Day 31: Houston, MO
We've crossed the Mississippi, we're more than 1/3 done with our trip, and our facial hair is longer than ever. This is a memorable post... let me take you back...
FIRST A NOTE: There will be more mail pick-ups posted after we get back from Northern Virginia. The Guys on Bikes will be taking a temporary hiatus from Jul 29-Aug 1, but we'll resume Aug 2 and the shenanigans will resume. Keep an eye out for a boatload of pictures to tide you over for those four days. Favorite power bar/clif bar flavors are chocolate chip, carrot cake, and cookies and cream.
Back to the action...
We had a great night in CarbonVILLE. We ate at an outdoor bar and grill called Booby's (yes) and tried to order some sandwiches. Wouldn't you know it, the cash register wasn't working... so the obvious solution is that everything is free. It was a little bit unbelievable, but the people who worked there said that because we were on a bike trip everything was free. We went back and got more food and drinks later and those were free too. They even tried to refund us for the one meal we actually HAD paid for before the cash register broke.
Our new friend Chris paid for the meal in another way, it seems - he was really sick the next morning when we were heading out to Chester, IL. He stayed at the motel and we said goodbye. We hope he's alright if he's out there reading this! We got a picture of all the Guysonbikes and him in his boxers which we'll probably post up here when we can. He was groggy and didn't realize what was happening. Watch out when you run into the Guys!
PS - Don't get a reuben sandwich at Booby's in CarbonVILLE.
What followed was a REALLY REALLY slow start. We headed the wrong way out of town to find a post office... we put together a "care" package of all the things we didn't care about and wanted to send home - cd players, extra shaving kits, toenail clippers, things that you just don't need on the road. So Daveyray had a giant box strapped to his BOB. (See the bob website if you don't know what a BOB is yet). Needless to say, we saw Panera on the way to the post office and it was all over. We sat down to a baker's dozen of bagels and chowed down. We met a fellow named Curtis and his family at Panera, who I must say reminded me a great deal of Jeff Bridges. We chatted for a bit about the trip, and passed him and his family on the way out. He called out "Keep praying" as we walked away, and I hollered back "We pray all day!" We got to our bikes, said a prayer before we headed out for the day, and just as we were about to leave Curtis walked over to us and asked if he could pray for us. How could we say no? It was yet another great blessing, and there were a lot more for the day.
We actually made it to the post office, but almost never left. Daveyray took about 5 minutes to mail the package, but while he was inside we chatted with Ann and Carolyn about our trip. Carolyn took pictures of us and Ann explained that she was the president of the local bike club. I'm not sure exactly how Ann and Carolyn knew each other - let's just say Carbonville is a magical place. We took some final photos, met a few more people and shook some more hands at the post office, and were on our way again.
We got three miles out of town when Flattyray got another davey tire. We were sweltering in the heat, angrily putting a new tube in and looking at the clock - 11:30 - when we saw another cross country traveler on the other side of the highway. Jonathan was the first to recognize that it was Ann from the Post Office! Her story was that when she didn't pass us on the way home from the post office, she came out looking for us on her bike. I think we all know that she was an angel sent by God himself to share her pool and cold sodas. I'm not kidding - we got a flat tire about 500 yards from her house, and we really did go swimming. It was a good lesson in letting God work. We were all tempted to get on the road and not get an even later start in the day, but Ann and her husband Ken were such a blessing letting us swim, gave us sodas, offered us lunch, clean towels, the works... we turned down lunch as it was getting ridiculous, but they suggested a place in the next town to eat. They sent us on our way refreshed. The most interesting part of the story is that if Daveyray hadn't gotten a flat tire so close to the turnoff for Ann's house, we would have ridden right past and she would have come out looking for us a few minutes too late - heading the wrong way down the highway. God can use a flat tire if He wants to.
We had an AWESOME lunch in Murphysboro at the 17th Street Bar and Grill, where we met Roger and Linda. Though Roger had never done a cross country bike ride, he certainly knew everything there was to know about bike touring. We shared a couple of booths with them at the restaurant, and they paid for the better part of our meal when we were done. As if that weren't enough, they sent us on our way with fresh peaches from local orchards.
Chester welcomed us with the coolest pool we'd ever seen (yes, we swam more on Day 27 than we biked). Johnny of course had the kids doing double gainers and what-have-you off the high dive. It was a great time. We ate all the food in Chester, took pictures with all the Popeye paraphernalia (the founder of Popeye is from Chester and they take it VERY serously- pictures forthcoming), and the next morning crossed the Mississippi into Missouri. It really sunk in that we've ridden a LONG way from home.
Day 28 started with crossing the Mississississippi and ended in Farmington, where I went to a bike shop to get some work done on my wheel. They told us to come back later, so we headed over to Cece's Pizza Buffet and got all-you-can-eat for $4.99. We told three other cross country bike dudes to join us, and between the seven of us probably affected the stock market with the amount of food we ate. Johnny and Daveyray played a lot of video games. We were like little kids at Cece's and loved it.
We stayed in Farmington with the biggest group of Transamers we've seen yet. There were three OTHER dudes heading west, Brad and DeeDee and John, and another gal named Heidi. We all hung out in the pavilion and were about to go to bed when the local kids showed up and started playing semi professional soccer under the lights. Apparently that's the thing to do in Missouri. We still had no trouble falling asleep.
Day 29 was a LONG ride to Eminence. We got up really early (early enough to impress the other bikers in Farmington, which was a good feeling) and were 45 miles into our day's ride by lunchtime. Around mile 70 of 88, Johnny said "Ozarks, Schmozarks!" A crack of lightning came from the sky, and mountains rose up all around us. At least that's what it felt like - the last 18 miles into Eminence were really tough. I would tell you how tough but I blacked out. I came to at a dairy bar in Eminence, the guys were force feeding me a swirled medium sized soft ice cream cone.
We were a little ragged around the edges when we finally around at Harvey's Circle B Campground/Canoe Rental/Tubing palace. The road was a piece of work - after 88 miles of mountains, we had to navigate up the steepest climb of the day and basically walk our bikes over a half mile of gravel. Luckily we had decided at lunch to take the next day off and go tubing. Dinner that night was a little crazy - we hitched a ride into town (yes mom, hitching is cool in Missouri) and TRIED to eat at a place called Winfields. Unfortunately, the food truck wasn't due in until the next morning so they were out of EVERYTHING. This was surprising, as this was before the Guys On Bikes had gotten there and not after. We tried to order about 3 different entrees, and when they told us they were completely out of appetizers we politely had to leave. I mean, COME ON!
We went to the orchard and waited two solid hours on the best pork chops we've had in a long time. It was almost 10:30 by the time we left, but we had a good time chilling afterwards. I will say that it was a little tense sitting with three other HUNGRY dudes who were on their second restaurant after the longest ride of the trip. I thought they were going to kill me and eat me. I admit, the same thought passed through my mind about them.
Day 30 was as awesome as the previous day was tough. We lounged for most of the morning, did some laundry, gambled with the quarter machine at the laundromat, ate a GIGANTIC lunch - they had super everything burgers - and then got a ride out to the river. The ride was absolutely perfect, from the crazy start to the fun canoers passing us to the cliff jumping to the lounging for hours when the river slowed down. It was just what we needed to revitalize, and the river was fed by a spring so it was COLD and refreshing. After we got out it was probably slightly... polluted. We bumped into our friend George again in Eminence, and he camped out with us in Dan's Pavilion at Circle B. Johnny made the best sloppy joe's I've ever had in my life. Sorry ma, camp food is good. I promise I will never say anything like that about your spaghetti sauce.
Day 31 was today. A short ride from Eminence to Houston, finishing off the last of the Schmozarks. We actually made it into town for lunch, which was a second. I would say first, but we did it in Sebree. We arrived in town around 12:30 and were swimming in the public pool shortly after. The Guys on Bikes are gaining quite a repertoire of diving feats - double front flips, can openers, flying squirrels and half gainers are the big crowd pleasers. Johnny gained enough time on us on the ride to climb a fire tower and take some pictures of us from not-so-far-away. Ok, we're really far on the horizon and you can barely see us, but they should look really cool. He also got the speed record on the downhill from Farmington to Eminence. I've also learned not to ask Johnny about other stuff we should put in the weblog...
We ate at a really cool Pine Inn Cafe in Houston this afternoon (service is TOP NOTCH, second only to Jordan from the Soda Fountain on Day 10), and more swimming is on the schedule. See you at the pool!
FIRST A NOTE: There will be more mail pick-ups posted after we get back from Northern Virginia. The Guys on Bikes will be taking a temporary hiatus from Jul 29-Aug 1, but we'll resume Aug 2 and the shenanigans will resume. Keep an eye out for a boatload of pictures to tide you over for those four days. Favorite power bar/clif bar flavors are chocolate chip, carrot cake, and cookies and cream.
Back to the action...
We had a great night in CarbonVILLE. We ate at an outdoor bar and grill called Booby's (yes) and tried to order some sandwiches. Wouldn't you know it, the cash register wasn't working... so the obvious solution is that everything is free. It was a little bit unbelievable, but the people who worked there said that because we were on a bike trip everything was free. We went back and got more food and drinks later and those were free too. They even tried to refund us for the one meal we actually HAD paid for before the cash register broke.
Our new friend Chris paid for the meal in another way, it seems - he was really sick the next morning when we were heading out to Chester, IL. He stayed at the motel and we said goodbye. We hope he's alright if he's out there reading this! We got a picture of all the Guysonbikes and him in his boxers which we'll probably post up here when we can. He was groggy and didn't realize what was happening. Watch out when you run into the Guys!
PS - Don't get a reuben sandwich at Booby's in CarbonVILLE.
What followed was a REALLY REALLY slow start. We headed the wrong way out of town to find a post office... we put together a "care" package of all the things we didn't care about and wanted to send home - cd players, extra shaving kits, toenail clippers, things that you just don't need on the road. So Daveyray had a giant box strapped to his BOB. (See the bob website if you don't know what a BOB is yet). Needless to say, we saw Panera on the way to the post office and it was all over. We sat down to a baker's dozen of bagels and chowed down. We met a fellow named Curtis and his family at Panera, who I must say reminded me a great deal of Jeff Bridges. We chatted for a bit about the trip, and passed him and his family on the way out. He called out "Keep praying" as we walked away, and I hollered back "We pray all day!" We got to our bikes, said a prayer before we headed out for the day, and just as we were about to leave Curtis walked over to us and asked if he could pray for us. How could we say no? It was yet another great blessing, and there were a lot more for the day.
We actually made it to the post office, but almost never left. Daveyray took about 5 minutes to mail the package, but while he was inside we chatted with Ann and Carolyn about our trip. Carolyn took pictures of us and Ann explained that she was the president of the local bike club. I'm not sure exactly how Ann and Carolyn knew each other - let's just say Carbonville is a magical place. We took some final photos, met a few more people and shook some more hands at the post office, and were on our way again.
We got three miles out of town when Flattyray got another davey tire. We were sweltering in the heat, angrily putting a new tube in and looking at the clock - 11:30 - when we saw another cross country traveler on the other side of the highway. Jonathan was the first to recognize that it was Ann from the Post Office! Her story was that when she didn't pass us on the way home from the post office, she came out looking for us on her bike. I think we all know that she was an angel sent by God himself to share her pool and cold sodas. I'm not kidding - we got a flat tire about 500 yards from her house, and we really did go swimming. It was a good lesson in letting God work. We were all tempted to get on the road and not get an even later start in the day, but Ann and her husband Ken were such a blessing letting us swim, gave us sodas, offered us lunch, clean towels, the works... we turned down lunch as it was getting ridiculous, but they suggested a place in the next town to eat. They sent us on our way refreshed. The most interesting part of the story is that if Daveyray hadn't gotten a flat tire so close to the turnoff for Ann's house, we would have ridden right past and she would have come out looking for us a few minutes too late - heading the wrong way down the highway. God can use a flat tire if He wants to.
We had an AWESOME lunch in Murphysboro at the 17th Street Bar and Grill, where we met Roger and Linda. Though Roger had never done a cross country bike ride, he certainly knew everything there was to know about bike touring. We shared a couple of booths with them at the restaurant, and they paid for the better part of our meal when we were done. As if that weren't enough, they sent us on our way with fresh peaches from local orchards.
Chester welcomed us with the coolest pool we'd ever seen (yes, we swam more on Day 27 than we biked). Johnny of course had the kids doing double gainers and what-have-you off the high dive. It was a great time. We ate all the food in Chester, took pictures with all the Popeye paraphernalia (the founder of Popeye is from Chester and they take it VERY serously- pictures forthcoming), and the next morning crossed the Mississippi into Missouri. It really sunk in that we've ridden a LONG way from home.
Day 28 started with crossing the Mississississippi and ended in Farmington, where I went to a bike shop to get some work done on my wheel. They told us to come back later, so we headed over to Cece's Pizza Buffet and got all-you-can-eat for $4.99. We told three other cross country bike dudes to join us, and between the seven of us probably affected the stock market with the amount of food we ate. Johnny and Daveyray played a lot of video games. We were like little kids at Cece's and loved it.
We stayed in Farmington with the biggest group of Transamers we've seen yet. There were three OTHER dudes heading west, Brad and DeeDee and John, and another gal named Heidi. We all hung out in the pavilion and were about to go to bed when the local kids showed up and started playing semi professional soccer under the lights. Apparently that's the thing to do in Missouri. We still had no trouble falling asleep.
Day 29 was a LONG ride to Eminence. We got up really early (early enough to impress the other bikers in Farmington, which was a good feeling) and were 45 miles into our day's ride by lunchtime. Around mile 70 of 88, Johnny said "Ozarks, Schmozarks!" A crack of lightning came from the sky, and mountains rose up all around us. At least that's what it felt like - the last 18 miles into Eminence were really tough. I would tell you how tough but I blacked out. I came to at a dairy bar in Eminence, the guys were force feeding me a swirled medium sized soft ice cream cone.
We were a little ragged around the edges when we finally around at Harvey's Circle B Campground/Canoe Rental/Tubing palace. The road was a piece of work - after 88 miles of mountains, we had to navigate up the steepest climb of the day and basically walk our bikes over a half mile of gravel. Luckily we had decided at lunch to take the next day off and go tubing. Dinner that night was a little crazy - we hitched a ride into town (yes mom, hitching is cool in Missouri) and TRIED to eat at a place called Winfields. Unfortunately, the food truck wasn't due in until the next morning so they were out of EVERYTHING. This was surprising, as this was before the Guys On Bikes had gotten there and not after. We tried to order about 3 different entrees, and when they told us they were completely out of appetizers we politely had to leave. I mean, COME ON!
We went to the orchard and waited two solid hours on the best pork chops we've had in a long time. It was almost 10:30 by the time we left, but we had a good time chilling afterwards. I will say that it was a little tense sitting with three other HUNGRY dudes who were on their second restaurant after the longest ride of the trip. I thought they were going to kill me and eat me. I admit, the same thought passed through my mind about them.
Day 30 was as awesome as the previous day was tough. We lounged for most of the morning, did some laundry, gambled with the quarter machine at the laundromat, ate a GIGANTIC lunch - they had super everything burgers - and then got a ride out to the river. The ride was absolutely perfect, from the crazy start to the fun canoers passing us to the cliff jumping to the lounging for hours when the river slowed down. It was just what we needed to revitalize, and the river was fed by a spring so it was COLD and refreshing. After we got out it was probably slightly... polluted. We bumped into our friend George again in Eminence, and he camped out with us in Dan's Pavilion at Circle B. Johnny made the best sloppy joe's I've ever had in my life. Sorry ma, camp food is good. I promise I will never say anything like that about your spaghetti sauce.
Day 31 was today. A short ride from Eminence to Houston, finishing off the last of the Schmozarks. We actually made it into town for lunch, which was a second. I would say first, but we did it in Sebree. We arrived in town around 12:30 and were swimming in the public pool shortly after. The Guys on Bikes are gaining quite a repertoire of diving feats - double front flips, can openers, flying squirrels and half gainers are the big crowd pleasers. Johnny gained enough time on us on the ride to climb a fire tower and take some pictures of us from not-so-far-away. Ok, we're really far on the horizon and you can barely see us, but they should look really cool. He also got the speed record on the downhill from Farmington to Eminence. I've also learned not to ask Johnny about other stuff we should put in the weblog...
We ate at a really cool Pine Inn Cafe in Houston this afternoon (service is TOP NOTCH, second only to Jordan from the Soda Fountain on Day 10), and more swimming is on the schedule. See you at the pool!
1 Comments:
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you rode your bikes all the way to MISSOURI! You guys are tough and cool! I'm glad there are lots of great people looking out for you on the trail. I've alerted Sysco Foods and several other restaurant supply houses of your visit to the DC area next weekend...they're going to beef up shipments so that your dietary needs will be cared for... ;)
See you soon!
Julie
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Anonymous, at 10:51 PM
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