I’ve now been riding east for eight days. I’m getting stronger and finding a good rhythm each day.  It continues to be hot and humid and I try to get an early start each day to get some early miles behind me.  My shortest day has been 59 miles and my longest has been 84. So far, I’ve camped, stayed in a church and stayed in a few airbnb’s.  

During my ride through Kansas, I kept a close eye on the wind. There were some rolling hills, but the wind is what made the difference in terms of the amount of effort I had to expend each mile. I enjoyed seeing the small towns and camped in a number of city parks. Here is a few things that I have learned about camping in city parks. 1) Not all city parks are created equal, some are really nice but most are very basic. Having access to a shower is a nice bonus when you can get it.  2) When setting up my tent I have learned to mind the lights. All have lights on poles and if you put your tent in the wrong spot you definitely don’t need a flashlight. 3) Many of these small towns are on the rail line and by the end of the night, believe me, you know the schedule.

On day six of my trip I crossed from Kansas to Missouri. While still in Kansas I rode through the rain into Girard and after making myself semi-presentable by putting on a dry shirt, I went to the Hiway Cafe to get some breakfast and wait out the rain. The Hiway is one of those small town cafe’s you hope to find. Certainly nothing fancy, but for less than six dollars I filled myself up with a cheese omelette, two pieces of toast, a sausage patty, a large orange juice and a plate sized pancake. No wonder, this place had a good local following.  Contrast that with the chai latte I had 10 miles later in Pittsburgh that cost nearly as much as my entire breakfast.  

Soon after crossing into Missouri I started noticing more trees and the hills started coming with more frequency. I had a favorable breeze that helped to counteract the heat and humidity. I camped in Golden City at the city park.  I had called city hall in advance of my arrival and got the code to the umpires shower at the ball field.  There weren’t any restaurants open so I settled on the cuisine available at Casey’s gas station.  Actually not too bad as far as gas station food goes, I had a large chicken salad.

Church Visit

In my Adventure Cycling maps the services available to cyclists are listed by location. In between two towns there was an intriguing listing about cyclist only lodging at the Immanuel Lutheran Church NW of Girard Kansas. All I needed to do was to call ahead. As I planned my day it looked like this would be a good stop mileage wise and so I called. In less than a minute it was done, they were expecting me. I rolled in around 3 pm and after cleaning up and getting the tour from Pastor Stoever, I got set up in one of the Sunday school rooms and then planned dinner from what was available in the refrigerator and freezer. It was well stocked! I made tacos and enjoyed 5 (thank you very much) out of the picnic table.  Just after doing the dishes I went over to the Wednesday evening service.  It was great to be welcomed in by their congregation and thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality.

On my first full day of cycling in Missouri I really learned that there is a big difference between the flat lands to the west and the hills to the east.  The hills started gently but then the soon accelerated into a full out roller coaster of one hill after the other. An exhilarating ride down followed by a granny gear grind (no offense to any of you granny’s out there) up to the top of the next one. I was soon a sweaty mess and could feel all the weight I was carrying holding me back as I climbed. Dozens and dozens of hills later I was finding the slow rhythm of riding the short steep hills of SW Missouri. I had decided to book an Airbnb in Marshfield and do an 85 mile day but I hadn’t counted on the hills. In the end I made it, pooped out and happy to be in a comfortable bed.  I walked around the corner and found some comfort food and slept well. In addition to the miles, I had climbed 5,000 feet of elevation in the 98 degree heat.  Phew!

A Surprise!

My grandma Kearny used to say often “you never know what nice things are going to happen to you when you wake up in the morning.”  Today this proved to be so true. Just before going to sleep in Marshfield I posted a few pictures to Instagram. When I awoke I had a message on my email from a friend from Boulder asking me where exactly I was because he too was northeast of Springfield. It turns out that we were a short distance away. We connected during my morning ride and it was arranged that I would ride up to see him.  Actually it was them.  My friends the Hanzlik’s (Willard, Christie, Lucie and Coran) were up at Cedars Camp and they had a place for me to stay for the night. I rode just over 60 miles and met Willard four miles from the camp.  I have been lovingly welcomed here among friends and enjoyed the grand tour, dinner, breakfast and a church service just as family camp was beginning.  What a treat to see such good friends along the way!  I had read a detailed interview about this camp just 10 days prior and so I knew the history already, I was prepared and excited for my visit to this beautiful spot is the Ozarks that I had heard about for many years but didn’t know much about.