Day 59: Clinton, MO

Day 59

July 14, 2015

Miles: 77

Osawatomie to Clinton

We arose at 6am and were happy to see last night's storm had cleared out.  The storm brought heavy rains, wind, and hail.  It also brought cooler weather and the temperature was in the low 70's.

Picture of last night's storm taken from our hotel window

We were at the Whistle Stop for breakfast at 7:15 and congratulated ourselves for getting an early start.

Pancakes and eggs, our favorite breakfast

The Whistle Stop has two sets of railroad tracks suspended from the ceiling and one of the trains started circling the room when we were about halfway through our meal.

That train is locomoting

The name of the town where we were staying is called Osawatomie.  Di's variation's on the pronunciation of the name kept me amused the whole time we were there.  My favorites were Onatatomie and Onawatanomie.  I told Di that in Japanese Onawatanomie means "I don't know where I am."

By the time we finished breakfast and were ready to start pedaling, it was already 8:30.  Someday we'll figure out how to get an early start.  The first 10 miles of our ride went fine, but then the nicely paved road turned into a gravel road.  Gravel roads are no fun to ride because its harder to go fast and when you come to a descent, you can't just let gravity pull you down because the loose gravel can cause you to lose traction and fall.  Basically, you just have to plod along.  Its okay as long as you aren't on a gravel road for a long time.  We ended up on gravel roads for the next 26 miles.

At least the gravel road was hard packed

The dry, dusty road makes Di thirsty

We didn't have to worry about sharing the road with many cars

The gravel road was either going up or down, no level earth here

I get ready to take the plunge

One of the hills was steep enough and the gravel loose enough that Di and I couldn't ride our bikes to the top.  We were forced to ignobly walk our bikes up that hill.  We rode all those majestic mountains in Utah and Colorado and it is this insignificant mound of dirt in Kansas that finally forced us to walk our bikes.  Oh, the injustice of it all.

The bicyclist's walk of shame

At the 36 mile mark of our ride, we arrived in the town of Drexel, MO.  We were disappointed that we saw no sign welcoming us to Missouri, but I guess dirt roads don't merit a state sign.  We bought juice made by Naked, our new favorite drink, a blueberry muffin for me and trail mix for Di.  We were happy the short road into Drexel was paved, but Di was worried we might have to get back on gravel roads, so she approached a group of gentlemen talking amongst themselves in the parking lot and tried to ask them about the road ahead.
      Di:     I'm looking for a road.
      Men: Okay, which one?
      Di:     A road.
      Men: (pause, puzzled expressions). Any road?
      Di:    I really want to know if a road is gravel or paved.
      Men: Well, some are paved and some aren't.
      Di:    What about a road?
      Men: Where does this road go?
      Di:    To Clinton
      Men: (with relief) Oh, you can just take this road that run right by here.
      Di:    Is that the A road?
      Men: The A road?
      Di:    Yes, the maps call this the A road.
      Men: Well, that's news to us.  I never really knew the name of the road.

It was hard not to burst out laughing.  Di was looking for A road, but the men thought she was saying "a road."  As we were riding down the street later, I came upon the sign for the road and saw that Di was right, it was the A road.

A road named A road.

We had left Kansas and of course I said to Di, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!"  Who can resist saying that upon leaving Kansas?  I really enjoyed Kansas and told Di it was a place I could live and be happy.  "You should reconsider", Di said, "because you'll be living there alone."  Apparently, Di doesn't share my love of Kansas.  We both agree, however, that the people of Kansas are warm and kind and extremely generous.

The Missouri roads are paved.

Di does the happy dance because Kansas is behind her.

The final stretch into Clinton was mostly on a very busy road, which was no fun but at least we were able to ride fast.  It had gotten quite hot in the afternoon with the temperature rising to 98 degrees.  A few miles outside of town we left the busy road for the backroads that we took into Clinton.  The area outside of Clinton is mostly farmland, so we had a pretty ride into town.

An ostrich with goats in the background

Close-up of the goats

We passed a coffee shop on the way to the hotel, and I couldn't resist stopping in for an iced latte.

Iced coffee makes me very happy!

It was 7:30 by the time we arrived at the Hampton Inn.  We were too tired to go out, so we ordered a pizza and some pasta for delivery from Pizza Hut.

Bonus picture from Di:

Birdhouse on Wooden Post in Green Grass by Gray Road

Tomorrow we'll ride on the Katy Trail.  It'll will be slower than riding on the road, but it will be a luxury to not have to worry about cars, RVs, and trucks bombing past us.