Monday,
July 2. Marthasville, MO to North Jefferson City, MO. 65 miles of riding in
4:46 hrs of riding.
Another
really hot day. Hey, at this point I’m just expecting it to continue from here
to eternity. That’s our fate unfortunately – us as well as every other poor
soul who’s cycling and hiking across the US this summer. This heat wave is just
going to make it a very “memorable” experience.
Got
up and did my Groundhog day thing – rising at 5 AM and working for a bit until
Judy got up and then eating breakfast and then getting to the end point of the
previous day, and then riding. Day in day out. Different day, different town or
city – but the same freaking weather. So we got rolling at 6:45 AM with Judy
riding with me for 1.5 hr out. The temp was fairly good – 71 degree – and
really no one but a very few actually using the trail. Now that we’re further
away from the big cities we’re seeing way less people out here. In some spots
you can ride for at least an hour and not see a soul. Now this is a flat trail,
but actually…it’s a 265-mile false flat going east to west and a false descent
doing west to east. Riding east to west, you’re riding up-stream along the
Missouri and then when the trail branches off of the Missouri, it’s still a
false flat reaching the highest point on the trail somewhere between Sedelia
and Clinton. So you can really feel the false flat in places. I got a chuckle
out of Judy telling me that she felt like we were climbing. And I’m like, “well
hell yes we’re climbing, we’ll be climbing the whole time we’re on this trail.”
It’s subtle, but you can definitely feel it – especially when a headwind is
blowing in your face.
We
were shaded for a good part of the first hour, so the sun was really no problem.
But slowly, as it rose in the sky, those shards of shade got fewer and fewer.
By the time Judy turned around at the 1.5 hr mark, that sun was just up there
blazing away as usual, with occasional long patches of shade when the trail
entered woodlands. But get on the floodplain out amongst all those miles of
cornfields you’re out there in the sun just getting cooked like a hotdog on a
rotisserie. Now we are both going sans helmets while riding on the trail, so
the sweat dripping down the forehead is not quite as bad as it is with a helmet
on. But still, I’m like wiping my head, temples, nose and brow like a
windshield wiper. It’s just that hot and humid.
Stopped
at several of the Lewis & Clark kiosks to read up on their expedition along
the river, but it got to the point to where it was so hot, and many of the
kiosks were in the blazing sun, that I just continued to ride rather than stop.
When I stopped to read, the sweat just started pouring off of my like a faucet.
It was annoying to say the least, so I eventually bagged the last few kiosks in
leu of just keeping the pedals moving and the air moving across my body.
Now most all of the towns I went through, Mckittrick,
Rnineland, Buffton, they’re all just these tiny little towns with very little
going on. Like Mckittrick had a population sign that read 79. Small little
hamlets for sure. Bluffton, it was so small that there was not even a pop sign.
Now I planned on calling Judy about 3:10 hrs into the ride just to make sure
she was ok. But on the first try there was zero cell coverage in these little
towns. I rode another several miles and tried, up to like Mokane and I got her
with 1G and 1 bar.
So
I’d noticed that there was a detour on Rt 94, that I just rode right through on
the trail (Rt 94 parallels the trail in this section), but she was going to
have something coming up on the road. I told her it looked pretty mellow, maybe
like a mile out of the way from what I could see, and that I’d just meet her
for some support in the town of Tebbetts. Got to Tebbetts and I was just
totally parched, having gone through all my water. Luckily I had been there
last year in the same circumstance and found out there was this “Katy Trail
Refuge” place in town where you can just get a key that hangs on a telephone pole,
and go inside and get water or stay the night for 5 bucks. I got the key,
unlocked the place, hit the nearest faucet, and just hammered several bottles
of water from the faucet to quench my thirst. Then I went out in the shade at a
picnic table and called Jude. Well, that little 1-mile detour that I had told
her about was like a 30-40-mile detour. And she was having a hell of a time
getting around. So we just decided that I’d wait in Tebbetts for her. And I
waited and waited and like 30 min went by. Nothing.
Called
again and she said it was just a nightmare, and she was still many miles away.
So I just told her to take it all the way west once back on 94 to North
Jefferson and I’d ride the final 12 miles with no support. Heck, I’d done like
the same damned thing last year in some intense heat, might as well do it
again. So I locked up the Katy Trail Refuge and got it rolling again for the
final trek. Now I’d been fighting a wind out of the SW when I entered the open
areas for the better part of the late morning onward, and it was a bit of a
witch. But by this time, I was really feeling it. Come out of the woodlands and
hit the open floodplain, and it hits you like a brick wall, with my speed going
from 15 mph to like 11 or 12. That’s how big a factor it is when you have no
cover at all. So I was always looking forward to seeing the trail enter the
woodlands where I’d have shade and a windbreak. Pressed on and then counted
down the mile markers as I did the final 5 miles.
And
I just knew the way the day was going that when I got to the North Jefferson
Trailhead that Judy would not be there. And as I pulled in – my hunch was dead
on. No black van in sight. First things first – I guzzled down 2-3 bottles of
water from the drinking fountain at the trailhead. Then I called Judy. She was
right there, but she couldn’t figure out how to negotiate around the freeways
that surround the trailhead entrance. And I can’t blame her. Nothing is marked
and it’s just a maze of dirt and paved roads all around the interstates. So I
just asked if she could see this giant company call ABB or something like that,
it’a a big brown bldg that you can see off both the trail and Rt 94. She
indicated that she was just next to it. So I rode backwards with that wonderful
tailwind and the false descent for a half mile and met her in the parking area
of this massive company. She was parked under a solitary tree for some shade
relief in the 100+ degree heat.
I
guzzled an ice cold coke and another water bottle that had been in the ice
chest. Got in a couple of pbj’s that Judy made for me, and then we drove to the
north, across the Missouri River to Jefferson City for a motel. First checked
out this Budget Inn for 44 bucks, but it was just a total dump of a place with
these rooms that looked to be more of a flop house than a motel. Scary looking
and I don’t know if I’d have solod in that one. Pretty creepy. Nope, and up the
road we went to a Super 8, and then a Motel 6, for 50 bucks. Done. Clean rooom,
wifi, cable, AC, refrig, microwave. I’m down with that. Hell, camping is at
least 25 bucks, so we’re good here. So back to another 7-9 hrs of chilling in
the AC with me working on the computer and I’m teaching Judy how to use the
Kindle with the wifi and google searching.
We’ll
do a Subway in a few and then come back to the AC refuge. Shorter day to
Boonville tomorrow – probably like a 50-60-mile day. The forecast is for more
of the same: over 100 degrees for the next week. The fun just never ends!
Late……..pete
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