Day 36 - Willow Springs, MO to Carbondale, IL

67 Miles / Day 36 of 50 / Willow Springs, MO to Carbondale, IL

We woke up ready to ride. A night of luxuries of a hotel room (AC, shower, continental breakfast) quickly reminded us what life outside of a 4 by 6 tent was like. Talk about a refreshing reminder.

The mighty Mississippi.

We filled up our wattle bottles and were sitting at our first stop light of the day when Jack said "Uhhh, Seth you're tire looks flat."

Now before I beat the dead horse and share some bike problems I need to take a minute to shine some light on the positive. My back tire, the Achilles heel of our trip, has made it over 1200+ miles (since Colorado) with no issues what so ever. Turned out my air stem had bent and was leaking. Easy fix. One new tube and 20 minutes later and we were on the road.

Don't forget to eat your spinach.

Lesson #76: Pay more now, and end up paying less over the long haul. Pay less now, and end up paying more for it in the end.

As we fixed the tube Jack and I talked about how nice it's been to not have rear wheel issues the last thousand miles or so. In Salida, CO I had my back tire restrung and a new rim put on. If I would have invested this energy at beginning of ride I most likely would have avoided the time and money of dealing with a bum back tire the first 2000+ miles of the ride. Hindsight is 20/20. Lesson learned. Hope it sinks in enough to remember in the future.

The ride was absolutely gorgeous. We rolled up and down back county roads in Missouri as we rode into the Mississippi River Valley. The lush, green scenery was a nice change of pace from the not so lush windy and dry Kansas landscape. And the fact that pops was carrying most of our weight in his '88 Mercury made the ride that much sweeter. (Thanks pops).

Lesson #77: You take the biker out of the Midwest but you can't take the Midwest out of the biker.

Towards dinnertime we crossed the mighty Mississippi into Chester IL. The home of the beloved Popeye the Sailor. As soon as our bikes touched down off of the bridge Jack and I felt like we were home. (Illinois, Ohio, Iowa - they're pretty much all the same, right?). Midwest love - forever we're home.

6 down, 3 to go.

We grabbed burritos from Moe's, a nice change of pace from our normal gas station food dinner, and retreated to the motel to watch the All Star game. Great to see Joe Mauer play and the AL win it. Sorry Jack, home field advantage is ours.

Thank you pops for making it down. We really appreciate you taking our weight as we ride during the day. This supported touring thing is...incredible.

Day 35 - Fair Grove, MO to Willow Springs, MO

51 Miles / Day 35 of 50 / Fair Grove, MO to Willow Springs, MO

We woke up this morning after getting to sleep in a bed for the first time in a long time. It felt good so we stayed in  bed as long as we could.

Grabbed some grub and sat around chatting with Louie (our friend from across the pond who stayed with us) and Tom--our host. Tom talked to us about some of the people that have stayed with he and his wife Gail over the years.

The most notable couple was a blind couple who were riding a tandem bike cross country. You read that right. A legally blind couple. Crossing the country. Incredible. Tom was talking to us about how the husband was legally blind and had tunnel vision, only allowing him to see 10-15 feet in front of him, and the wife could see much less. This is a couple who had scaled Mt. McKinley. In order to accommodate their disabilities, the couple had to pick wide shoulder roads across the country.

Lesson #73: Humans are an incredible species and can adapt to almost anything around them.

Tom worked as a distributor for Pepperidge Farm and sold to multiple grocery stores in the area. We got talking about Wal Mart as a corporation. Making more money than most third-world countries. Tom was able to see the behind-the-scenes of Wal Mart. It was incredible to hear some of his stories about how Wal Mart treats their customers, but most importantly how they treat their employees. It really made us think about where we spend our money and who it's going to.

Lesson #74: Mom and pop stores are a dying breed. Support them while you can.

As much as we loved talking with  Tom and having a nice little staycation, the road was calling. We got on our bikes and started East out of Fair Grove. We said farewell to Louie and started off.

Goodbye Louis. Great riding with you the past few days!

Today we really started getting into the Ozark Mountains. And albeit being hot and humid, it was beautiful. The mountains were tough, but quick. A real steep grade up and down, but much shorter than the Sierra Nevada Mountains or the Rockies. It makes for a tough climb for a few minutes, but then you get to enjoy the downhill, only to start the next uphill in a few moment's time.

We've really felt like Missouri has been one long roller coaster (who knows that it could be so hilly?) but the views have been terrific. Missouri has been full of lush farms and everything has been so green. So beautiful.

Also, today marked the first of a new stage for the two of us...something that we've really been looking forward to. Seth's dad, Tom, was coming down to spend a few days with us and be our support for a few days with motels!

So we've been biking all day, and Seth has been coordinating with his dad where he would meet us on the route. We had been looking forward to Seth's dad coming for a lot of reasons -- seeing Seth's dog, Ruthie who Tom was going to bring, seeing a friendly and familiar face, sleeping in a bed for the next few nights, and most graciously, Seth's dad carrying our gear during the day so we could crank out some good miles.

The sun was beginning to set, and all of a sudden, an 88 Mercury Grand Marquis came rolling down the road with a dog hanging out the window. Tom and Ruthie were here! We were in the middle of some farmer's field in Central Missouri and we had a nice little meeting party there. We threw our bikes on Tom's bike rack, threw our bags in, gave Ruthie a pat, and started driving to our hotel for the night.

We got to Willow Springs just in time for the home run derby, which made for a very happy couple of baseball fans. We all chose our winners (Pedro Alvarez for me of course) and spent the night chowing down and watching the Midsummer's Classic.

Thanks Tom for the start of a great respite from our trip. A great way to end each day with a puppy, pops and some A/C. Thanks for everything, Tom! Looking forward to the next few days.

Day 34 - Golden City, MO to Fair Grove, MO

66 Miles / Day 34 of 50 / Golden City, MO to Fair Grove, MO

Thanks to Jack and I both successfully fighting off our deep desires to pull an all nighter last night working on the hoop game we woke up rested. Its not that sleep was more important than basketball, it's just sleep....well no need to explain this one. Because nothing is more important than basketball. Ball is life.

Thanks again Pastor Dave for letting us crash in the church gym and for the air conditioning and couches.

We departed for the day a little ahead of Louie and said goodbye with hopes we would run into each other on the road.

Louie is a postmaster, about our age, back in the UK. Check out his blog here.

The early morning ride was gorgeous. It was a quiet Sunday morning and we loved the change in scenery from dry, hot, and flat Kansas tot lush. green, rolling hilled Missouri.

We loaded up on produce (avocado, mangoes, blackberries) and Gatorade for lunch. Grocery stores rule.

Leaving the grocery store we ran back into Louie and rode the last 30 miles of the days ride together. The hills really started rolling. Back to climbing. Oh how we've missed you.

We arrived in Fair Grove and decided to stop here for the night. Dinner was the classic $5 foot long. Thank you Subway.

Our new riding partner Louie. Hallo' der mate!

Lesson #72: Good things come to those who wait loiter in Subway.

We were not in a big hurry to leave Subway and we lounged in the air conditioning for at least an hour after finishing eating. Sometimes things just work out nicely.

Tom pulled up, came in, invited us to spend the night at his house and gave us directions. Second time in a row we've met generous people at a Subway.

Tom and his wife Gale lived outside of town, right on our route. We lucked out. Tom was a bike fanatic. A true lover of all things cycling. He asked a great question. "Are you cyclists on an adventure or adventurers on a cycle?". We were the latter. Tom and Gale's yearly highlight was the Hotter than Hell 100 bike race in Texas. They've been participants in the 100+ mile race for the past decade. Last years race was shut down in the afternoon when temperatures hit 114 degrees. Good news though, Tom and Gale had already crossed the finish line when they canceled the remainder of the race.

Best ending to a day of riding. Ever.

Lesson #73: Trade blame for support.

Tom and  Gale rode all over Missouri on their tandem bike together. Gale said they never fought on the bike, and talked about how they were a team and never blamed each other, rather put collective energy on task / problem at hand. Idea - tandem therapy. Put two people on a tandem bike who are fighting and make them work out their differences....This is either the next breakthrough in couples counseling or a fast track for quick endings.

Thank you Tom and Gale for your hospitality. Forever representing that Midwest love. Shout out to the heartland.

Day 33 - Erie, KS to Golden City, MO

78 Miles / Day 33 of 50 / Erie, KS to Golden City, MO

We woke up this morning with a tune in our heart and a ringing in our ears, "We're not in Kansas anymore." Oh, how we looked forward to being able to exclaim that with pride.

Alas, we had a few more miles until we reached the show-me state; the Missouri border.

5 down, 4 to go.

After getting a good start, we hit Girard, KS and met as guy who was going East like us. It's something that's pretty unique, as we're traditionally pretty late in the season to be going East. We've almost exclusively been meeting people going West.

In comes Louie, riding from Portland to NYC. Hailing from England, this was Louie's first time in the United States. I congratulated him, as I personally think there's no better way to see the United States than at 12 mph.

We got into Pittsburgh, KS (no Pirates or Steelers to be found, unfortunately) and for once I was the one who had to have my bike serviced. Seth sure got a kick out of it, as usually I've been the one sitting on my hands while Seth is getting his bike fixed. In Pittsburgh, the bike shop we went to was pretty unique. The main bike mechanic was the crew chief for a rider who had won the Race Across America in the 90s. Race Across America (RAAM) is the exact same thing that we're doing, except bicyclists do about 400 miles a day, A super-competitive race, where bicyclists are supported with vans, riders hit it for over 20 hours a day. No thanks, I'll take our pace.

Anyways, the mechanic was telling us how his rider took just over eight days to cross the country. Pretty impressive when you think about it. And We're doing just over 50 and I think we're tough stuff. He trued my wheel after having two broken spokes and we were good to go.

Finally, we were able to exclaim we weren't in Kansas anymore and passed the border into Missouri. As soon as we got into Missouri, we met a guy biking West named Garrett who told us of an A/C church we could stay in at our final destination for the day, Golden City, MO.

Thank you Pastor Dave.

We got to Golden City, a nice little town and met up with Pastor Dave when we got there, the man who had the church we could stay at. He opened the doors, and Seth and I were in hog heaven. Displayed before us was a full court basketball court and couches we could crash on. As soon as Pastor Dave left, we found the closet with all of the basketballs and started getting our game on.

We had heard of a place in town called Cooky's that the locals (and far away) raved about. A great place with homemade pies and down home cookin'. Loved it. We were sitting there eating dinner, and who else but our Brit friend Louie came in. We caught up on our days, finished our meal together and we invited him to stay in the church with us.

Louie is the man, and is a postman back in the UK. Seth and I have had a great time together, but it's been fun to add a friend to our little twosome. We've laughed about the differences between the UK and the US, what Britain's think of Americans, etc. All good insight from our boy, Louie.

Getting to sleep was a difficulty that night, considering that we had an entire court to ourselves, and of course Seth and I had to play a few games of pickup, pretending we were the Buckeye and Hawkeye lores of yesteryear. For some reason, I could only think of many Hawkeye greats, except for Adam Haluska and Jeff Horner. Sorry, Seth.

Prettiest shot on this side of the Mississippi.

Lesson #71: Don't live at a basketball court and think you're going to sleep.

We stayed up too late playing ball and recounting some great memories of our trip we've had so far. On to the next ones!

Day 32 - Eureka, KS to Erie, KS (Part II)

82 Miles / Day 32 of 50 / Eureka, KS to Erie, KS (Part II)

After leaving Joe we biked into the late afternoon heat. We hit our first sections of dirt and gravel road and successfully navigated them without any significant damage to our bikes.

We made it to Erie and headed for the city park. We were greeted by a group of about 8 men and women who were dressed in Amish looking shawls who were occupying most of the park's three shelters.

Side note -
Interactions with fellow bikers follow a simple three question format.
1) Where are ya headed?
2) Oh, nice. Where are ya coming from?
3) I gotcha. And how long have you been on the road?

Simple. Direct. Great conversation starters.

A friendly bearded man walked toward us.

Hi, where are you guys headed?
West through Kansas.......Normal.
Nice, we're just coming from there. Where are you coming from?
East, from the Ozarks in Missouri........Like clockwork.
And how long have you been on the road?
Ah. About 40 years.............Sorry, what?

We had run into our first nomadic biking tribe. They were self described "Christian counter culture bikers."

David. He's been on his bike since summer of 1979.

David very nicely gave us half of his shelter and we started to unpack our gear to get the tent up before the sunset.

David had been on the road off and on since 1979. They had about 6 bikes and one person driving an old, first generation Toyota mini-van. After 40 years they had their routine down. 1) Pick a destination. 2) Leisurely bike to this spot. 3) Spread the gospel through their actions of living simply and not secumming to our modern societal pressures. 4) Stop and work a few weeks or months to be of service to others and make money. 5) Repeat process.

David's "brother" Jerry starting sharing about their lifestyle. He said he lived his life by two simple commandments. First, love God. Second, treat others as your neighbor. Everything flowed from this foundation. Jerry gave me his hand written philosophies that he had been compiling for the last 20 years based on five questions:

1) How did I get here? (Origins)
2) Who am I? (Identity)
3) Why am I here? (Meaning)
4) What is right and wrong? (Morality)
5) Where am I going? (Destiny)

Excited to dig in and hear how this brother sees the world. As I listened to his philosophy on life David offered me ice water (from their Brita filter pitcher) and his extension cord to plug in my phone. Clean water and power, two luxuries Jack and I hadn't had camping this trip. Hmmm, if this is counter culture I guess I could really get into this.

Shout out to David, Jerry and their group for having the guts to do their own thing. Thank you Jerry for putting good questions to chew on in my head as we bike East.

Day 32 - Eureka, KS to Erie, KS (Part I)

82 Miles / Day 32 of 50 / Eureka, KS to Erie, KS (Part I)

From getting in much later than normal yesterday we accidentally slept through our 5 am alarm and woke up at 7:30 am. We started the night with our sleeping bags on top of the tables under the shelter. The bugs got the best of us. We fended off the mosquitoes but decided to put up the tent in the dark when we looked down and saw a few hundred cockroaches scurrying across the cement floor.

After packing up our campsite and eating our routine box of cereal and half gallon of milk we were ready to hit the road at around 10 am. Yesterday we were 45 miles into the day. Sleeping in can really throw the routine off.

By three hours into the ride our water bottles were almost empty and stomachs in search of food. Thankfully the small town of Benidict (pop. 40) was in sight. Benidict was were we met Joe. Joe ran the only store in Benidict. It was a converted three bedroom house that he had bought for $8,000 cash and built a store inside of.

The store had an incredibly homey feel. The coolers were old fridges. There were different foods and trinkets scattered and placed on various homemade shelf's that seemed to come out from the walls at any and all angles.

We sat in front of the fans and cooled off with Gatorade's, sandwiches and candy bars. Joe started to share his story as we caught our breathe.

Lesson #70: History is dark and painful. Growing up we don't hear anything close to the full story of this pain.

Joe was born in 1941. Growing up in World War II America he enlisted in the Army after the war when he turned 17. He ended up on the American Army base that was now occupying the German Nazi concentration camp in Dachau.

The stories he told of Dachau were chilling. He talked about deconstructing the concentration camp with his fellow soldiers and the horrors it held. He talked about unearthing mass graves of bones the size of football fields. He talked about the hallow and stomach dropping eeriness of taking apart the showers where poison was run through the pipes so the prisoners would die after showering.

While in Germany his speciality became sniping. And he was darn good at it. While not working on the base he traveled throughout Europe to train other American and ally soldiers as Europe was rebuilding. Eventually by the early sixties he and his friend Jerry had developed quite a reputation as being top snipers. Before long the CIA showed up on the base and Joe and Jerry started leaving the base to carry out CIA missions throughout Europe. He wouldn't go into too much detail about what he was doing for the CIA but you could hear the sorrow in his voice, and the pain of being the crucial pawn who carried out orders on the CIA's chessboard.

One day Joe and  were working on a platform in a American hanger near Dachau about 65 feet in the air. Two CIA agents appeared asking where Joe and James were. The Lieutenant pointed up to where they were and left the hanger. The hit that Joe and James had last carried out was apparently illegal and the CIA was in hot water as the country they had operated in had caught wind of their operation. The last two things Joe remembers after being pushed off of the platform were going in and out of consciousness as he laid mangled on the floor 65 feet below and being thrown in a ditch in the countryside as the Lieutenant told the CIA agents to get their bodies out of the base because he didn't want them dying there.

The next time he was awake he was in a full body cast in an Army hospital in New Jersey. He took a two years to fully recover and described how he kept falling and re-breaking bones as he would try to re-learn how to walk.

He became addicted to morphine during his recovery. His morphine addiction turned to street drugs once he assimilated back to mainstream culture. After hitting rock bottom multiple times throughout the country and racking up arrests and warrants in the process he checked into the Teen Challenge rehab in Phoenix, Arizona. He described the pain from with drawl he experienced at Teen Challenge as more intense than anything he had experienced before. Joe found Jesus through rehab and left Teen Challenge a year later to start his career in construction.

Jack and I pigged out at Joe's store and ran a tab of close to $20. Our total bill was $5.44 plus tax. He gave us all the ice and water we could drink (and carry) for free along with Gatorade's. Joe told us "You gotta give people their flowers while they can still smell 'em."

Lesson #71: Let go.

I couldn't believe that Joe could share his story with such calmness. I was outraged. And confused. He talked about how his experience at Dachau got him out of serving in Vietnam and how thankful he was for that.

Thank you Joe for sharing your story and being so generous with your store.

Day 31 - Hesston, KS to Eureka, KS

88 Miles / Day 31 of 50 / Hesston, KS to Eureka, KS

People are generous. People are kind.

To pick up where we left off yesterday - It was still well over 95 degrees, thick, and humid when we left the library around 6 pm. We were headed to the other side of town to eat din din and then pitch a tent in the park.

We stopped at Subway to escape the heat and grab some grub. We walked in and were greeted by a couple that was about our parents age. Ron and Deb. A few minutes into basic conversation Ron invited us back to their home to shower and spend the night and they generously bought us dinner. Whew people in Kansas sure are kind.

Thank you Ron and Deb. Incredible oasis.

Ron was currently a high school  counselor and had been a teacher for the last 30 years.

Lesson #68: The beginning is harsh. Stick with it.

As we ate dinner Ron told us about his first couple of years in the classroom in a small, rural school. It was absolutely brutal. He told us how he had no control over the class and no learning could happen because behavior was so poor. He couldn't have hit the nail any squarer on the head. He described the gut wrenching feelings of driving home knowing that he did a poor job that day. He talked about waking up in the morning and feeling anxious. He talked about feeling deeply inadequate for the job and feeling like a failure. He summed up a big part of our first year in the classroom.

He empathized about not knowing and having clarity as a first year teacher about exactly what his role was in the classroom.

He said the switch was in his third year when he decided enough was enough and that he had to put himself in the middle of the behaviors that were taking away from learning. He couldn't let things slide, he couldn't pretend not to hear students curse under their breathe, he had to put himself in the middle. He talked about how things improved once he had that clarity and communicated this clarity to his students about what he expected of them and what would happen if they were taking away from their own, or anyone else's, learning.

Lesson #69: We need to talk more and be open about our struggles. Everyone benefits and learns from your story.

A common theme I've seen in working with and talking to effective, successful veteran teachers is how challenging the first few years of teaching was for them. It seems like the farther removed you are from that initial struggle the more willing you are to share about it.

One of our school and district's most effective teachers is Mr. Whitehead, our band teacher. At the end of this year he told me about his first few years of being the band director. Again, absolutely brutal. The kids were gut-wrenchingly mean to him and their peers. His students told him they didn't like him and wanted to get him fired. They even stole his car on a Friday afternoon and didn't give it back until the following Tuesday. He got so fed up he told the kids he was going to quit. He didn't quit though - he showed up the next day and kept pushing. He has now been at the school 16 years and has taken the band to multiple national high school band and drum line championships.

We showered, did laundry and Ron and Deb even had MLB Network so Jack was on cloud nine as he got to watch his beloved Pirates beat the Athletics.

Jack in heaven. Gus Creach this basement was built for you.

Thank you Ron and Deb for the hospitality. Thank you for opening your home to us. Thank you Ron for sharing your story. Kansas continues to be nothing but kind people.
______________________

This morning we continued the new routine of waking up before the sun and were on the road by 6:30 am. The forecast called for the coolest day this week - just over 90. We rode due east into the wind and a few hours into the ride hit the biggest storm we've encountered yet. Jack and I were about three miles apart and when it started raining. I kept going as the rain was light and then pulled over once it really started to come down. Apparently I was on the edge of the storm because Jack stopped a few miles earlier at a farm house to take cover and said it was the most intense lightning (shout out to LS), thunder, and rain he had even seen.

We arrived completely soaked in Cassaddy, KS and had a late gas station lunch, Jack caught a nap, and then we headed south to Eureka. Felt wrong to go from triple digits in temperature the last few days to being chilled and cold in the rainstorm today. Don't sleep on mother nature.

Kansas public parks continue to deliver. We showered at the city park, pitched our tent and hit the hay. We need to get back in our early bed, early rise routine. Anything to beat the heat.