Author: Jeff Morin

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-

9/18/17

Eads, CO > Scott City

Miles Ridden – 104.8

Mileage to date – 1,816.8

Yesterday’s destination was Scott City.  So many possibilities for blog titles and I came up with “Beam me up Scotty”?!  Just call it blog fatigue on my part.

Unlike many of the other small towns, John has ridden through the Wikipedia entry for Scott City is quite thorough.  Perhaps folks have a little more time on their hands there?  I leave for you to be the judge.  Among the many tidbits on Scott City from Wikipedia –

“Scott City was founded in 1885  Like Scott County, the city is named in recognition of a United States General, Winfield Scott Before developing into a city, Scott City was in a land ruled by Pueblo Indians. In October 1884, two women from Chicago, Illinois claimed the land that Scott City is on and built a cabin. The following February, two men from Chicago came to the cabin and settled. Soon after, many people started arriving in the county and Scott City was then founded in 1885.”

There seems to be no shortage of things to do there –

·         “Beefiesta is held yearly to celebrate the beef industry in Scott County, one of the largest cattle feeding counties in the state. The Beefiesta BBQ is held on the opening day of the Scott County Free Fair immediately following the parade.”

·         “Every July 4, fireworks are provided on the south side of town.”

·         “One weekend every fall, the Sunflower Futurity and Derby is held at the Scott City Indoor Arena. Barrel Racers compete against a few hundred others. Open Barrel Race, Seniors Barrel Race, and Juniors & Pee-Wee Barrel Races are put on as well as the actual barrel races.”

Beefiesta and barrel races what could be more fun?

The mascot for the local high school is the beaver.  A giant welded beaver is on display at the football field and Wikipedia describes it as “a true destination”. Upon learning about the welded beaver I urgently texted John to let him know what was in store for him.  Sadly he did not share my excitement.

I guess when you ride your bicycle 105 miles the last thing you want to do is ride around looking for a giant welded beaver!

Or perhaps he was tired from the night before?

Per John –

“Last night we camped in the Eads town park. Around 2:30 in the morning the sprinklers turned on for about 30 minutes raining on both tents. We all learned that are tents are, in fact, waterproof. I was sleepy all day because of that.”

The other big news for the day is that they are in a new state and a new time timezone. John said the riding was good today but there was not too much to look at it. He also said they sky was amazing because it seemed so huge.

Pictures from today-

9/17/17

Pueblo, CO > Eads, CO

Miles Ridden – 116.4

Mileage to date – 1,712

Perhaps this should have titled “Egads he is in Eads”?  Too rhymey I think.  In any case, John was back in action yesterday with Jaime and Heather after a well deserved rest day.  The terrain is flatter for the coming days so John and team decided to celebrate by riding 116 miles!  The made good time, but that is still a lot of riding in one day.

Speaking of trains, Eads (population 609) per wikipedia “was established in 1887 as a railroad town and was named after James Buchanan Eads, a structural engineer with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, who designed and built the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis in 1874″.  That is pretty much all Wikipedia has to say on Eads.  Not a lot going on there as you can tell by the photos.

John spent the night camping in the town park.  He should be in Kansas tomorrow and apparently many of the towns in Kansas on the route also allow camping in the town park by cyclists.

John’s account of the day –

“The day started cool and overcast and the skies cleared as the ride unfolded.  All in all, a great weather day for a bike ride thru eastern Colorado.  While the terrain was flat we still managed to climb 1650 vertical feet over the course of the day.  We were all a bit surprised to discover 2 of the towns did not have convenience stores as the map suggested making all of our water supplies a bit tight for the end of  the ride into Eads.”

Yesterday was the first day in quite a while without the services of Ethan the friendly sag wagon driver.   John and team are back to carrying their own gear on the bikes.  Hopefully as they get further east the towns with services will be closer together.

Photos from yesterday –

 

 

 

Westcliffe, CO > Pueblo, CO

Miles Ridden – 51.1

Mileage to date – 1,595.6

Per John, today was an easy day and a well deserved one at that.  He dropped nearly 3,000 feet in elevation day on the ride to Pueblo.  I am sure it was nice to have an easy day after so much climbing and long days of riding in the past few weeks.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  By my count, John has ridden the past 23 days straight without a break.  I think a rest day is long overdue.

This was the view to the west that greeted John and crew this morning –

Yep, that is snow up there.  They got over Monarch Pass in the nick of time.

My apologies to John, I did jinx him yesterday by talking about how he had not gotten a flat on the new tires.  At the end today when he reached Pueblo he had a flat tire….sorry.

John did manage to stop by the Pueblo Post Office to pick up the maps for the next section of the trip that Cindy and I had mailed out.

Here are some photos from the last couple of days –

I have no idea what this is, but I think it is an example of the stuff you are willing to eat when bicycling all day –

I am not sure if this is a real fire department or not, but the “closed” sign does not give me a warm fuzzy –