Day 65, Houston to Ellington, MO

Miles – 71

Miles From Start/To Finish – 3,020/1,325

Ave Riding Speed – 3-33 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 9.75

Weather – Sunny and 99 (heat index 108)

Kim was up roaming around the motel room when my alarm went off at 5am. The goal was once again to be out the door by 6am. We went about packing, snacking on breakfast, showering and getting ready. I was giving our bikes a quick once over and noticed Kim’s back rear was flat. It was her very first flat of the entire trip! Kim’s initial reaction was. “I know right where I got it!” It was the last stretch of road coming into Houston on Hwy 17. It had a shoulder and heavily traveled by semi-trucks. I pulled the tire off and inspected the tread. Sure enough, there was a piece of wire from a blown semi-truck tire stuck in her tire. I pulled the inner tube just to verify the puncture. I couldn’t see it so I put some air in the tube and held it up to my face. Yep, the leak was from the same place as the piece of wire. I felt around the inside of the tire, but nothing, so I pulled the wire out. It was less than a quarter-inch long. While I was putting her bike back together Kim went for ice for our water bottles and came back with a bonus; coffee. With the small delay we left the motel at 6:30am.

There was a slight haze in the air and humid, as we road north a mile to hook up with Hwy 17 heading east. It was going to be another scorcher, high 90’s and maybe hit 100 degrees. The semi-truck traffic must have rerouted to other Hwy’s leaving town because they weren’t on our 2-lane, no-shoulder route for the day. The 23-mile ride to Summerville started with a few climbs when our legs weren’t yet warmed up, but other than that it was a pretty nice ride winding up, down and around the countryside.

When we rode into the town Summerville, population 502, we stopped at a convenience store for the usual ice, water, Gatorade and a salty snack. As we were standing by our bikes getting ready to leave a very sweet older lady stopped to chat. She said she’s lived in the area and raised her family there. They can all cook and do laundry and those are things that people need for living a good life. We shook our heads in agreement and she said now she’s working on her great grandchildren. It was sweet. Then we watched her drive away in her white, Ford F150, back to her senior living apartment. Kim and I thought that was awesome!

In Summerville we got on Hwy 106 heading east through the Ozark National Scenic Riverway for 22-miles, as we continued the ups, downs and arounds until we reached Eminence, population 600. We pulled into another convenience store and loaded up our water and drank a Gatorade and ice slushy. As we were filling our water bottles, I noticed an older lady pull up to the gas pump and smile at us. As she was pumping her gas, she was still glancing our way, so I waved and smiled. She walked over to us and asked where we’re heading. I introduced ourselves and we met Joanne, a sweet grandmotherly looking lady. She said she’s lived in the area for 30-years and that she has a place on Hwy H, a few miles out on our path today. Joanne said that her little 80-acres in the closest thing to going to church. She also said she’s saved many a stranded bicycle riders along the next 27-miles because they are the toughest miles on the TransAm trail. Joanne gave us directions to her house and said that if the heat is getting to us, as it’s supposed to get to 100 degrees today, we are welcome to stay with her for the night. What a great gesture and she was so sincere.

Once we left Eminence, we continued east on Hwy 106. Many of the next 27 miles were brutal. It was 99 degrees, sunny, humid and the steep hills, one after another, were everything we heard they’d be. We could feel the loss of energy in our legs and soon we were not able to pedal climb with the same output from earlier in the day. As we continued, we soon had to walk many of the hills. We were leaning into our bikes and pushing with everything we had just to get to the next crest. At one point Kim had a “moment” and threw her bike to the ground. My first comment, which I probably should have said nothing, was, “you’re probably going to need that.” It was incentive and I knew I was better off saying as little as possible, while getting in a few words of encouragement. This was the toughest day of the trip so far and we both handle stress and exhaustion differently.

We took it hill by hill for the next 5-miles until I saw a driveway with some shade and a place to lean our bikes and rest. We had 17 more miles to go and I wasn’t so sure we could do it, if the next 17 miles was anything like the last 10-miles. Soon a maroon, Dodge pickup truck pulled into the long gravel driveway and the window rolled down. I figured it was the property owner and I said I hope he didn’t mind us resting there. He said to take all the shade we need. I introduced us and we met Chip, a retired former country sheriff for the area. He told us we’ve gotten through the worst part of the 27-miles and the next 17-miles get better the closer we get to Ellington. It provided a little bit of energy for us. We thanked Chip and he rolled down his long driveway.

Kim was worried about not making it into Ellington by 4pm to meet Julie, a Director with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA). Julie was coming down from St. Louis, about 3-hours, to meet us face-to-face for the first time and have dinner. I texted her at 12:45 and said we might be late, but we’ll be there at some point today.

With that we got back on our bikes with the goal of riding 17 miles in 3 hours. That says something about what we were facing. We struggled to find the energy to even push our bikes up the hills and would continually stop for a piece of shade. Once we’d get to the top of a hill, we’d get back on our bikes and ride for any piece of road that wasn’t going uphill.  The last 7-miles the steep ups and downs weren’t as drastic and it gave us more and more hope that we could finish today’s ride.

At 4:15pm we pulled into Ellington and darn happy to be here. We pulled over to look up the direction to Checo’s Mexican Grill, to meet Julie. As we rolled into the parking lot, we noticed our motel across the street. Awesome! Julie quickly walked out the front door to greet us and, after a warning, we gave soaking wet hugs. The dinner conversation was effortless and we enjoyed meeting her. She even brought balloons and a couple gifts, jerky and beer.

The food at Checo’s was very good. On the way out the door we passed a table of four people and one of the ladies said that she recognized us and that she is following our adventure on Facebook. It was pretty cool and an honor to have someone recognize us in a place we’ve never been before.

Julie snapped a couple pictures and posted them on Facebook. We rode across the street to our motel and checked-in, showered and I hung my shower-washed bike clothes on a chair outside our motel room to dry.

Tomorrow’s ride is supposed to be on pace with todays. Kim beat me to bed for the night, but I’ll be there shortly.