Day 25: Eminence, MO to Marshfield, MO

June 26, 2006

109.25 Miles, 9:10:28 Ride Time, 12.08 Average Speed, 39.9 Maximum Speed

I got a reasonably early start this morning - around 7:30. Because Eminence is right on the Jacks Fork river, I knew the first part of today's ride would be climbing out of the river valley. The immediate, fairly steep ascent made it hard to get excited about riding...

Very early on, the sky was clear, but by the time I reached Alley Spring, the sky was full of huge white clouds. A little further on, and there was more cloud than blue sky. Overcast days always seem a little gloomy to me, but the riding is easier without the sun beating down on you mercilessly.

Between Alley Spring and Summersville, I met an Eastbound cyclist, Ryan. He was a young guy, in his early-to-mid twenties, who had gotten out of the army, and was doing the TransAm before starting the next thing. He told me that he had started out on the west coast with two other guys, but one dropped out after 400 miles. It sounded like Ryan and the third guy didn't mesh, so he was now on his own. As usual, meeting another cyclist, especially one who had completed 2/3 of the trip, energized me, and I picked up the pace.

I stopped at the next little town, Summersville, and had breakfast at the Trails End restaurant - pancakes and bacon. As I ate, I looked at my maps and tried to decide how far to go today (ideally, this sort of planning should be done the night before, I suppose; sometimes on this trip, however, I have waited see how I feel after riding a while before making a decision). It looked like I would travel through several relatively flat sections today, so I decided to shoot for Marshfield, which would be more than 100 miles. Hartville, at about 80 miles, was my fallback plan; however, I would have to camp if I stayed there. Would my intense dislike of sleeping in my tent motivate to ride on to Marshfield? Magic 8-Ball says: Signs point to yes.

I got on a busier road as I left Summersville - State Route 17, which had been recently resurfaced, and was adorned with "Fresh Oil, Loose Gravel" signs. I was able to pass the truck that was painting the yellow center line - it was only going a few miles an hour. Somewhere on this stretch, three dogs came out of the yard of a junky-looking place, and ran at me. I used my pepper spray on the most aggressive one, and watched as he rubbed his face in the grass. I can't help but feel a childish sense of satisfaction when my "Halt!" spray works as intended.

I rode through Houston, a town of a couple of thousand people, and ran over several jagged chunks of red glass on the street. I stopped to check my tires, found that they were ok, and decided to take that as sign to not linger in Houston.

The next thirty or so miles to Hartville were uneventful; easy, mostly level riding - Was I finished with the Ozarks? I made a snack stop at a country store, which, atypically for this kind of place way out in the country, was staffed by three sullen teenagers. They told me the bathroom was out of order due to "septic tank problems, man." Irritated, I considered urinating against the side of the store, but decided against such a drastic course of action, and found a tree a few miles up the road.

When I got to Hartville, I had ridden 80 miles, and was feeling a little tired. I stopped at a service station called "Lazy Lee's" (how did I not think to get a picture of their sign?) to consider the options. It was already 5:00, and it appeared from my maps that it was going to get hillier as I rode toward Marshfield. Could I ride 30 more miles? I decided that I could, if I was sure there a nice room waiting for me. So, I used the store's phone (my cellphone had no signal), to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express in Marshfield. Now I was committed.

The ride to Marshfield was pretty tough, partly because it was some of the hilliest riding of the day, but mostly because I was tired. I finally rode into town through the industrial-looking section, then through some dead downtown streets (even the police station was closed for the day), and stopped at a Dollar General store to get directions to the motel. The lady there gave me directions - it was right at the interstate interchange, of course, but at least it wasn't too far, and didn't involve a left hand turn across several lanes of traffic. She asked me about my trip, and it turned out she was from a town in Oregon not too far from my ultimate destination... that was kind of neat.

I didn't have trouble getting to the Holiday Inn Express, which was the nicest motel I'd stayed at since the Hampton Inn in Charlottesville. I walked next door to a fast-food barbeque place - "The Rib Crib", then risked my life by walking across several lanes of traffic to get the Dairy Queen, where I had a blizzard.

I felt satisfied with myself after riding 200+ miles in two days in the Ozarks, and decided I would wait until morning to figuure out the day's destination.

One of the few motorized vehicles I've passed - a truck painting the yellow center line

I pepper-sprayed these dogs big-time. So far, Missouri's dogs are worse than Kentucky's.

Today's ride: 109 miles (175 km)
Total: 1,548 miles (2,491 km)

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George HallI also stayed at the H.I. Express. They told me they loved cyclists because we left early in the mornings and that let the maids have a room to start on before other folks had left.
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