Month: September 2017

9/25/17

Houston, MO > Ellington, MO

Miles Ridden – 69.7

Mileage to date – 2,487.5

John and team pedaled to Ellington, MO (pop. 987) today. Per Wikipedia Ellington was named for a woman (Cliny Huff Ellington) who laid out the town.

John did not have very good internet access today so I don’t have many details on what transpired. He did relay the following –

“We ate lunch at the Dairy Shack which boasted a great milk shake and an excellent selection of 50s era rock sings.”

He also sent the following photo of the Current river part of the Ozark National Scenic River ways –

John, Heather and Jaime are staying at a free bicyclist’s hostel sponsored by the local chamber of commerce-

John also passed along this photo of a house where the plants are growing from the inside-

If all goes according to plan, John will be in Chester, Illinois to tomorrow. Chester is the home of “Popeye”. More on this later!

9/24/17

Ash Grove, MO > Houston, MO

Miles Ridden – 113.1

Mileage to date – 2,417.8

Today’s destination was Houston, MO (pop. 2,081). My original idea for the blog title was “Houston we do not have a problem”. But then John sent this photo –

And it was obvious to me what the title should be.

After an easy day. John and crew ramped up the mileage to 113 miles. They also ascended nearly 6,500 feet of vertical today. They have not done that sort of vertical since Colorado. They also descended nearly 6,300 feet so it was an up and down day. I think this photo from John depicts it well –

Who knew Missouri was such a roller coaster?

What would a blog post be without a random or 2 factoid from Wikipedia about the destination? So here goes. Houston is the capital seat of the county of Texas. Houston was named after Sam Houston. Houston, Texas was also named after Sam Houston.

John’s account of the last couple of days. “The night before last we stayed with a warm showers host named Nathan Hugh’s in Pittsburg. He’s a design student at Pittsburgh State University and he rode with us to Ash Grove. When we arrived there we were all elated to discover a cyclist hostel next to the town park. Our free accommodations came with a kitchen, cot, showers, bath and a nice collection of bike tools. We met another cyclist we had been following for some time named Josh Morrow. This morning Nate returned to school and Josh headed to Springfield, MO. Once again leaving the cycling trio(John, Jaime and Heather) to head off for another day of great riding. Today was pretty much a roller coaster of a ride from beginning to end. We all had a great time and we’re fortunate to avoid any mechanical issues and the weather was pretty great. We managed to arrive safely to our destination here in Houston, MO.”

Here is Nathan’s roommate that made a bicycle

our of wood-

A couple more photos from the day-

9/22/17

Toronto, KS > Pittsburg,KS

Miles Ridden – 104.1

Mileage to date – 2,243.8

John is in Pittsburg, KS (pop. 20,233). Pittsburg was named after Pittsburgh, PA. Last night’s destination Toronto was also named after Toronto, Canada and as mentioned previously Newton, KS was named after Newton, MA. Apparently there were not a lot of creative types in Kansas in the late 1800’s when these towns were being named. Pittsburg is situated in a once productive coal field. It now relies heavily on education and government-related employment.

John had a little bit of a rough start to the day because they were planning to have breakfast at a community store but it was not open when he arrived. So they rode 30 miles to get to a place for breakfast.

John’s account of the day –

“After the difficult start when the breakfast stop was closed things improved. We experienced fewer headwinds and it wasn’t blowing as hard. Tomorrow we are headed to Ash Grove Missouri and leaving the state of Kansas behind.”

Photos from today and one from yesterday-

The closed store-

From yesterday.

9/21/17

Newton, KS > Toronto, KS

Miles Ridden – 94.0

Mileage to date – 2,139.7

John and team finally made it to Toronto. Not that Toronto, but Toronto, KS ( pop. 281). The only notable entry in Wikipedia for Toronto is that “In the Toronto Township Cemetery, John C. Woods is buried. He was the hangman at the Nuremberg Trials.”

Well ok then.

John’s account of yesterday –

“Yesterday proved to be a challenging day of riding complete with some difficult head winds. After beginning the day with an all you can eat breakfast buffet we headed to Cassoday. That’s right, the prairie chicken capitol of the world is where we spent our lunch. After we travelled forward until Toronto KS, spending the night in a state campground.”

Reading between the lines and with apologies to any Kansas fans in the readership, I get the sense that the Kansas border can not come quick enough for John.

Perhaps this post should have been titled “following the yellow brick road out of Kansas as fast as possible”?

Photos from today-

9/20/17

Larned, KS > Newton, KS

Miles Ridden – 109.1

Mileage to date – 2,045.1

Today’s destination was Newton, KS. Per John it was a relatively uneventful day. Given the name of the town perhaps this would be a good time for a discussion of the Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion? Or perhaps not!  Although I do think that John and crew are a good example of the 2nd law of motion – a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Newton (pop. 19,132) is a pretty big place compared to many of the towns that John has been through on this trip. It was established in 1871 when the Santa Fe railroad extended a main line from Emporia westward to Newton. The town soon became an important railroad shipping point of Texas cattle. The city was named after Newton, MA home of some of the Santa Fe stockholders.

John’s account of the day –

“I departed the exquisite 2 star Townsman Inn at 5 AM. The prairie was pitch dark at that hour and my bike lights were the only signs of life for miles. The scene was only interrupted by yelping prairie dogs and a stray skunk crossing the road within 3 feet of me. Fortunately, they went on there way and I headed up the road to Newton. The ride was mostly uneventful and I arrived here around 2:30 and retrieved my next map at the post office.”

Cindy and I have been mailing maps to John via general delivery. It works pretty well but you need to work out the timing.  Also, some of the post offices in the smaller towns have limited hours.

Photos from today –

9/19/17

Scott City, KS > Larned, KS

Miles Ridden – 119.8

Mileage to date – 1,936.6

Our favorite cyclists were up early yesterday to trying to get out of Dodge I mean Scott City on their way to Larned(population 4054). Speaking of Dodge City it is pretty close to Larned and has a colorful history that includes such figures as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.

John and team were out much longer than planned due to some serious head winds. John’s account of the day –

“Heather got a flat tire out of lunch today. There is no need to be concerned as I’m still dominating both Heather and Jaime in the flat tire contest, still a blow out at 7-2. All day we road with a crosswind from the south west that sometimes gave assists but often provided a choppy and difficult ride. Riding was daunting departing Rush Center KS heading south on 183 for 19 miles. A local claimed we were headed into a 30 MPH headwind. After riding through it I thought it felt a little closer to 29 MPH :). But it was still difficult and kept us on the roads for a long time today.”

Today’s destination is Newton KS. I am pretty sure John has passed the halfway mark of his trip. Pretty amazing.

Some photos from today-