Day 39 Today I woke up 4am. Didn't plan to, just did. Did some reading and a blog message. After running the spell checker on my message it disappeared into cyber world somewhere never to be read. Bummer! At 5:55am I mounted my bike and pedaled to McDonald's for an iced coffee. A few minutes later I began my ride to Ellington.The ride was super tough! It was hot, humid and hilly!
When they built the roads through the Ozark Mountains they just went up and over, never through. There were many walk breaks and shade breaks. There was even a swim break in Alley Springs. The water was crystal clear and cool. It was at the top of a hill in Alley Springs that I met Jerry, Peggy and Charlene. Jerry and Peggy are from California. They are riding west on the Transamerica Route. Great folks with nice equipment.
Charlene owned the piece of property we were standing on. She was on her John Deer riding mower cutting her yard. She shut it down when she got close to where we were chatting. After a few minutes we figured we should move on and let Charlene continue mowing. Before we did though, we took pictures of each other and then of Charlene. She shared with us that she had lived there in beautiful Alley Springs for many years.
By now I was just miles out of Eminence, MO. I couldn't wait to get there. I was hungry and needed a fluid refill. Eminence is a tiny tourist town in the middle of the Ozarks. Nice people. Great lunch specials and lots of cold fluids. They know their roads are extremely hilly so they enjoyed talking about where I had come from and laughed about where I was intending to go. They described the hills to come by name. One they said went up, flattened out for a minute then continued to go up and up with a few more flat spots. Not what I wanted to hear but it was the truth.
The ride from Eminence to Ellington was listed as 27 miles. I figured I could take the rest of the day and do 27 miles. I could have but I chose not to. Over the next two to three hours I rode 13 miles in the heat and humidity up those hills. There were very few places where momentum helped me out but fortunately there quite a few places that were great for shade breaks. During one shade and fluid break two of the English cyclists stopped to chat for a moment. They said the other two should be coming shortly and they all would be stopping at Owls Bend for lunch. They rode on and I set out as well.
After a few more miles of climbing we had a nice downhill to the river. Just after the bridge was the turn into Owls Bend River where there was camping and swimming and fishing. The Eye Care America Support Crew was parked on the corner serving up lunch to their cyclists. I stopped and chatted for a bit. We talked about the nasty hills, America's big cars and cheap gas prices. Cheap? They informed me that they were paying the equivalent of $10.00/gallon for petrol in England. They were shocked at how big our vehicles were and how big and wasteful our engines are. They were also shocked that so many of these big vehicles that passed by only had one person in them. Culture shock!
They shared some water and a banana with me then I decided to check out Owls Bend. I found great camping on the river and great bathrooms so I decided to camp there instead of the city park in Ellington. I set up camp next to a great family from Wisconsin. They fed me and gave me cold drinks. I also had some swim time, how refreshing! As evening set in I became quite sleepy. We had been sitting around the fire talking about all kinds of things. I thanked them for the dinner, cold drinks and good conversation then said good night.
Tomorrow the plan is to push through the final bit of the Ozarks to Ellington and then plan the rest of the day.
As always, your prayers are appreciated and keep me going.
bob g
STATS - Mileage Today 59, Pace 11, Riding Time 5:19
Total GTD cumulative miles: 2,121
