Reflection Section

Well, it’s already been over a year since we finished our bike trip (!!!) and almost that long since my last post (!!!) but re-reading the last one, especially the end, still brings me to tears.  Those feelings haven’t gone away but I’ve learned to accept them & still find things that bring me joy & a sense of purpose. Jumping back in where I left off (still in Missouri), here we go…

Day 75 (mid July): Up by 5:30am, oatmeal for breakfast, charged our devices, & chatted with 2 park maintenance crew members – Bruce & Drew.  Bruce was a cool guy.  He was retired from steel, working part time for the parks, and getting his knees replaced tomorrow.  He was a funny character – kept shaking his head & telling us how crazy we were for what we were doing 🙂  Before heading out of town we swung by a gas station for ice & water.  The cashier was sweet & curious; she had so many questions about our trip.

Our ride today was hot, sticky, full of trees, pecan groves, tons of little buttercup yellow/light green butterflies, pretty purple-flowered weeds, & ditch clams.  Ditch clams? Yes, ditch clams…or at least that’s how we’ve referred to them since we saw them.  Read more about them in my reflections below.  Much of our route today was through Lewis & Clark territory as well as the Trail of Death (different than Trail of Tears).  Every time we saw signs commemorating the Trail of Death we hoped it wasn’t an omen for us as we planned to ride 90 miles on a very hot & humid day (gulp). We took a break early, out on a quiet country road, to hang out with some farm goats chilling in a nice shaded area.  They naturally looked silly with their huge goatees but their behavior was also pretty entertaining.   Watching them, laughing at their quirky mischief, was a unique & welcomed resting stop of many for the day.

Back on the road for a while before pulling over in Carrollton at Burger Bar & More for lunch.  Meh.  My snacks would’ve been better.  Biking after lunch, in today’s midday heat & humidity, was a little brutal & necessitated stopping at a stranger’s house to cool off with their hose.  We tried asking for permission but they weren’t home so we went for it anyway.  We figured between getting caught while cooling off or getting too hot we’d take our chances.  Plus, I imagine they might’ve been understanding of our situation …. hopefully.  Either way, it felt great & recharged our energy for the next 7 miles before resting in the shade of a seemingly abandoned yard in the tiny town of DeWitt.  While sitting here, a cop stopped to ask if we were OK and suggested a big tree we could rest under another 3 miles up the road.  We had already planned to take a bigger break in another 7 miles but appreciated his tip nonetheless.

As planned, the next stop was the small town of Brunswick – home to the World’s Largest Pecan!  Unfortunately, it was a letdown for me – just a giant painted wooden structure (like the watermelon from Green River); not a real pecan.  We stopped at an old bar for a beer, where smoking was allowed inside and they only sold Bud & Bud Light…  The place was pretty empty aside from 3 old men who we chatted with for a bit.  They were nice, asked about our trip, offered to let us hose off at one of their houses down the road. Apparently the bar had installed a fancy new smoke-zapping machine that hung from the ceiling like an AC unit but it didn’t seem to do much of anything in my non-smoking opinion so we slammed our beers & left. On the way out of town we picked up a few snacks at the grocery store & a pizza at a small shop.  Again, this place was SO SMOKY but at least the pizza was pretty good.  Quick stop at the gas station for the bathroom, water refill, and iced coffee.  We were feeling fairly sluggish, still intended to get 40 more miles in, & my throbbing thumb was really pounding, so I just needed a little pick-me-up.

Another 11 miles before resting at a gas station in Keytesville where we filled up on water, I sipped on unsweetened iced tea, Ben had a Coke, & we chatted with a nice local lady, Carol Ann, for a while.  She was another interesting character, had lots to say, knew a lot about the area, and was pleasant to talk to.  Back on the road, through beautiful pecan country, dusk slowly approaching. Other than getting chased by a vicious dog along the highway while also getting passed by a truck that wouldn’t move over (a very small window for error on our end in terms of swerving away from danger), it was a lovely ride into the evening, especially after the sun went down – finally a break from the heat!  Aaaaahhhh, much better 🙂  We rode well into the evening (after 9pm), making it our longest ride yet at 92 miles, & arriving to the hotel we’d booked earlier only to find they’d been closed for a few days (thanks Priceline).  Luckily, there was another hotel half a mile back that was available.  Gear dump, indoor pool swimming, free (& warm!) hotel chocolate chip cookies, watched a little Princess Bride, snacked for dinner, shower, passed out.

Long days on the road in the middle of nowhere creates a perfect storm for reflection time, so buckle up – I’ve got a few!!!

Reflections

1. Biking along a busy-ish stretch of highway we noticed hundreds of clams on both sides of the road in dried-up ditches.  Big ones, for long stretches, in the ditch…WTF are ditch clams?  They seemed very out of place between a highway & corn fields, with no body of water in sight.  We asked a local about them later who said it’s from when the Missouri River floods.  I guess that makes sense but they just blew our mind.  We still talk about them whenever we see something clam-sized in a ditch or if the topic of clams or ditches comes up (as it does on the daily…?) – & both interject with “DITCH CLAMS!” before laughing ensues.

2. Burger bar + small Midwest town = deep-fried sides for this vegetarian’s lunch 🙁  It’s either that or the children’s menu (aka grilled cheese or pb&j….)

3. The first half of Day 75, the shoulder sucked some majorinsert preferred expletive.  The entire thing was a rumble strip so we had to ride in the road…a busy country road at that 🙁 After DeWitt, it got much better thankfully.

4. The cop’s advice for the tree 3 miles up the road was interesting to me for a couple reasons.  First, it came off more in the vein of “you can’t sit here” so we left when he did but it also made me curious if bikers and non-bikers have different definitions of acceptable resting spots on a blazing hot day worthy of heat exhaustion.  His tip was thoughtful but also confusing to us as there were MANY opportunities for shade between where we saw him and the big tree he was talking about.  For us, at least on such a hot day, literally anywhere that produces shade will do (a tall pile of logs, a big road sign, any building or structure, overpass, etc) where other non-bikers we’ve met seem to think you can only rest at an established/public area.  It was food for thought.  I’m sure I wouldn’t have thought anything of it back home but since we were in the middle of nowhere with hours of thinking time in the saddle, it rolled around in my brain for a bit.

5. Being the MN-nice/midwesterner that I am it felt rude to move to a different table to get away from the smoke so it was just easier to slam our beer & go.  It sounds stupid when I type it out; it wouldn’t have been a big deal.  If we didn’t like the smoke, we should’ve just moved – pretty simple – but in the moment I didn’t want to offend them.  Ugh, dumb 🙁

6. In Missouri, or at least where we were biking, we didn’t notice as many friendly waving-drivers as Kansas.  They all seemed to keep to themselves, which is fine, but in Kansas it felt like most people waved & it kind of perked up our spirits when they did 🙂

7. I purposely chose to not wear bike gloves in order to avoid the Mickey Mouse-like white hands tan line and because I found it gross to have sopping sweat-soaked gloves stuck to my hands all day.  With nowhere else to go all that sweat has been soaking into my handlebars and it’s really done a number on the bar tape 🙁 Until Missouri it was just a little weathered, but in the thick of this humidity it really started to fall apart.

8. Despite the corn harvest, there were still a few stragglers in every field that were a little creepy.  It was like someone was just standing out in the field stalking me; staring at me as I rode by.  No, that wasn’t meant to be punny but it really came together at the end there like a joke, but that wasn’t my intention.  They really were creepy.

9. Speaking of creepy… To combat saddle sores we are constantly applying Chamois Butt’r (anti-chafing cream), or as we refer to it – “butt butter”, and don’t always have access to privacy (or frankly care about it anymore given the frequency with which we have to reapply) so we’ve become those weirdos on the side of the road or hiding near a corner of a building digging in our pants doing who knows what.  Well we know what, but any passersby would just see someone trying to hide or turn away while digging in the crotch of their pants…I’m pretty sure I’d think we were creepy too but we just don’t have access or time to always find a bathroom & the cream is pretty helpful so we wouldn’t want to go without it. We’ve just accepted we might be disturbing some people and actually find it quite hilarious.

10. The 2 tank tops I ride in are now very discolored from wiping my face & arms off every few minutes.  Apparently the mixture of sweat & sunscreen makes for a mild bleaching agent. Who knew?

11. Thank you, clouds!!! On super hot & humid days they really do make a big difference.  As soon as the cloud covers up the sun there’s an immediate relief that washes over – both mentally & physically.

12. Casey’s & Sinclair are the 2 major gas stations in the area for now & they’re everywhere.  Casey’s doesn’t have water at the soda station but a bathroom sink works fine too.  Some gas stations we ran into were closed by 7pm on a weekday night. What? Do people not drive around on a weeknight? What if they ran out of gas? I’m sure they’re used to it but we found it odd. We’re so used to them being open late.

13. These long, hot days in the middle of nowhere are finally getting to us & things are getting weird/we’re getting silly.  We’ll just start saying random goofy things out of nowhere & start laughing uncontrollably at nothing.  I even caught Ben singing a song to his Shot Bloks 🙂

14. Near the eastern side of Kansas & halfway through Missouri I had seen these pretty orange flowers I kept meaning to take a picture of.  I’d always think “I’ll get the next ones” but eventually they faded away & we never saw them again.  I missed my opportunity & was disappointed I’d waited so long.  It was a good reminder of my reason for taking this trip: do things while you can, the next opportunity isn’t a guarantee.

15. There was a small stretch of Highway 24 between Clifton Hill & Hunstville that was lined with pecan groves that was really beautiful.  I could’ve ridden through that landscape all day.  The huge trees were peaceful & calming to me. I’m not sure if it’s because I saw them as shade opportunities & found that relieving or if it was just for their raw beauty.  Either way, it was lovely enough to still remember over a year later.

16. I couldn’t help but think of the movie Signs as we rode past so many corn fields, half expecting to look back & see aliens chasing us. That’ll make you bike a little faster!

17. We’ve met several groups of bikers traveling east to west & after thinking about it all day I determined that can’t be the best way to do it if you have a choice. In general, the wind won’t be in your favor.  If you’re a late riser (like us) the sun will largely be blinding you & the drivers going in your same direction after it passes high noon, meaning you AND the drivers can’t see as well…double trouble.

18. While this trip was 99.9% AMAZING, here are some of the non-glamorous parts about it: a) more acne from constant sweating & all that sunscreen; b) slightly tender crotch; c) aforementioned creepy crotch digging; d) very potent body odor, especially the nether regions (like after a really sweaty workout but 5 times worse – don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about!  OK, maybe you don’t & I’m a weirdo. I can live with it.  Enough about crotches already!); e) being sticky & wet with sweat & sunscreen all day – rocking a general nasty grime all day; f) gnarly tan lines (although, to be honest, they were kind of a point of pride & constant physical reminder of our trip (during & after) that served as a good conversation starter – “WOAH, look at those tan lines! Where’d you get those from?”).

19. Today was broken up very nicely with a small town every 7 miles; natural stopping points to hide from the sun for 5 minutes.

20. Ever been driving and needed to pass a biker on the road but there’s no room with oncoming traffic? Here’s a hot tip: either wait a minute or at least slow down!  Many people would pass us when there wasn’t room for either of us to move over & instead of slowing down they’d just fly right by us, inches from total annihilation – very unnerving for us 🙁 At minimum slow down, it makes a big difference.

21. Not sure if it was just too stark of a difference but having ice cold water on such a hot day actually gave me a headache.  It was TOO cold!  I usually relished the chill but, at least for me, it was too much of a contrast & made my head hurt.

22. In Missouri we noticed a lot more brick houses than we’d seen anywhere else on our trip.  Other than assuming it’s what was available, is this intentional so their houses are sturdier for tornadoes?

23. Something we learned to keep in mind when staying at a hotel or motel was requesting a ground floor room.  We were sometimes given our room key only to have to return it a few minutes later in exchange for a ground level room.  We always rolled our bikes into the room with us, even if it was a tight squeeze.  For the summer, those things were our life so it wasn’t worth the risk leaving it outside if we didn’t have to.  Anything that required an elevator or stairs was a bit of a hassle (not impossible, but easier if there was a ground room available).

24. Swimming in a public pool after being sweaty & gross all day requires a quick rinse in the shower before jumping in.  Despite the chlorine, they don’t need our sweat, salt, sunscreen, & swamp-ass nastying up the pool!  Totally understandable.  Unfortunately, the pre-rinse defeats the satisfaction of the initial plunge.  Normally we go straight from being hot/sticky/sweaty to being fully submerged in tons of water where all our physical troubles are immediately washed away.  When we have to rinse first, yeah we’re cleaner, but there’s something about a full-body submersion to really take all your cares away that you just don’t get with a quick rinse in the shower.

Good grief, that was only one-day’s worth but it seems long enough so I’ll stop there for now.  It wasn’t a particularly spoketacular post, mostly reflections, but at least it’s another drop in the bucket.  Until next time!