Saturday, May 9, 2009

Ottawa, KS to Harrisonville, MO

60 miles. The traffic was fairly heavy from Ottawa to Louisburg (first 36 miles), our lunch stop, and the road (Hwy 68) had little or no paved shoulder so we really couldn't pay much attention to the scenery. There were quite a few steep drops into and climbs out of creek drainages, one last surprise from Kansas as we left the state.

We stopped at a McDonald's (the first one we've seen since Pueblo, CO, over 600 miles ago), where we had double cheese burgers (Penny ate two, a first). We met a woman there who was on her way to Pittsburg (that's in Kansas folks, not Pennsylvania) to surprise her husband who was riding from LA to NY with a couple of other guys. She said they were averaging about 100 miles a day, but had a motor home following behind carrying their gear. That didn't sound like much fun to us, although it does eliminate the 'no place to stay' problem and the risk of enduring storms/breaking down in the middle of nowhere. We don't at all regret not doing this trip that way however. Plus we don't know anyone who could take several months off to "sag" for us in that manner anyway. In many ways not having such a "safety net" is good as it forces us to adapt as conditions warrant - such as ducking into someone's barn or under an overpass for cover from a storm, or using duct tape to hold together a problem wheel (both of which we had to do on our last trip). Sometimes you don't know what you can accomplish until you are forced to address the matter.

Once we crossed into Missouri everything got better. The road was much wider, smoother and had a wide paved shoulder. The weather, which was cool and overcast, also improved - the sun came out and it warmed up. Best of all, we could actually enjoy the scenery without fear of being rattled by turbulence from passing 18 wheelers.

Our motel ($40 per night, includes two towels and one tiny bar of soap) is located several miles from Harrisonville. Walking into town from here isn't really feasible, so dinner is again at an adjacent C-store. They have sub sandwiches and beer though, which is pretty much all we need. Tomorrow will be a relatively short (40 mile) ride into Clinton where we will take a much- deserved rest day after 9 straight days on the bike. Yeah!

Country home

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Highway to heaven

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Missouri farm

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Roadside scene near Freeman, MO

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Got 'er done pic #2

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Got 'er done pic #1

As usual, there was no one around to take a picture of both of us together.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry