Day 63, Ash Grove to Marshfield, MO

Miles – 46

Miles From Start/To Finish – 2,882/1,463

Ave Riding Speed – 5-35 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 6

Weather – Sunny and 93 (heat index 107)

Kim and I were both in bed last night at 7:30pm. The heat and humidity have been pretty intense. Sounds like most of the country is experiencing the same thing. Sleeping on a cot beats sleeping on an air mattress any day and getting the almost 10 hours of sleep was effortless. Kim said I continue to be the weak link with getting up in the mornings. Kim was up at 5am, turned all the lights on, dressed and rustling around the hostel before I got up just before 5:30am. I made the excuse that she could have woken me up.

We snacked on our breakfast, yogurt and banana, while we rolled up our sleeping and packed our gear. Kim made one last round of wiping the counters down and giving the bathroom a final shine while I took out the garbage. We were out the door at 6:25am and headed back to the Ash Grove City Hall to put the key in the metal drop box hanging beside the front door.

We pedaled back to the main intersection in town to get back on the TransAm route. We both saw the sign pointing to Walnut Grove, 8-miles north and we got on the white line and rode away. As we were riding, I noticed the sun glowing in the lite haze off to the left and was thinking the road would angle around to where the sun should be, off to my right. I looked down at my map and didn’t see any turns, plus the traffic seemed pretty heavy for what was supposed to be a back country road. We continued for 5-miles and stopped at an intersection for Hwy UU. I looked at the map and saw that road went south. Well, it turns out we missed a turn back in town. Instead of going north on Hwy V, we were going east on Hwy 160. We took a drink of water, reviewed our map and figured we would be fine and won’t lose any miles getting back on the route.

We rode another 4-miles east, into Willard, and stopped at a convenience store for some ice and a Clif bar. The cashier confirmed that if we stayed on the side road by the store we’ll head through the north end of town and can pickup Hwy Z and head north and get back on our route. 7-miles up we were heading east.

The roads we were traveling today continued like a very large roller coaster, except the momentum from the 200 feet downhills just never seemed to be enough to get us up the next uphill. We hit speeds of 35 mph on some downhills and backed down to the granny gears and 4-5 mph to get to the top of the next hill. Once we got comfortable with the hills, we were able to take in the beautiful countryside. Pretty awesome scenery, large trees, farm fields, cattle, horses and even one dog nipping at our heels.

After 16-miles heading east on Hwy BB we rode into Fair Grove to the Kum’n Go convenience store/gas station for something to eat and ice up our water. We each got a grilled sandwich and sat down at a table inside the store. There we 3 elderly guys sitting at the table next to us, having their regular coffee date, and they asked us where we’re heading. Kim said we’re only going another 20-miles to Marshfield today. They giggled and said that didn’t seem like much. Then Kim explained that we’re heading to Virginia. They all popped up a bit and asked how much does a bike like that cost and that they see bikers along there pretty often. Fun chatting with the guys.

After being in the store for 30-minutes we walked out and the heat was very noticeable, now that we had cooled down in the A/C. We both knew we stayed to long. That long of stay tends to make us sluggish and are muscles are tightened up. The first few climbs we struggled. The combination of sitting too long and our bodies trying to digest what we just ate takes a little toll. After a bit we warmed back up, clothes were drenched and we were back in the game. The remainder of the 17-miles into Marshfield went well and we were happy that is was a shorter mileage day.

We pulled into the Holiday Inn on the west side of town at 12:30pm. I believe today marked our earliest destination arrival. As we leaned our bikes against the hotel drive-thru pillar, Kim said to go in there and work your magic and get us a room. We had a reservation, but we’re a couple of hours ahead of their preferred check-in.

The front desk lady was very accommodating and even gave us a room on the first floor. We quickly took a shower and hung our biking clothes off of our bikes to dry out. Kim rolled under the covers and was napping in minutes. I fought it for a bit, but ended up taking a nap as well.

At 3:00 we were both ready for something to eat and walked over to Grillo’s Café. We each had a taco salad and water and I had a cup of the homemade Chix noodle soup. It was all very tasty and very reasonably priced. On the walk home we stopped at a roadside vegetable stand to see if they had any tomatoes. They did, but nothing ripe. Kim saw the Dairy Queen across the highway and was in the mood for ice cream. Kim got a blizzard and I had a malt. We finished them off by the time we walked the 3-blocks back to the hotel.

It was a good day of riding and we’ve gotten rid of some of the roller coaster highway fears. Our goal now is to continue to get earlier starts to beat the heat. Today’s heat index hit 107 and we probably can’t carry enough water to sustain our hydration needs. The Missouri drivers have been exceptionally accommodating. If we’re riding up a hill, they will wait until they can see what’s coming up from the other side before passing us on these 2-lane, no shoulder roads.

The picture is of the sun coming up this morning as we were leaving Ash Grove.