Day 18 Eminence to Piedmont What Goes Down Must Go Up

49.55 miles, 4:08 hours, 11.96 average


Our average was the worst today as we rode the hardest part of the Ozarks. There were several pretty darn steep hills, up out of the many river valleys. We came up with our Bicycle Theory of Gravity: What goes down must go up. Our early start again paid off, and by 9:30 am the big hills were behind us. In Ellington after 25 miles, we found a cafe for a break, cherry pie this time. Out of Ellington, we climbed a very long minor grade hill, something different for a change, and a couple short and steep. Then we had the luxury of about 20 miles of rolling countryside, through valleys, separated by a few hills, before dropping down into the Piedmont area and the Clearwater Lake. We opted for a cabin as the weather forecast is for rain. We don't mind the rain, but is just harder getting an early start. Tomorrow...our last day in Missouri?

Day17 - Lazy on the Jack's Fork River

It rained last night. Seems we just have to set up the tent and moisture appears from the sky. But this morning it is clearing and we decide to give up the usual yogurt, granola bar, juice from a box breakfast and drive into Eminence for breakfast and coffee! Back at Jack's Fork River we order up three kayaks for a 3 hour float down the river. They pick us up in camp and take us to the put in point. The fellow takes off the kayaks and oars, throws down the life vests and says goodby! No safety instruction, no beware of this or that, nothing just gone. Luckily we have kayaked before but to tell the truth the river is very low and there are times we have to scootch our bodies/kayaks over gravel areas and a couple of times we even portage!



But it is wonderfully lazy, very pretty and we do see lots of bird life. Actually one of the most fascinating are the vultures! Big very black turkey vultures in large flocks resting until we float by and disturb them. We also see 3 belted kingfishers, several green herons, several great blue herons, osprey, American black ducks, soft shelled turtles, red eared turtles, and Kit gets the ultimate....a beaver swimming underwater right by her raft. What fun to take a day to enjoy the natural wonders of the area, and have a chance to cool off in the water.

Yum, dinner of pork chops with rosemary, yams, and grilled portabella mushrooms! GREAT.

Day 16 Houston to Alley Spring/Eminence Deep In the Hills

45.56 miles, 3:38 hours, 12:52 average

We got a very early start, before 7am after a stay in an old, but very nicely refurbished motel in Houston, and a great steak dinner. We are trying to get most of our miles out of the way before noon as it just gets too darn hot and humid. Icky, Sticky, we are just sweaty or sticky 24 hours a day, wishing for our dry climate of home.

It was cool and beautiful early in the morning, and not a bad ride despite the hills. We must be getting used to them. At mile 17 we stopped for our "banana break". I think I saw a red headed woodpecker. I saw something red fly into a tree and something black and white fly out from the same spot, so that's my deduction! And a bluebird later in the morning.

Green fields, barns, goats protected by dogs, one a white great pyrennees. At 9am we were in Summersville for a cup of coffee, scrambled eggs, and rhubarb raspberry pie. Pies and cinnamon rolls are the first things we ask about now when entering a restaurant for our morning snack. These baskets, made by local Amish, sell for next to nothing here.


On to Alley Spring in 14 miles. The old mill is quite a beautiful building. The spring puts out an average of 81 million gallons a day into a 6ft deep by 150 feet wide pool, with not a ripple, then comes cascading down the gates at the waterwheel. This particular waterwheel, instead of powering the grindstone directly, powered a turbine that powered the grindstone and produced electricity to run a few lights. The old machinery and storage bins were fascinating.





Sorry, no photo of the beautiful building, maybe we'll add it later.

Then we were off again, just down the street to inquire about kayak rentals. We are in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, with the Jack's Fork and Current Rivers. We decided to stay another night, do some touring by car this afternoon, and play on the river tomorrow. Since it was still early in the day, we thought we would get a few more miles down the road on our bikes, first, as the next riding day would be the hardest in these here hills. So off we rode as Bill went to set up camp in the National Park Service campground. He was to pick us up later, after what we hoped would be another 13 miles. Well, we only made it 5 miles, a bit beyond Eminence. It was just too darn hot to be doing the hills, we were ready to explode from the heat!


Bill came for us and the bikes and we were off to Rocky Falls and Big Spring. The falls were very pretty, but the direction of the sun didn't allow for good snapshots. We were actually more amazed by the 7 different kinds of butterflies in a small area near the edge of the pond, perhaps enjoying some minerals from the mud.



On to Big Springs, this one producing a daily average of 215 million gallons a day.

Day 15 Marshfield to Houston A Really Really Good Day

67.21 miles, 5:11 hours, 12.95 average.

We awoke at 5:30 in order to make the drive back to Marshfield and get an early start for our anticipated 67 mile day. We unloaded the bikes off the car and ran into Walmart for a few supplies, then on the road by 7:15. The big orange rising sun was in our eyes, almost making us miss a turn which could have made for a longer day. The mist on the fields and in the valleys was beautiful this relatively cool early morning. The ride to Hartville 30 miles away had only moderate hills, and as the day wore on the tall trees along a good part of the road provided welcome shade.





We stopped at a cafe in Hartville and split a delicious cinnamon roll, then by 10:00 were off again. Old, abandoned and occupied homes and barns of stone and wood offered great sights, as well as rolling green hills. Birdsongs filled the air. The next leg of 19 miles to Bendavis were a bit harder, but still pretty and lots of fun on the roller coaster hills. The clerk at the convenience-food and feed-store in Bendavis, population 7, said he has seen about 400 cyclists this summer, but the numbers are getting low as the cycling season winds down. In 1976 when Adventure Cycling offered a Centennial coast to coast tour, their guest book noted about 10,000 cyclists!

The last 18 miles were moderate, but the heat and miles were tiring us. Still, we arrived at our motel in Houston by 2:15 in plenty of time to relax and get caught up on our blogs. A great steak dinner with Helen's brownies for dessert ended the day.


We have gone 796 miles so far, more that 1/3 of the anticipated total, and probably about 1/3 of the total days. Tomorrow we look forward to a short day to Alley Springs, about 37 miles, but will try to get on the road by 7 to take advantage of the early morning cooler temperatures, arriving early in the day to enjoy the area.

Day 14 REST DAY

We rested, the end.

No, actually there is a bit of a story. We slept in until 7:30, and enjoyed Helen's regular Sunday breakfast of waffles, yumm! Next was laundry, bike cleaning, catching up on our journals, and looking at the maps planning for the days ahead.


Carl showed off his "man cave" full of windsurfers, motorcycles and project cars. Here's an old custom-made windsurfer with beautiful graphics.



The grand finale was a two hour massage each. Thank you so very much, Annette, for canceling your regular clients and coming to the house; you did a fantastic job easing our sore muscles. We enjoyed a great spaghetti dinner with our wonderful hosts, packed the car as much as we could in anticipation of our early departure in the morning.

Day 13, Everton to Marshfield or Be Careful What You Wish For

Miles: 54 Time: 4 hour 25 minutes Average: 12mph

As we are getting really to leave our comfortable retreat at Running Springs Farm, Bill Cork and Gertie come to say good by to us. In the background is some of the switch grass that Bill has planted as cover and food for the upland birds that he raises there: quail, chukar, pheasant and clay pigeons too (for those who need to practice.) He, Bill Cork that is, has warned us that the hills between there and Walnut Grove "really suck". He is right and as we struggle up and over and down and up and over again only to go down and up an over we are reminded that while we were in the flats of Kansas we were wishing for some topography......we got it! Even Bill in the car was startled by how almost straight up and then straight down some of them were. However, when we got to the rollers where you could get enough speed on the descent to carry you over (or almost over) the next hill it was great fun!

Our host, Bill had warned us that as we came into the actual village of Everton that we should look for this cabin which was William Penn's house and also the first court house. However it was on a down hill with and up hill coming and we didn't stop, we just kept on going with the momentum. Thank you, our Bill, for taking this great photo.

It was a tough day- hot, humid and hilly, and Bill picked us up at the Walmart in Marshfield to we drove to Carl and Helen Votaw's home on Fellow's Lake north of Springfield. It was a welcome sight to see their lovely home and know that we were going to have a layover day here, the first in 7 days! It was also a welcome sight to see Carl and Helen waiting for us on the front porch.

After showering and settling in we take off for the Votaw's Tour of the area starting with the lake and marina where we feed the carp. This was actually most amazing as you see 20 or 30 gaping mouths coming up out of the water at you.



But this is where the tour goes sour. Helen accidentally knocks the car keys into the frenzy of feeding fish! But it is OK, as she has a spare. Then the car doesn't start......out of gas! Carl goes to their house nearby to get more gas. The car still doesn't start. After many tries and quite some time, Martha calls Chris, car mechanic extraordinaire, and while Carl and Chris have a good time talking the car still does not start. We end up giving up our tour and going straight for a great Mexican food dinner in Springfield and then straight home and to bed. Martha and I are exhausted.

Day 12, Pittsburg, KS to Everton, MO - we finally leave KS behind

miles: 54, Riding Time: 4hrs, Average: 13.21mph

We get a good start at 7:40 and are eager to enter a new state when 5 miles down the road Martha gets a flat. A big pointy rock stuck in her tire. No problem, it is a great day. Bill shows off the Show Me State Sign.

Along the way we see the beautiful big white mushrooms that we have been passing for day. A testament to all the rain that this area had received this season. And Bill takes a ride on a tractor but he isn't getting far. Western Missouri looks a lot like Eastern Kansas and we feel we are still in KS with it's rolling terrain, farmland, silos and wind.

Then, suddenly we are back in Kansas for real! Oh, no! We were riding along merrily when we stopped to look at the cutest goats, several of which were looking quite cozy in a trough that seemed to be completely comfortable for them. We take several pictures and Kit wonders if she can get one on the back of her bike as we take off on the road again.



Then it hit, Kit's bike started going, chur-clunk, chur-clunk. Kit makes several lame attempts to correct the problem which is obviously in the chain but nothing works. Just as we get out the cell phone (thank goodness for cell phones!) to call Bill, he drives up. So we load bikes and head back to Pittsburg which has the only bike shop for miles around. The problem is the chain and it doesn't take long to fix but while waiting Kit and Martha try out some new recumbent bikes for possible trade in. Notice that Kit's has a front head lamp!

Back on the road we pass some funky "buildings" that remind us of the Taos area. If you can't tell from the photo, there are shot gun holes in the FORD sign and the small rectangular sign says "Thief's Beware of Mad Owner.

We also pass many old silos that are in disrepair and some, like this old one, with vines growing on them or even trees growing out of them. This farmer must be doing pretty well however as he has a new metal silo right next to it. We also pass many churches, but this one is probably the most unique. We wonder if the services are given by a pastor on horseback?

The terrain gets more undulating and there are starting to become some challenging hills. We realize this is just the beginning of the famous Ozark Hills. Happily we finally arrive at our nights rest. The air conditioned cottage at Running Springs Farm and Preserve where Bill, our congenial host, has an upland bird hunting operation but also caters to trans american bicyclist.