Day 39, Marshville to Ash Grove.

This dog followed Lisa and I for the longest of time. I finally out ran him and left Lisa to deal with it.

Horses are cool, I really like them a lot. Missouri and Kentucky has tons and tons of horses.

This is Marylin with Lisa, she stopped to talk story with us while we camped at the park.

The park was located right next to a cemetery. We slept not 20 yards from these graves.

Lisa and her new friend at the swimming pool at the park.

Some of the roads were flat, and some of them weren't.

Every town has one of these. The bigger towns have bigger ones. They hold water. So you can tell when a town is coming up when you see one of these.

Tiny farms are numerous along side the roads. This one was typical of what we saw.

That dog that was giving us so much trouble decided to kiss my camera lens as soon as I decided to take his picture.


Day 39, Friday, June 19, 2009. Marshville to Ash Grove, Missouri. “Hell In The Sun”. 49.26 miles.

We’ve been on the road for almost 40 days. And now that the Summer is fast approaching, I feel the effects of the heat. I never realized how devastating the heat can be when you aren’t prepared. I can train for the hills, I can train for long distances. I can even train for long hours in the saddle. But the heat, along with the high humidity is something I did not expect to be a major problem. Well, guess what? It is! Today was a perfect example of what can and will happen when dehydration starts to set in, and you can not replenish your fluids fast enough. I perspired more today than I think I’ve done in my entire life in such a short period. I could not drink enough water to replace what I lost, and I wasn’t even thinking about my electrolytes. After about 40 miles into the ride, I began experiencing muscle contractions, and a slight case of the cramps. It was my worse day so far. The heat felt like a blast furnace, and the hills were like mountains. No fun to say the least. I recall at dinner later on in the evening, that I couldn’t let go of my fork. I had to use my other hand to remove it., and when ever I positioned my legs a certain way, I could feel it starting to cramp up. We were in this Chinese Restaurant at the time called “The Golden Dragon” I didn’t think much of it at the time, I was just curious as to how a Chinese Restaurant made it’s way all the way to the middle of no where, And! How the food was going to taste. Let me tell you. A Mandarin combo plate for $4.99 is hard to beat. Especially if it is on par or better than any thing I’ve had anywhere. If you’re ever in Ash Grove. Don’t forget. “The Golden Dragon”.
Today we met Mike again, the west bounder we met earlier yesterday. He and his friends spent the night a few miles after Marshville. Due to miss communication, they had to ride another 7 miles after 8:30 in the evening to get to their destination. We never saw his buddies, but had a chance to talk story with Mike, and found out he just graduated from collage, and was looking to specialize if self sufficient living. You know, all that ecco stuff. I’m glad there are those like Mike trying to do something about our environment.
Shortly out of town, we passed a small ranch with a herd of cattle grazing next to the road. A dog emerged from the herd of cattle. I though it was a pit bull cause he stood there staring at us as we rode by. A couple of seconds latter, here comes this dog, running along side us. A puppy, maybe 8 or 9 months old. He was just so happy to be with us, that we couldn’t get um to go home. He must have followed us a good mile and a half, before I told Lisa that the only way we were going to loose him, was to out run him. With that, I took off. The dog kept up with me for at least a quarter mile, maybe more. But I was able to lose him on a long down hill section. It felt good going fast, so I kept going. I ended up missing a turn, and went about a mile in the wrong direction before looking at my GPS for our route. I had to go back.
I finally caught up with Lisa at a gas station in Ash Grove. This place only has about 4 or 5 hundred people. So everyone was really friendly. They all knew we were going to camp at the city park, and gave us directions. Officer Davis, a local police even stopped to make sure we were doing okay, and came back later on to check up on us. He told me that one day he would like to do what we are doing. It seems that just about everyone we meet, has an interest in perusing some kind of challenging goal in life, and look at us as fulfilling ours. Which is true. I’ve wanted to do this for quite sometime now, and after today, have serious doubts as to weather or not it was a good idea. Anyway please keep praying for us, we appreciate all your help……………….. Later in the evening, we had the chance to meet Marylin, a wheel chair bound elderly lady living near the park who was taking her dog out for a ride. She shared with us interesting things about the area, and really seemed to enjoy our company. She seemed very concerned for you comfort and well being. Thanks Marylin.
We also met Bret, an east bounder starting from Washington, who was on his was to Virginia. We shared a pavilion together for the evening. Bret was a bike mechanic, and a very friendly and interesting person to talk to. ……………… Just abut 7 o’clock, Brittney and George showed up. Two east bounders who had started from Pueblo, Colorado. They had just crossed Kansas, and we exchanged stories about the route ahead. It seemed that they had better news for us, than we had for them. Dinner at the Golden Dragon was the high light of our evening. A great meal at a great price in the middle of no where is always a good deal.
Good night, hope tomorrow will be better., Ted.

Day 38, Houston to Marshville, Missouri.

We stopped at this bridge and waited for this guy to hurt himself. He was actually jumping way higher than this, but by the time I got my camera out, he had mellowed down.

I think these are archery targets or something. They have these all over the place. Lance and Brian, come to Missouri with your bows.

This flower grows wild along side of the road. The look pretty neat. I didn't realize till I went close enough, that these are actually the same ones as below after they die.

Yep, these are the same flowers as above when alive.

Main Street in down town Ben Davis. Make sure you bring your horse and side arm.

Here's the restaurant with the all you can eat lunch buffet.

The road goes left, then it goes right. It goes up, then down, and then it goes straight. To get 10 miles, it usually takes us 15.

To make these archery targets, I'm assuming they first cut the hay, then let um dry, then roll um up some how real tight, and stick um into those plastic things. And I guess if you want one, you gotta bring a big truck or something.

We saw thousands of ponds like this through out our ride. Some big, some small, and some even had cows ion um.

Talking about cows, we saw these. They looked real mellow, and happy.

Now these guys know how to spend a hot summer day. Even if the didn't catch anything, at lease the were having fun. I bet there's beer in that cooler.


Day 38, Houston to Marshville, Missouri, "The Heat Is On!" 67.17 miles.

Have you ever wished you were doing something else, but couldn't because you had n choice? Have you ever wished you could just turn the channel of life to a better station where you were at the beach or something? That's exactly how I felt today. I'm only saying this because I want to set the ambiance, and try to relay how hard today's ride was. At least it was for me. I think it was the combination of the heat, not enough sleep, the hills, and the long mileage. Now that it's over, I don't feel a bit tired. So I guess a lot of that was a mental thing, but at the time, I sure felt it.

We left our motel at 7:30AM, and headed for McDonalds for breakfast. I wasn't that hungry, so I just had the biscuits and gravy, and a medium iced tea. We were on the road a little after 8:00AM. We knew it was going to be hot, but we would rather have it hot than thunder storm conditions. We did pretty well at first, covering over 30 miles before lunch. We ate at a small restaurant, in the town of Ben Davis. Really, I'm not making this up. If you look at the map, you'll find it. Both Lisa and I had the all you can eat lunch buffet for $4.99. That's right, all you can eat. With tip and cold drinks, we got away for under $15 bucks for the two of us. It's hill country again, not big ones, but a lot of um. More than you can count. I gave up after about 20, and that was just in the first hour. You just got to block them out of your mind, and pretend that you're on a tropical island sipping a cool something out of a coconut under a palm tree. Well, maybe that's pushing it. But you gotta get over it. Even if you're dragging 50 or 60 pounds of stuff behind you. Anyway, that's exactly what i did. But one thing you can't block out is the heat. The heat is, well; Hot! Even if you could forget about it, the sweat running down your face and back, is a constant reminder. The stops today were few and far between. A couple of the small towns didn't have a store, and one that supposed to have one, had closed down. We ended up stopping in front of this church, and I walked around looking for someone to see if we could get some water. No one was there, but I did find a spigot with a hose attached to it that worked. Unlike on Molokai, none of the buildings I've seen has hose Bib's. That's faucets for those of you not into blue print reading.

All in all, we survived, and we never cried once. When we finally got to Marshville, it was close to six o'clock. We had to change our accommodation arrangements due to unseen circumstances. And ended up at The Holiday Inn Express. Nice place, big room, with all the comforts of home. Even wifi, and just as important, a guest laundry room. Looks like Pizza Hut for dinner tonight. They are right next door. Aloha, thanks for everything, Ted.

Below is a video clip of Lisa attacking hill #2,837.

Day 37, Eminence to Houston, Missouri.

This is a fire tower. I guess that's what you call it. They climb up there and look for smoke in the surrounding country side.

Looking down. That's my foot on the edge.

That thing is 200 feet tall.

Alley Springs Mill, they used to grind flour here in the1800's. They expected a rail road to come through here, and figured that would be the way for transporting the product. I guess they forgot to tell the rail road.

These are a little different than the ones back home. I used close focus with wide aperture.

The sign says, "Climb tower at own risk". So I did.

The sunset tonight just before dinner. In these parts, the sun lingers above the horizon a long time. In Hawaii, it's gone as soon as it hits the horizon.


Some nature photography to sooth your other wise stressed out lives.

The bridge over the Alley Springs river.

This trail led all the way around Alley Springs. I was able to get shots from every angle around the spring.

It looks so tranquil, but there is 86,000,000 gallons a day gushing out of there.

This is the beginning of the river that is formed by the Alley Spring.

I used a hand held slow shutter to get this water movement effect. Do not try this at home with out proper super vision.

The inside of the mill. These are the original equipment, restored by the NPS.

The Alley Spring from the back door of the mill.

These flowers are tiny, only about an inch long. They grow wild along side the road.

I used my creativity to capture images that would other wise look like this.

Or this,
Or even this.

But definitely not this.

Or this.
We crossed another river on the way to Alley Springs. There were people on canoes, and rafts floating.

I shot this with my point and shoot. But the carving of that eagle was really impressive.

The Rivers Edge. Next time I'm in Eminence, I'm going to stay here. At least that's what I told the owner.

The bridge next to our motel in Eminence. We had to cross it every time we wanted to eat.

There were a whole bunch of these humming birds at the store we bought our snacks at. I took dozens of pictures of them. They were no more that 6 or 8 feet from me.

The J & K's Trails End Restaurant. Notice the curtains. They are made of old denim jeans, cut off. The sides are full length. The belt loops serve as eyelets for the curtain rod.


Day 37, Eminence to Houston, Missouri. "Alley Springs". 45.07 miles. Total=1511.9 miles.

Today was hot. Really Hot! At 2:30 in the afternoon, it was 96 deg. But with the humidity, it felt like 102 according to the Weather Channel............... We left Eminence at 8:45am this morning. We knew it was going to be hot. There was no wind, and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. We skipped breakfast, opting to stop and pick up snacks to eat when we got the urge. It would be over 20 mile before we come to a town big enough for a restaurant.

Alley Springs is a National Park. I've seen pictures of the mill, and the pond. I knew that it was a must see, because people we met kept telling us to be sure to stop there. And boy let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The five miles to Alley Springs turned out to be seven. In the hot sun, it seemed more like fifteen. I guess the DOT guys aren't too concerned about where they put those signs. Maybe there wasn't any room, could be the tree they were going to nail it to fell down, or maybe they just lost track of time. I know the feeling, it happens to me all the time.

Anyway, about a half a mile from Alley Springs, we stopped at the only store we saw all day. It was one of those everything stores. They sold beer, food, fishing supplies, you name it. As I pulled in to park my bike, I noticed all these big moths flying around these bird feeders filled with water. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were actually humming birds. And plenty of them. I took out my camera, and started shooting. I must have taken fifteen or twenty shots. I've never seen humming birds before, not to mention so many. I considered myself fortunate to have that special encounter. They were hovering but a few feet from me, and allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted.

Once on our way again, we were immediately greeted by: You guessed it, a hill. One of those should I be in my middle ring? Or should I drop down into my small ring? I decided to stay in the middle ring till I couldn't stand it any more. Luckily for me, the hill gave out before I did, and before long, we were at the top of the Ozarks. We met two east bounders flying down the hill as we were climbing. One of um yell what sounded like, "Down hill to Houston". It was either a cruel joke, or I miss understood him completely. The rest of the day was actually not too bad. Aside the scorching heat, that forced us to reapply sunblock, the terrain was relatively flat, with continuous rolling sections. Did that make any sense to anybody? Don't feel bad, if I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't have understood it either.

Lisa said, "Ted, do you see that?" "See what?", I replied. "That thing over there." She answered. "You mean that tower?" I asked. "Yeah!" was her reply. "You can climb that if you want." she said............................. Now I don't know about you, but when somebody tells you that you can climb up a two hundred foot tower, and refuse to go up there themselves. I make you wonder if it's a good idea. When we got there, we pulled up to the thing, and there was no one around. Not even a fence, or gate. The sign at the foot of the stairs read. "Climb tower at own risk". Well, at least I wasn't breaking any law. So O went for it. Now I don't know if any of you realize how high two hundred feet is. Full grown pine trees are only about a hundred feet tall. Most flag poles are only 20 to 25 feet tall. The biggest waves in the world are about a hundred feet tall, but no one has ever seen one. Two hundred feet is the height of the clearance of Golden Gate Bridge at low tide. Any way, I'm glad Lisa gave me that opportunity to risk my life once more, who know what else she has planned for me?

Once I got down, and many pictures later, we had our snack before moving on. About an hour and a half later we rolled into the town Sumersville. Both the towns of Yukon, and Eunice we passed through earlier were so small, they didn't even have a soda machine.
We found a restaurant that a local lady recommended. "J & K's Trails End" A strange name for a restaurant, but they had food, and that's all that counts. I had the BBQ hamburger with fries. By the time we got out of the restaurant, the heat was so intense, that I was tempted to call it a day right then. But being the only man on this journey, I had to show the group (Lisa), why I was me.

We only had 23 more miles to go till Houston. And the terrain was less and less hilly as we went along. Once again the DOT guys couldn't decide where to put that sign, and it actually only turned out to be a little over 21 miles. As we pulled into Houston, we found that the "Iron Creek Motel" was closed for business. This was devastating. We've heard so much about this place, and the Indian horse trainer that owned it. Well, time to look else where. Of course you all know that when stuff like this happens, you always end up taking a wrong turn and end up on the other side of town. Well we are no different. That's exactly what we did. After asking about a place to stay and directions, we were pointed in the direction of the Southern Inn Motel. Be fore going any further, I suggested that we go into the "Moose Coffee" for a cold one. I ordered the mocha blend, and so did Lisa. When we went to pay, the lady at the counter said. "No charge, it's on the house." They give cyclists free drinks. Unbelievable. We saved almost ten bucks. And they do that for all touring cyclists.

After leaving the "Moose Coffee", we headed in the direction given us by the guy in the appliance store. "Keep going south, and if you reach Pizza Hut, you've gone too far." With that, we were confident in finding it. So tonight, we have shelter from the uncertain weather, wifi, and a hot shower.

Dinner will either be Pizza Hut or McDonalds, right now I would eat anything. Good night everybody, thank you all again, your prayers have helped us through stormy days, and busy highways.

Day 36, Rest Day, Eminence, Missouri.

The Riverside Motel. Our home for the night. They have an indoor swimming pool and wifi.

Captain Jacks, a neat little coffee shack where i went to get my morning fix.

That's Lisa next to me, the owner of the shop. And her mom in the flowered shirt who gave us the fried apricot pie.

The ceiling fans in the Winfield Restaurant was run by pulleys all connected together powered by a motor on the far side. I've never seen anything like that.

These ducks were kicking back on the beach of the river. I was thinking about going down to get a closer look. But some one told me those things attack.

The morning sky before the heavy rain. It looked really bad.

One of the biker hostels. This one was closed for the season.

The City Hall in 'Eminence had all these flags honoring the solders in the war. Each flag had a name on it honoring their own.

The jail house. I just had to include this shot.


Day 36, Rest Day, Eminence, Missouri. "Let The Rain Pass".

It felt good to be out of the stormy weather for our rest day. The thunder and lightning yesterday really was scary at times. And we were really happy to have made it here in one piece.

We met Sam this morning. He is part of a three person supported team that started in San Fransisco on their way to Yorktown, Virginia. They were traveling light, and fast. Averaging 102 miles a day, and was on a tight schedule to make it to the east coast by mid July. He came over to chat with Lisa and I, and to find out what the route looked like ahead. Sam is an attorney, and had decided that it was now or never for this long awaited dream. As we talked, we found we had a few things in common. We both were in the Air Force, and we both were stationed at Mather AFB in California. We are also avid cyclist, and are doing one of the things in life that has been a dream for the longest of time. While the rain poured down, and the looks of things not so good, we passed the time exchanging past experiences. It was exciting to hear the stories of near disasters as they made their way eastward across the 'rocky Mountains. Once the rain subsided, they were on their way, in hopes the weather would hold out for them. Lisa and I had no intention of leaving till tomorrow which promised better weather. We made our way across the river to the town of Eminence to look for a place to have lunch. We were dressed accordingly knowing that the threat of rain was still eminent.

We found an old restaurant called The Winfield Restaurant. It was very quaint, and there was no one in the place. I ordered the Swiss mushroom burger with fries. It was actually pretty good. After leaving the place, we went into a couple of the antique shops just to kill some time. It was like walking back through time. There were some really old stuff for sale, like relics from the past. Any thing from wanted posters, to old lanterns, and artifacts. At one shop, I saw an "Official Leatherman" sign on the door, and went in to see if I could find one that would replace the one I broke a few weeks earlier. They had a whole show case full of those things, and choosing one wasn't that easy. Of course I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, so I narrowed my choice to the ones under $100.00. I found one that I liked, called The Skeletool. The thing was compact, had everything I wanted, and really well made. I thought it was well worth the $80.00 asking price, and got it. The owner of the shop was named Lisa, her mom happened to be there, and offered Lisa and I some fried apricot pie. I've never had it before, but let me tell you, it was great. Lisa even offered us a bottle of water to wash it down. After spending some time talking with them, we went outside to find the sun blaring down with a vengeance. It was now about 90 degrees, an I was way over dressed.

we headed back to our motel to shed some of the clothing, and planned to go down to the river to cool off. But that never happened. Once back at the motel, I layed down and fell asleep. It was almost five when i got up.

All in all it was a pleasant day, I hope tomorrow will be a nice one. We'll be in Houston, Missouri by late afternoon. Good night, Ted.