Day 36 – Farmington to Murphysboro
Sun 11th July 2010
The accommodation at Farmington last night was excellent and such a good facility for cyclists on the Transamerica Trail. As we had our breakfast we heard heavy rain on the roof and on looking outside were surprised to see that a thunder storm was passing over. So we put on our rain gear again and put everything safely away in the panniers ready for another wet day. We set off in the rain but within 5 miles the storm had passed and the sky was blue. And that’s how it remained for the rest of the day. It was hot and humid.
Thinking he's an English gent, Chris has taken to wearing a cravat while cycling.
Egar to keep the extra miles we’ve gained we decided to go past our planned destination of Chester to Murphysboro another 40 miles down the road.
The first half of our ride to Chester was very similar to the last few days as we cycled the last hills of the Ozarks. The hills were still steep and plentiful right until we dropped down onto a flat area in the Mississippi valley. We crossed the Mississippi River at Chester and it really is a huge river and fast flowing. The only vessels on the river were these massive barges struggling to make headway against the flow.
Our route over the Mississippi
Crossing the Mississippi
We then cycled into Chester which is the home of Popeye and just about every sign has a picture of Popeye on it. The picture below is of a mural on the side of a building. As we crossed the river we also said goodbye to Missouri and entered Illinois, our 8th State (2 to go).
Popeye mural in Chester
From Chester we took a route that allowed us to cycle along the Mississippi Levee. It was quite something to cycle along it and the area was very picturesque and peaceful. It was also very open and extremely hot and draining. Chris has not enjoyed the cycling today because of the heat and humidity whereas I don’t mind it so much. I suspect Chris won’t enjoy the next two weeks either because that’s the weather we must expect here (in between the thunderstorms that is).
Cycling along the Levee
While cycling the Levee Chris ran out of drinking water but we were lucky to find a little restaurant at Neunert. I went inside to ask to fill our water bottles and the people inside were very friendly and wanted to drink beer with us and feed us as well. A beer then would have been great but we had to decline the offer and carry on our journey once we had our water bottles refilled.
Giant lillies in a pond near the levee
We made pretty good time today and reached Murphysboro by 4:00pm. By the time we had cycled to a shop and bought our food it was past 5:00pm before we found somewhere to stay. We are in a motel again tonight because of the weather. Heavy thunderstorms were forecast and these started soon after we arrived here.
As usual we had pasta and tuna for tea and cooked this in our room. Because we’re using an alcohol burner there always this fear that one day we’ll set off the fire alarm but so far we’ve been okay.
Daily Mileage -94.2 miles
Time in Saddle -7 hrs 55 mins
Total Climbing – 3,928 ft
Day 35 – Ellington to Farmington
Sat 10th July 2010
I should’ve been in the UK today to celebrate my wife’s birthday so home was certainly in my thoughts, which somehow makes the cycling that much more difficult.
For the first time in well over a week we had a clear sky to start off. It was nice to finally have some decent weather and we set off in good spirits with sun cream already applied. Our good spirits were also helped because last night we eat at a local burger bar for a break from pasta and boy those chips tasted good.
As soon as we left this morning we expected to face yet another long steep hill similar to those we faced yesterday but to our surprise the gradient was more gradual and that continued for the rest of today making the cycling more of a pleasure. Our planned destination today was Bismark but yesterday we were told of a bike hostel in Farmington which is about 13 miles further on. So we decided to make for there to see what the hostel was like. We still had some miles in hand s0 even going on to Farmington left us with a short day and an early finish.
Farmington is quite a big place and we had no idea where the hostel, called Al’s Place (well named), was so we stopped to ask Guy and Craig (father & son) who were sat out having a yard sale. They didn’t know either but soon found out and gave us directions. They even offered for us to stay at theirs if we had no luck.
Guy & Craig who helped us find Al's Place
We soon found Al’s Place and it turns out that tonight we are staying in the local jail house. Well it was the jail until 1996 and has very recently been turned into a place for cyclists to stay. I called the local police who gave me the code for the door and we were very pleasantly surprised when we went in. It was nice and cool and has everything we need, including warm showers, a TV, kitchen and beds. There’s even secure storage for the bikes. There’s nobody here to welcome you, you just let yourself in and make yourself at home.
Al's Place - Cyclists Hostel
This was a jail for a long time.
Inside Al's Place - Very nice but who's the vagrant on the sofa?
Farmington City Hall
We are gradually reaching the end of the Ozarks now and tomorrow we will cross the Mississippi river and into Illinois. Looking forward to that.
Daily Mileage – 66.5 miles
Time in Saddle – 6 hrs 7 mins
Total Climbing – 3,688 ft
Day 34 – Houston to Ellington
Fri 9th July 2010
To avoid losing the extra miles we covered yesterday we cycled past our original destination of Eminence to Ellington 27 miles further on.
After a long day yesterday we were late going to sleep so the alarm was set to 6:00am. It meant a late start but we knew we had a short day. Over breakfast Pam, a Transam cyclist, introduced herself to us and was keen to talk about our adventure. Pam completed the ride in 2007 and showed us a photo of her at the end of the ride. That’s a picture we’re looking forward to taking of ourselves!
With 2007 Transam cyclist, Pam
We are still in the Ozarks and having looked at the profile of today’s ride we knew it was going to be tough and it was. It was hilly throughout the day but there were some sections where the hills were so steep that it was only just possible to cycle them. Today I used my lowest gear for the first time on the ride and I could have done with a couple more. The steep climbs together with the humidity made it the most difficult riding so far but it was also good to conquer them and was almost enjoyable in a masochistic way.
Come on in, the water's lovely
We rode one particular section today where dogs ran out to chase us. Well, they chased me because I was leading and they left Chris alone. I’m not sure if they would have attacked given the chance but I was ready with the pepper spray just in case. We expect lots more dogs over the next two weeks when we travel through Kentucky.
We also met Idan and Amanda who were cycling to Astoria. Amanda is from the US but Idan is from Ireland has and has been cycling all over the world during the last couple of years.
Idan & Amanda going West
In Eminence we stopped for a coffee at a local cafe and were informed that it was free. We also filled our water bottles before heading off again. We’re drinking a lot of fluid now just to stay hydrated but I’m sure we should be drinking even more.
Free coffee at our 40 mile stop
This view was spectacular
We had hoped to break the 3,000 mile barrier today but we only managed 2,995 miles. But we have been cycling for 34 days and have 17 left to do. That means that we’ve completed two thirds of the ride and are definitely on the home straight now. The rest of the ride will be tough however as the elevation profile is not a pretty picture if your in our position. Tomorrow we have more of the same but not quite so many steep inclines as today.
There's plenty more where this came from
We were asked how we organise our day so I’ll try to briefly spell out what we do:-
We try to get up early and be on the road by 6:30am. This is mainly to get a few miles in when it’s cool but it also gives us the whole day to cycle if we need it.
We carry maps of the route but I have each days riding programmed into a Garmin Dakota 20 GPS. This little device has been simply fantastic especially during the very bad weather when getting the maps out would have been impossible. It not only tells me where to go but how far to services and our destination. It’s been very useful too for finding shops in the big cities.
Because I have the GPS I tend to lead just about all of the time and now that Chris has twigged that the dogs attack the lead rider I suspect that will continue.
We are careful to make sure we always have enough food and drink with us at all times. Every 20 miles (or 2 hrs of riding) we stop for a 10 minute break to have something to eat and give us a break from the bikes. We do this until the end of the day. We won’t normally stop in between these breaks unless one of us needs to for whatever reason. In the breaks we’ll eat a banana and a cereal bar and other snacks that contain carbohydrates. We never stop for a lunch break as we find this destroys the rhythm of the day.
We don’t always cycle together as often we will cycle at a slightly different pace depending on how we are feeling. We are never more that a mile apart though and I would always stop at a junction and / or check regularly that Chris is still there. We always get back together at our stops. If I stop Chris will usually wait for me to set off again.
At the end of each day we wash our cycling gear (shorts at least) and often have them hanging off the bike the next day to dry. Drying our clothes has been a particular problem on this ride due to the weather so often we’ve had to use to use our shorts for more than one day. That’s okay but it increases the risk of saddle sores.
Does that help?
It's hard to drink enough water here
Daily Mileage -69.6 miles
Time in Saddle – 6 hrs 17 mins
Total Climbing – 4,880 ft
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
Day 32 – Pittsburg to Ash Grove, Missouri
Wed 7th July 2010
It was just right for cycling first thing with some cloud cover, very light wind and not too hot. So we set off in good spirits and pleased that we would soon be leaving Kansas. It’s not been our favourite State mainly because of the weather and we’ll be quite glad to leave it behind. We crossed into Missouri only a few miles East of Pittsburg and it gave us a boost to know that another State is behind us.
Leaving Pittsburg first thing
Missouri at last
The terrain today has been quite hilly and not unlike the English countryside. It was very picturesque and quite different to some of the remote areas we’ve been through. The hills are steep but short so we at least get a break from pedalling on the downhill sections.
Are we back in England?
On our first stop today we were soon joined by a mange kitten that was very attracted to Chris. it was clearly a wild cat and was in a dreadful state and was alone. It wasn’t very old either. We tried to feed it with what we had but it must have heard that Chris was the pizza man and would settle for nothing less and went hungry.
Come on Chris, give me some Pizza
We made good time today and reached the Hunting Lodge in Everton by 1:00pm only to find nobody there. A young lad arrived soon after to feed all the dogs and informed us the owner was in Texas. So we had no choice but to leave followed by one of the dogs which only left us when the young lad came along in his pick up and took the dog back.
Who put that there?
We cycled on to the next town called Ash Grove where there was a B&B and the City Park for camping. We weren’t keen to camp because the forecast is still not good and at the local grocery store we were informed that the B&B had closed. Oh dear, the next town is miles away! So after a few phone calls by the lady in the store we were instructed to go to the City Hall and collect a key to a house in the City Park as we were to be allowed to stay there the night. So we cycled off to collect the key and were told there was no charge, just drop the key back in the morning. We then cycled to our new accommodation in the park and were met by the local Police Chief, who already knew we were staying there. He said he would look out for us during the night.
The house we are in is a kind of community building but it has toilets, hot water, air con, power and a roof! So it’s a good place for us to stay tonight and quite unexpected. In addition the lady in the grocery store came running out with a bag of free fruit for us before we left her shop. We have been well looked after here.
Our accommodation tonight
We had a request on one of the comments (Dave Bailey) for a run down of our day. I promise to do that soon Dave when I feel more awake than I do right now.
Daily Mileage -73.5 miles
Time in Saddle -6hrs 31 mins
Total Climbing – 2,470 ft
Day 31 – Eureka to Pittsburg
Tues 6th July 2010
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if we had it we would have cycled yesterday and taken today as a rest day.
We set off early this morning, at 6:15am just as it was light enough. It was raining but only lightly and the clouds were dark. The light rain lasted for the first 20 miles until we reached Toronto where we could see heavy rain approaching from ahead. We knew it was heavy because the visibility just disappeared so we rushed to get our waterproofs on before it hit us. It was indeed heavy and stayed that way until we stopped for our 40 mile break.
Just before the heavy rain started at Toronto
While stopped having our 40 mile break we heard thunder and the clouds to the South of us were really black. There was a thunder storm very close to us so we just got back on the bikes to get out of there. But it was a waste of time because withing a few minutes we were right under the storm with lighting all around and the heaviest rain we have ever experienced. It was far worse than anything we had cycled in before. Unfortunately we were in the middle of nowhere and had no choice but to carry on. We later discovered that 6 inches of rain was falling every 2 hours!
Flood water was everywhere
Because of the weather we took very few photos today to record how bad it was. It was a day to do our best to keep everything dry and prevent anything getting ruined. The thunder storm followed us for hours and was relentless. To show how bad it was we even saw two crayfish crossing the road (yes I have typed that correctly). The amount of water was incredible and all the rivers, ditches and gullies were overflowing. Just South of Chanute (Chanute had over 9 inches of rain today) we should have turned left onto Highway 146 but there were signs up to say it was closed 7 miles ahead (including the bike trail). At this point the road crossed the river so the road must have been flooded. To get around this we had to cycle further South before we could turn onto Highway 47 to go East and even going this way we have to go through a flood where the river was across the road.
Have you ever seen a crayfish crossing the road?
Because our detour took us South it would have been false economy to head back North again to get to our planned destination of Walnut, so we decided to stay on Highway 47 which took us into Girard, about 22 miles further along the route.
We reached Girard at about 4:30pm having cycled 108 miles, to discover that the B&B (the only place to stay in town) was in darkness and we couldn’t get an answer. Camping was definitely not an option so we had no choice other than get back on the bikes and cycle on to Pittsburg another 14 miles further on. The last 14 miles were quite pleasant because it actually stopped raining but we still had a lot of drying out to do.
Pittsburg is a large town and we found a Wall-mart (cheap food) and a motel opposite where the owner has given us free beer and coffee. We’ve eaten well and our stuff is drying out. Chris’s camera stopped working due to the wet but is okay again having been dried out for a couple of hours.
So in keeping with other weeks we’ve had a really long day following our rest day. Not planned it just happened that way. Can’t wait until tomorrow.
Daily Mileage – 122.8 miles
Time in Saddle – 9 hrs 57 mins
Total Climbing – 2,128 ft