything else.

The rest of the day was full of roller coaster hills, including lots that we had to walk up.  It was rather frustrating, but we muddled through.  We were about 19 miles away from our destination for the evening, Farmington, and we came across a guy on a 4-wheeler with his Rottweiler on the back, offering us some shade and cool well water at his house, just down the road.  We pedaled on, and stopped in to take this stranger up on his offer.  We had a good chat, and loved on his therapy dog, Hope.  He takes her once or twice a week to veterans hospitals or senior homes to cheer people up.  He is also trying to get her set up as a reading dog, just like what Woofs and Books does!  She ate up all the attention, and lifted our spirits during a tough day.

We were set to stay with an online friend's parents home in Farmington tonight (thanks again Mark!  And Mr. And Mrs. C!), and we rolled up to their house around 6:30.  After showering and starting some laundry, we helped Mrs. C cook dinner, and enjoyed a meal and conversation with them before passing out in their comfortable guest room.  We also got to check out their neat house, built in the 1870's.  It was such a great and comforting way to end the day!

Day 30 - July 3, 2013 - Carbondale, IL to Chester, IL

Mileage - about 44

Total miles - 905.2

It was overcast this morning, but at least no real chance of thunderstorms, thank goodness!  We headed out of Carbondale to Murphysboro on Route 13, and the rising went by uneventfully.  Murphysboro's slogan is "Ripe With Possibilities".  I'm fairly certain the word "ripe" doesn't belong in any city's motto, but oh well!

We decided to switch up the Adventure Cycling route out of Murphysboro to shave some miles and hills off of our day.  We stayed on the main roads, with minimal traffic, and probably saved ourselves 10 miles or so.  Illinois plays a little fast and loose with their road grade signs - but I guess what constitutes a big hill in Illinois is very different from Virginia!

We had decided to take the Mississippi Levee Alternate route, which is very flat until you get close to Chester, and had a really nice, fast ride throughout the morning.  The only problem with this route is that there aren't any service stops, but we survived.  This was probably the quickest, and one of the most enjoyable rides of the whole trip so far.

When the route eventually ran right alongside the Mississippi, there was a stop for coal trucks to load their coal onto river barges.  This area got a bit dangerous, with huge coal trucks coming from both directions, and they are only concerned with getting their coal to the barge in the quickest manner possible.

We rolled in to Chester in the early afternoon.  Chester is the birthplace of the creator of Popeye, so we spent some time checking out their Popeye stuff while trying to get a hold of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who have a bike hostel in town.  After a couple of hours with no luck on that, and grabbing a late lunch/early dinner, we settled on staying at the one hotel in town.

After some much needed showers, I proceeded to burn popcorn in our room's microwave, which smelled amazing for the rest of the night.  We watched a Pawn Stars marathon, and passed out.