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Going from Augusta to Tebbitts Missouri today, all along the Katy trail.  An easy 70 miles with little elevation gain as we continue to follow the Missouri River.  It started out cloudy and drizzly for the first half of the day. The rain stopped but still cloudy at the end of the day, but threatening thunderstorms.  Tonight we are staying in a hostel with bunk beds inside, so no need to set up tents which is nice.  There were no nice little towns to stop at for lunch,  We ended up taking our lunch break at a grocery store in McKittrick, about 38 miles into the ride.  The Missouri looked pretty high and current was strong- it’s a big river, but interestingly no ship traffic.  I would have expected a lot of barges, but according to the internet it is currently not economical given competition from other modes of transport including trains and road.  Theo, the guy who had the accident several weeks ago, is back riding with us!  His face is almost completely healed and so he is now getting his bike legs back. Our group is finding its rhythm.  We have Timmie who likes to shoot ahead and get to camp early, Terrie who like to go slow and steady. Terence, Tom, Chet and Mel who like to take their time and see the sights, Than and I who tend to go somewhat fast but like to hang with the slower group from time to time and Deb who migrates in and out but rides a lot by herself.  Everyone is getting along well and riders are very considerate of others in the group.  We are only 23 days into the ride, we’ll see how we hold up  after 70 days together!

We went from Alton Illinois to Augusta Missouri.  A total of 63 miles and 511 ft of elevation gain.  A momentous day as we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri right away.  I really feel like we are going West at this point.  It was a beautiful day, starting off in the high 50s and getting into the 70s at the end of the day.  Sunny skies and light tailwind breezes.  We got onto the Katy Trail about 13 miles after crossing the river. It’s a rail bed from a previous railroad, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) railroad which was nicknamed the K.T. Or Katy by railroad employees.  It is real smooth packed gravel with little incline as it is following the Missouri River for a large part.  We will be on this trail practically all the way through Missouri, so no hill climbing for awhile, which is a relief to everyone.   We stopped at St Charles for a coffee break about 25 miles in- a really quaint little town along the Missouri River with a beautiful river side park area.  Then stopped at the Good News Brewery just 5 miles from Augusta for a well deserved cold brew and a hot pretzel.  It was packed with people for Mother’s Day, it being the first nice weekend in awhile.  Apparently there has been a lot of rain in these parts.  We meet this nice local guy with his wife who turned out to be a professional photographer and he took our picture outside the front of the Brewery.  I’ll post the photo when he sends it to us.   It was mine and Tom’s turn to cook this evening so we went into town to the Walmart to shop.  Stir frie with pecan pie and ice cream for dessert.  It was a hit! 

Going from Vandalia to Alton Illinois, 76 miles and 1600 ft of elevation gain. Another great day, similar to yesterday- started off cool and warmed to the low 70s, nice tailwind breeze, sunny skies and not much up and down. Mostly flat terrain, the same as yesterday with large farms and small towns here and there. The towns are convenient for rest stops. I stopped at Greenville for a cup of coffee, then treated myself to a cheesesteak and waffle fries at the halfway point at Alhambra. There we picked up a nice bike trail which took us off and on all the way to Alton. It was something to see the mighty Mississippi, about 5 miles before we reached Alton. There was a HUGE barge being pushed upriver by a tugboat near the Melvin Price Locks and Dam, one of the largest locks on the Mississippi River. Quite something. The bike trail went along the river North to Alton, where we had to bike through some sketchy neighborhoods to get to our Super 8 Motel. Yes, we are staying at a Motel tonight! No need to pitch tents. Always nice to have a bed to sleep in once in a while- haha.

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is a link to the video for the day!

Casey to Vandalia Illinois- 63 miles and a measly 1000 ft of elevation gain. Got a group photo in the largest mailbox in the world, in Casey, before heading Westward. It was flat today, and a little tailwind from the North/Northeast. Started out in the 50s and got into the 60s, blue sky, not much traffic. If all days could be like this!! We got to camp before the support van! Average speed for Than and I was 16 mph- we were cooking. First stop for us was Teutopolis- a cute little town- they had a volunteer cookout going on for disabled vets, though it was only 10:30, they opened up for us and I got a burger, some chips and a Pepsi. Second breakfast! Enjoyed eating on some open tables as more of our group showed up. No need to hurry today- the wind was our friend! Then a stop in Effingham just a couple miles down the road at Joe Sippers coffee shop for a nice fresh coffee with Than and Deb. Real nice hangout place for the locals. Then stopped in Altamont for lunch in front of the Dr. Charles Wright house museum- a grand old Victorian house built back in the day and now a museum. We were still mainly following route 40 West but fortunately got off that route often to bike in the farm land on lesser used roads. Relatively flat compared to our Ohio experience. Still a lot of farms, but big farms here with a lot of acreage. Beautiful ride today. Oh, and we have passed the 1000 miles mark! So we will be celebrating with a bit of champagne tonight!

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Coverdale Indiana to Casey Illinois, 72 miles and 2200 ft elevation gain.  Another beautiful day of riding.  Started out cool, partly sunny with a slight breeze.  It is definitely getting flatter as we head West, but there are still ups and downs and good rollers where you can pick up some decent speed and ALMOST make it to the top of the next hill.  Roads are mostly free of heavy traffic, but we would occasionally get onto Rt 40 W which was a two lane highway with quite a few trucks and not a decent shoulder.  A lot of farmland- beautiful fields of yellow flowering plants, I think they are rapeseed?  A lot of cornfields cut from last year.   We stopped halfway at Terre Haute, a city midway between Coverdale and Casey.  That is where Indiana State University is, a decent sized town of 60,000.  Than and I were riding together and we stopped at a breakfast place for a real breakfast!  Omelette, hash browns and pancakes!   MMMMM good.   We reached the Illinois State line about 10 miles after that and made great time getting  into Casey pretty early, about 1:30 PM.  We did gain an hour as we passed into Central time today.  Weather was still good in Casey, but black clouds were forming around 3 PM, so I made sure the tent rain fly was on and secure.  Theo and I walked into town to see all the “big” things.  Casey is known for collecting all sorts of outsized items- giant mailbox, giant worm, giant barber pole, giant rocking chair.  They are scattered about town. The town itself is a quaint mid western town, looking like something out of a movie set.   An active railroad runs through it and I stopped to film a train as it went through.  As we were walking around taking pictures of all the big things, it started to get really dark, the rumblings got louder and the wind started to pick up. So we stepped into a barbecue joint and sat outside on the veranda watching the storm approach, eating chicken wings and drinking cherry coke.   The storm hit hard but was over in 20 minutes so we could continue our walk around the city.  Fortunately the other riders made it in and were able to set up their tents just before the storm hit, other than Dennis, our sweep rider, who got in after the storm had passed.  

It’s nice going East to West, not only because you have the sun on your back, as I have mentioned before, but you also gain time going Westward. We have another whole hour and will get yet another when we change to the Western time zone.   The other good thing, with the sun on your back, you are easily visible to on-coming traffic.  

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

I broke into two segments because I had to restart my GPS halfway through in Terre Haute.

From Liberty to Franklin, Indiana today, 70 miles and 2200 ft of elevation gain. It started out rainy and cold. Interesting in that it started raining around 6 in the morning as we were getting up for breakfast. But the forecast was that it would quit in a couple of hours, and it did. By 11 AM no rain but cloudy, and has we continued west the sky started to clear and sun to show itself. By the time Than and I rolled into the campsite in Franklin it was a beautiful 72 degrees, breezy and partly cloudy. Perfect for drying out our wet tents from this morning. The ride was very nice- going through farmland mostly, relatively flat, interspersed with small towns now and again. The Adventure Cycling group did a good job in routing us on relatively car free roads, although from time to time today we had to pop on Ind 44W which was a quite busy two lane road, sometimes without shoulders. we had a stiff head wind for the last twenty miles or so, so Than and I took turns drafting to ease the pain. Amazing what a difference it makes. We stopped for lunch after Rushville, at a small cherry furniture outlet. Can’t seen that they get much business. The lady said that they used to get their Cherry wood locally, but all the trees were cut down so now it comes from Pennsylvania! Very nice furniture however, I want to start making some good quality solid wood furniture (part of my retirement plan..).

The campsite in Franklin is just in a public park- apparently that is a thing one can do in Indiana! We get to use it for free, along with showers in the rec center there, but Adventure Cycling will provide them some money as a donation.

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

The route was Wilmington Ohio to Liberty Indiana. Liberty is just across the border, but we are finally entering our 7th state! If you count DC: Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana! Whoo Hooo!

I had wanted to go to the US Air Force museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. It wasn’t too far from our campsite, only about 25 miles, but how to get there? Well, Deb’s daughter just happens to work there, and her son-in-law Lee volunteered to drive me up there in the morning, and then come pick me up in the early afternoon and deposit me back on our route in Middletown, Ohio, which was about the half-way point.  Really nice of him.  So I spent all morning looking at airplanes- what a great museum! Well laid out in 4 hangars, progressing from Wright Brothers- pre World War 1, World War II, Korean/Vietnam, Cold War and then research/development aircraft. They had great stories behind some of the aircraft, with descriptions of pilots who had flown them and their stories. They had a Stiletto X3! Only one was made- I made that model when I was a kid, thought it was sooooo cool. Interesting stories about the Douglas Skyraiders that were used during the Vietnam war to help locate downed pilots and coordinate rescues with helicopter crews. I got to actually sit in the pilot seat of an F4 Phantom! Roomier than I would have imagined! All in all really cool museum. Lee picked me up at 1:45 PM and I was back on our route at Middletown around 3 PM. So I only did half the route, clocking 35 miles and 2000 ft of elevation gain. It was raining in Dayton and still raining in Middletown when I started out. Ugh, cold and rainy. But about half way through it stopped, although remaining cloudy and cool. Got in to camp just in time for dinner, around 6 PM. There’s were no signs welcoming us to Indiana, I guess the road we were on is so minor it doesn’t deserve a big sign, but Liberty is just a couple miles from the border.

Some of the other guys had had an interesting time. Tom’s rear derailleur stuck and he had to take it to a bike shop to get the cable replaced. That was quite an adventure. Some guy passing by on his bike stopped while they were trying to figure out what to do, and he offered to drive home to a bike shop about 10 miles away to get it fixed. The bike shop was able to replace the cable and he was back on the road, but it was getting late in the day and it was his turn to cook, so Dennis, the ride leader, drove the van over and picked him up en route so he could get back in time. Nice to have a van supporting us!

Below are the RidewithGPS stats:

An easy ride today from Buckeye Lake, Mt Sterling to Wilmington, Ohio, the Caesar Creek State Park, 52 miles and 1100 ft of elevation gain.  The weather gods were with us, it wasn’t raining in the morning and it did not rain for our entire ride! It was cool, in the 50s, but no wind so a great ride today.  Also relatively flat- the rolling hills of the past several days have been replaced by flatland- a lot of large farms interspersed with the occasional small town.  Very beautiful country.  And not a lot of cars on the road made for a very peaceful ride.  Tim got in early and encountered an hours worth of rain but the rest of us just missed it!  We all stopped at various places.  I stopped at Jeffersonville, 20 miles in, and had a hot breakfast at Dennys.  Others stopped later at Jamestown for lunch.  I caught up with them and ate my sandwich there (even though I had just had breakfast!).  When we got to the campsite we quickly pitched tents before the rain set in again.  We had time to dry things out a bit before the next rain shower came in, but by then everyone’s tents were up and we are all set for this evening!

Below is the RidewithGPS stats.

A day off! And lucky for us- it rained all last night and has been raining all day today. Cold and rainy, not a good recipe for bike riding!

Terrie and I were cooks for breakfast and we prepared bacon and eggs, since we weren’t in any rush to take off. Normally it’s a cold breakfast- yoghurt, cereal, bananas, bagels, etc, but we had more time this morning. The rain let up while we were eating, but started again around 9 and kept going all day. We took the van into Columbus Ohio to see the sites, a good way to spend a rainy day! We all split up doing various things. First to REI to get stuff- bikers love getting stuff. I wanted to replace my headlight as the battery was wearing out, and replace some water bottles that started to have strange mold like things growing in it. Then several of us were dropped off at the Columbus Museum of Art. A great exposition of artwork by Louise Nevelson.

I then went off to get a new microSD card for my GoPro, as the current one for some reason wasn’t downloading to my iPad so I lost all of yesterday’s footage. And then to Pierogi Mountain Restaurant to have lunch and take advantage of the WiFi. I tell you, wifi at these camping areas is non-existent. Even if they say they have it, they don’t. So it is really hard to upload files, particularly big video files. I will do my best!

Bad news is that Scott is leaving us. We dropped him off in Columbus and is flying back to Santa Barbara this evening. So we are down to 9 riders with 2 leaders. Hopefully he may rejoin us later on as we get farther West. Good news is that Theo, the guy who took the bad fall, is mending well and is in good spirits. He hopes to be back on the bike in several weeks but meanwhile is riding along in the support van and giving us all moral encouragement! He really wants to get back riding so we are all hoping his face mends well and he’ll get the green light to rejoin us riding, soon.

A respite from yesterday, only 61 miles and a paltry 2300 ft of elevation gain, going from Buckeye Lake to Deer Creek Lake. It was a bit challenging the last bit out of Circleville where the wind picked up and the weather started to get stormy. There were ominous clouds off to the south and the wind was blowing strong from that direction. Forecast was for thunderstorms in the late afternoon so we all were trying to make it to camp before they hit. Nevertheless, we all ran into a weird squall that blew across from the south for a couple of minutes. A strong downpour and the rain HURT. It felt like sleet, really cold. But then it passed, and after another half hour you are completely dried out with the wind still blowing.

I had stopped by Circleville to do grocery shopping, as it was my turn to cook, with Terrie, this evening, Still got to camp in good time but the weather was becoming really turbulent, with a storm brewing off to the South and the sound of thunder increasing. I was able to relax after my shower with a cold one and some chips and watch the storm move closer. We had set up canopies to shelter under so when it started raining we all moved our chairs underneath. I love thunderstorms! Just not riding in them. Haha. Terrie and I prepared beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes and broccoli- good comfort food as the rain set in and it started to cool down.

Below are the stats for the ride. Shorter than yesterday and not nearly the amount of ups and downs, so it was a pretty easy day.