The Big Ride

This was the second pair of jackasses we saw today. Below is a reasonable likeness of how the first pair looked. The vast majority of the drivers in Missouri, as in the other states on this trip, have been wonderfully courteous and cautious. If they are looking to overtake us from behind, they go wide […]

RAIN!!!! And lots of it! Within less than a mile we were soaked through, but thankfully not cold since the temperature was around 71 degrees. We were worried about slick roads and possible flooding but luckily escaped those obstacles. Our little friend here narrowly escaped being flattened- I moved him away from the middle of

Today was a day of surprises. I came across this family of raccoons – here you see the 3 babies – mom had just run off. You’ll have to zoom in to see them better but trust me, they were so cute and CURIOUS! Unfortunately the car honked at them and off they scurried, cutting

Today was an excellent day in many respects. Tammy’s weather check indicated a chance of rain where we are meant to be on Saturday and Sunday, so we combined today’s and tomorrow’s mileage into our second consecutive 117 mile whopper. in addition to the distance, it was hot and humid, plus we had reached the

Today was quite pleasant – the landscape is greener and more roly poly, getting us geared up for the hills of Southern Missouri tomorrow (yay – outta Kansas!) And the temperature, though hot (94 degrees) was bearable with a light breeze. Finally a day with little headwind! A great riding day. About a week ago

I got a massage last night and we all realized today how tired we had been. We all slept in, then Brad and Sue chilled and shopped for tomorrow’s lunch while Tammy and I set out for three destinations. First, we found a wonderful Trek dealer, the bicycle X-Change Shop on the old Chisholm Trail

We know that, by having a support vehicle and staying in hotels rather than bike-packing and staying in campgrounds, we are not paragons of limited environmental impact on his trip. That said, we are getting frustrated that most of our hotels that serve breakfast do so with paper plates/bowls and plastic cutlery. In some cases,

Today started an hour later than expected – Mark had to change both tires on his bike. So, off we went expecting to cut our 120 mile day down to 80 miles. In the end we compromised at 100 miles, which means we’ll need to do 120 tomorrow. Ugh. The highlights of my day were:

We’ve left “Incarceration Row” and are now in the “Feed Lot Belt”. So many cows. We’re not talking in terms of thousands here – we’re talking MILLIONS. And, they’re kinda smelly when the wind is blowing the “wrong” way. Today was a “people” day. We met 16 other cyclists going east to west to benefit