Eminence, Missouri to Bendavis, Missouri
Packed up and checked out of Riverside Motel. Returned cordless phone to desk and told clerk the 2003 - 1903 line and she started talking about party lines and rotary phones. Sheesh! I’m in the Ozarks. Morning fog now burned off but when I woke up it was so dense, I thought it was raining.
Brilliant sunshine across the Jacks Fork River. Up to Ruby’s T&T Cafe for breakfast. The river is crystal clear. Pass Tom Akers Road, named for an astronaut who walked in space a lot and is from Eminence, MO. This area is really beautiful. Keep thinking about the room I slept in last night. The furniture style was right out of The Flintstones. Whittled branches for drawer pulls and big, clunky chairs - no cushions for my sore ass. The bed was comfy though.
I hear two more mountains to get over early today - which is good, as its easier doing long climbs on fresh legs.
Well, I’m in the tent in Bendavis, MO. I ran out of daylight and knew there would be a grocery store here but it was already closed. Set up my tent on some grass next to the store. Hope they don’t mind. Just made an awesome cup of hot tea. Very soothing at the end of the day. The last hour of riding was sensational. Water color sunset over rolling fields peppered with cattle and giant rolled bales of hay. On my left the rising (nearly full) moon played peek-a-boo through the treetops until it soared alone in the open sky. It’s gonna be a bright night. KUKU-FM Radio played some good tunes!
I thought I would make it to Hartville, MO, where I had planned to camp on the courthouse lawn, (They let bikers do that!) but it was another 20 miles away, so I stopped in Bendavis. One reason I didn’t make it to my intended destination was getting a late start. Left Eminence, MO at 11:30
I decided to stop at Alley Spring - a natural spring which actually looks like a small lake and put forth 81 million gallons of water a day! Just a big pool of water bubbling up out of the ground. I met Pam and her daughter, Aspen there. Pam was dressed in the kind of clothes worn in a much earlier period. There was a mill alongside the spring and Pam explained how sluice gates and a turbine would harness the power of the flowing spring water and drive mill machines that would grind wheat.
The spring water was of questionable drinking quality and we watched a large snake swim across it. It was a very picturesque place and I got Pam and Aspen to pose for a picture. They were very nice and offered to take my mail back to town because I didn’t pass a post office before I left. So thanks for dropping it off for me. They also gave me some home-made lye soap which they said was good for bites and poison ivy, among other uses. Later on, I realized that my Trans America Trail map for Missouri had only one photo in it and it was of the mill at Alley Spring.
Right after Alley Spring were two major Ozarks to climb. Then it became up and down the rest of the day. The feared “Ozark Crazies” I was supposed to encounter between Ellington and Houston, MO, never materialized. In Houston, MO I got one, “Get a life!” from somebody but that was it, if you don’t count the backfiring truck which was a bit startling.
Coming into the main intersection in Houston, MO, I saw a cross-country biker heading the other way! I yelled but he didn’t hear me so I went down the road after him. He was Ted Beverly and he was going from San Francisco to Washington, DC, where he lives. He is staying in motels every night. He told me about some good places to stay in Kansas. It turned out he was just ending his day in Houston and I still had a way to go so we didn’t talk long.
Looking back I probably should have called it a day there and hung out there for the night. Now I’m only 20 miles from there and in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I’ll get in touch with him when I get home. He told me about some other people heading west but I’m at least 3 or 4 days behind them.
63.38 miles. 5 hrs. 22 min. 1484.4 total miles.
I also was slowed down by a library internet stop in Summersville, MO. Emailed my cousin David and his wife, Jenny in Japan to thank them for the cookies! I try to answer any and all mail I receive.
Well, it’s 9:15 and I think I’ll stare at the moon, finish my tea, and go to sleep. 55° tonight, mid 80’s tomorrow. More of the same for next 3 days! Glad I’m doing this in September. I figured the weather could be like this.