Day 33 – Ash Grove to Houston
Thurs 8th July 2010
We had an early night and slept well last night in our free accommodation and are very grateful to the good folk of Ash Grove. We set off at 6:15am and our first job was to drop off the key at the City Hall.
Home for a night
The hills we encountered yesterday were the start of the Ozark Mountain Range. Although it’s called a mountain range it’s very old and more resembles a very hilly terrain with the highest points around 1,500 ft. It’s very like a giant roller coaster with lots and lots of short very steep hills so we were either doing 4 mph or 40mph.
The whole of today was in the Ozarks and it was a tough days cycling but very enjoyable at the same time, with lots of things to see and interesting roads. The weather was also good with some cloud cover and no wind. Despite the cloud cover it was still around 25 degrees C but the humidity at 94% made it impossible to feel comfortable. All the drivers we encountered today were very courteous to us despite us holding them all up on the windy roads. So many waved and tooted to say hello. This has generally been the trend all the way across so far.
We rescued two tortoise from the road today, one that was happy to come of of its shell and another that stayed shut up tight. It’s odd to see these in the wild just crossing the road.
Will you put me down. I was crossing the road.
We arrived at our destination of Hartville at 2:30pm where we could have camped on the Courthouse Lawn with no shower and no facilities of any kind. We’d done 75 miles by that time and the next town was almost 40 miles further on. So we had a coffee in the local cafe and considered our options. We both agreed that 75 miles of those hills just weren’t enough so we elected to carry on to Houston. The heavy rain clouds gathering also helped us make our decision.
Taking a food break after 80 miles
So at 6:30pm we finally arrived at Houston having covered 113 miles and completing more climbing in a day than at any other time on the ride. We could see heavy rain falling to our right for the last 20 miles and in the last 3 miles our paths met and we were rained on again.
Daily Mileage -113.7 miles
Time in Saddle -10 hrs 0 mins
Total Climbing – 6,825 ft
Posted on: Jul 9th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Glad you saved the tortoises from the road, I expect they were pleased as well. The views look more like devon than america. 113 miles you are doing great. Keep safe xxxx
Posted on: Jul 9th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
You are gluttons for punishment aren’t you carrying on to complete 113 miles.
Well done, and nice to hear you are extending your kindness to all creatures and not just cats!
PS. Dad, your beard is taking over your face!!!
love you
Tracey
xxxx