Day 23 Houston to Marshfield

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Miles 74.3     Total 1431.02   Daily Avg 62.02

Avg Speed 14.3   Max speed 39.2   Alt gain 4219 ft

Spent a quiet evening in Houston, ate a big dinner, all you can eat BBQ Missouri ribs. After dinner we watched a beautiful sunset from the motel.

Left the hotel at 7:15 with plans for some good mileage. Leaving Houston, we rode along the crest of some small mountains looking out on both sides to the valleys below. There was a slight breeze which had been absence the past few days. The breeze blowing across the fields of green pasture grass with the cows and horses grazing offered a picture postcard start to the day.

We were making great progress until we hit Hartville at 34 miles. The dreaded “Detour” sign. Three bridges were being replaced over the next 6 miles on Route 38. We would have to detour and add an additional ten miles to our day. We entered the alphabet soup of Missouri road names. Hopefully we would not get lost and start playing “Wheel of Fortune” attempting to pick which route to take. Our detour consisted of bearing right on V, left on F, right on V, right on C, left on P back to Rt 38. Pedaling up a hill along Rt P, we were greeted by a gentleman waiting by his mailbox. He was visiting his mother and saw us approaching. He invited us in to his mother's home to fill our water bottles with ice and water. I continue to be amazed at the everyday acts of human kindness people display.

As we entered Hartsville we met Joe, a young student from Syracuse doing a solo trip on the TransAmerica then connecting to the Western Express into San Francisco. We meet again at the campsite for the evening.

Tonight we are camping in a Marshfield City Park. The park is located ¼ miles from the downtown in a residential area.  The county fairgrounds are located across the street. They leave the fairgrounds unlocked all night so we can use the showers and restroom. We have the use of the city pool in the park and are able to observe a local 4H club is dairy cow competition at the fairgrounds.

MO sunset

Straight , but not flat roads

You know you are in Amish country