TRANSAMERICA BICYCLE 2015: Days 30-35: A Love Post to Missouri

Day 30: Farmington, MO to Ellington, MO (61.4 miles)

Day 31: Ellington, MO to Eminence, MO (28.2 miles)

Day 32: Eminence, MO to Houston, MO (43.9 miles)

Day 33: Houston, MO to Marshfield, MO (65 miles)

Day 34: Marshfield, MO to Ash Grove, MO (48.5 miles)

Day 35: Ash Grove, MO to Pittsburg, KS (70.9 miles)

Ear Worms:

Sheryl Crow: Difficult Kind

"Bicycle Built for two" (Daisy, daisy...) (all those beautiful daisies in Missouri...)

Christine Lavin - What Was I Thinking (too much food in the panniers!!)

En Vogue - Never Gonna Get It

Cosy Sheridan - Hannibal Crossed The Alps (or the Ozarks..)

Molly O'Day - 6 More Miles to the Graveyard (that popped in when I saw a 6 miles to Houston sign....if that gives you any indication of the state I was feeling!

Lucinda Williams - Unsuffer Me (on day of clipped in crash.."I'm bruised and bloody..")

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Irene Caro - What A Feeling (Oh yeah Flashdance!)

Lucinda Williams - I Lost It (I moved my seat to get my feet aligned right with new shoes and now it's just not right!!)

Lucinda Williams - It's a Long Way to the Top If You Want to Rock n' Roll

My version to Christine Lavin's "What Was I Thinking" (from the third verse)

It was late, I was hungry

Having just biked 63 miles that day

I see the tomato and thought, 'should I buy it'

I heard my tummy say, 'yes you should'

And that on sale chex mix and that old favorite cereal

and that quart size bottle of chocolate milk

Now I can barely lift my panniers

cause they're full of all this stupid stuff!

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Straight from the Adventure Cycling maps: "Exhausted cyclists have likened this part of the trip as one long, self-propelled rollar coaster ride."

YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!!! Goodness gracious Ozarks, that was fun.

Oh wow Missouri. I had heard bad things about you, how you were the worst state for bicyclists to bike through. How trucks and cars didn't like to give you any room on the road. How people would yell things at you. And how wrong they all were. Missouri, you were one pleasant surprise. Ozarks, you are magical. All the people I met, you are wonderful! Goes to show that you have to get out there and experience things for yourself in order to really form an opinion about anything, cause wow, all those things I heard were so dead wrong. I LOVED BIKING THROUGH MISSOURI! Now those dogs in Eastern Kentucky..that's another story!

How can I tell you about all the things that I've experienced these past several days? I have to admit, I really knew nothing about southern Missouri and the Ozarks. I had no idea how beautiful the wildflowers would be or how the occasional scent of dry pine and open meadows with hay bales would send me into a little state of homesickness for Montana. Because there's more than a hint of my home state here. Even in the people. Like when I literally made a sliding stop into the little corner store in Bendavis (population of about no-one except the store). After cleaning up my bloody knee (I forgot I was clipped into my pedals and was so excited to get out of the pouring rain and subsequently gave all the ranchers/farmers a nice story to add to their collection of crazy biker tales), I sat at the table listening to everyone talk:

Man to boy: I reckon you best come with me and learn how to drive a tractor.

Boy, of probably age four or five: I already know how to drive a tractor!

Oh man! Take me back home!!

Willy Weir wrote a great article for Adventure Cycling Magazine about how important it is to sometimes slow down a little when you are bicycle touring. Take time to really experience a place. It is really easy to just go, go, go.. to push for the miles. You get on a mission to get somewhere and that tunnel vision leaves you missing some great opportunities. I almost got into tunnel vision, and thankfully a chance encounter with two cyclists, Tino and Ruth, at the "Redneck Grocery" in Eminence pulled me out. I had been biking with Janice and Catherine, but I was intent on keeping up my mileage in the Ozarks, despite the steep climbs. (not anything like the length of the Appalachians, but these little buggers are INTENSE! I actually hit 2.5 miles per hour on one!). So I had said my goodbyes to them and stopped in there for water... well Tino exclaims, "I can't believe I am meeting the Coty Hogue of radio fame in Virginia!" So you see, word is out on the bike grapevine about that radio stint in Hindman! So they tell me about the rivers and horse trail competition that is happening here in Eminence... and I thought of Willy's article and decided to stay! Had only ridden 28 miles but I stayed. AND IT WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE. The campsite was right along the Jack's Fork river, with a huge swimming area in the beautiful blue/green crisp water.

It was summer. There was music playing and the cool water rushing along with me in it. And then wading across the river to a sports bar to eat and watch American Pharaoh win the Triple Crown. The whole bar filled with river floaters and horse people cheering him on. Outside horses tied up from people who had ridden to the bar. Inside is me in my "bathing suit" which includes bottoms that are actually black quick dry underwear..... So I got my river day for the summer. I can be officially satisfied now. So Willy, thank you for your article. I slowed down and had one of the best days in the beautiful Ozark mountains, known for it's crisp beautiful rivers and abundance of natural springs. (Most in the world!)

Somewhat side note: This river excursion also included me actually saving a boy from a serious potential drowning. On the other side of the river were some bluffs that kids were jumping off of... but in the middle of the river was a pretty serious current. I had just swam across to check things out at the other side and had just made it back when I hear this kid, who could not have been more than nine years old, crying out for help. He had tried to get to the bluffs and was being swept downstream and was seriously panicking. He was yelling help and starting to go under a lot as he was being carried down, obviously panicking. The strange thing was no one was paying attention to him except his maybe 12 year old sister who was trying to tell him it got calmer a little further down. The thing is he was really panicking and not swimming well so I just jumped in after him, swam to him, made sure he was in the right mind to listen to me and got him on my back and swam him to shore. Turns out his parents weren't even at the river. Only one other woman came over to help comfort him (whispering to me, "wow this is great parenting here"). She told me just a month ago a kid drowned on this river. So yeah, I was just so surprised that no one really seemed to care that this kid was screaming for help! I guess they were all enjoying their beers to much......

Alley Spring - 81 million gallons of water every day

The mill at Alley Spring

We've now come to the city park camping part of the trip, which I've enjoyed because it brings me into the heart of the small town. From the crack of the baseball bats and cheering as I sit in my tent listening to the baseball game going on across the way to enjoying the water in the 90 degree heat at a community swimming pool to Houston, MO where I watched a beach volleyball game from my camp as the yellow/red sun set over the horizon. 10,000 Maniacs singing "These are the Days." And I, for the first time, really feel it. The incredibleness of this experience. The way I'm getting to see the core of America. The America that doesn't get on TV or in novels or movies. It's the rural America that just goes on and on and makes this country run, quietly without much thanks or recognition, and it's wonderful to see and be a part of it this summer.

Speaking of Houston, look what was waiting when we got into town. Don, a man who follows our Crazy Guy journals made this sign. He came down to the park and it was so nice to chat with him about the bike trip and all the bikers he has met. You just never know who you will get to share this experience with and inspire. Like the very next day after a hot day of up and down climbs I roll into Marshfield and see a little health food store in the square. My friend Tanya and I have this thing that we have to go into a co-op or health food store in every town we travel to if they have one. Plus they had homemade smoothies. I thought about heading down to the fairgrounds to set up my tent and come back but thankfully decided to just go in.... Not only did I get a smoothie, but I got to talking with Carly, the girl who worked there and the next thing you know, I'm at her place eating a steak dinner! And the next day her mom, who lived in Ash Grove, took me out to eat!! I mean THIS. Once more, this is why I am doing this ride. I feel like I have met new friends that will be in my life for a long time. They both said how inspiring my trip was for them, but I feel the same way about them. About how they welcomed me into their homes/lives. Providing food and conversation to a random stranger. Taking that wonderful risk in getting to know someone.

Carly and the amazing steak dinner she cooked me!

Barb, Carly's mom who took me out to dinner the next night!

These two were true gems on the trail.

And this was southern Missouri for me really. I came to this state knowing nothing about the Ozarks or the people. I left the state with a big, warm fuzzy feeling inside for this state. I have new friends and a whole intention to come back and explore the Ozarks more. Poor Ozarks, they get left out with the Appalachians and Rockies claiming so much glory!

last stop before Kansas..... famous pie from Cookies in Golden City. I'd been hearing about this place all the way across Missouri. (Janice, Catherine, Ruth, Tino, and myself)

And I went, peddling into the flats, into the brutal direct sunlight heat. We are in a HEAT WAVE. I've crossed into Kansas (but you'll just have to wait for that till the next post!) with Tino, Ruth, Catherine, and Janice. It's hot, it's flat. But I'm going to love it!! BECAUSE I CAN SEE OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A MONTH. Being from Big Sky country, it never could quite shake that clausterphobic feeling peddling through such dense foilage. I started to shake it off the Ozark Plateau with the meadows popping up, but now.. now I can see out. And boy, I'll be seeing out for the next 400 miles or so!