Day 3 (Sun Jun 19, 2016)
Today’s Miles: 50 Total Trip Miles: 158
Tebbetts, MO to Rocheport, MO: The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back
I had a good night’s rest in the shelter. I woke up several times during the night, but I was always comfortable. One of the pleasures of cycling are the many friendly people you meet along the way. But I have to confess, I am glad I had the shelter to myself last night. I was so tired and hungry, that I just would not have been good company. The shelter is fairly big and hosts many youth group activities. It is not a spit and polished place, so if you want the bed and breakfast experience, this is not the place for you. But, for most road weary touring cyclists, this place is a breath of fresh air.
Procuring food was a problem again. The Pub and Grub next door, does not serve breakfast. I dug into my emergency food, supplemented by the soups, noodles, crackers, and other odds and ends donated by other cyclists who stayed at the shelter. Before I left, I put a couple of tins of my emergency food in the cabinets. Who knows, these items may hit the spot for some future hungry traveler, when really needed.
It was time to go, I did not want to arrive at my destination in the dark, for the third night in a row. I bid my farewell to the shelter.
I was determined to keep a steady pace today, but the heat was not cooperating, neither was the KATY trail. Jefferson City, one of the major cities on the route, was approaching.
I thought this would be my big chance to consume some good old fast food. For some reason, I kept thinking about Egg McMuffins. But, my hopes were dashed when the Jefferson City Spur Trail was over 3 miles long. A six mile round trip for an Egg McMuffin, while tempting, just wasn’t going to happen.
I found that I was starting to ignore the scenery due to my increased pace. But, I still managed to get a few shots of the typical KATY Trail sights.
I made sure to take extra water bottles, so water was not a big problem, but I just didn’t anticipate needing so much food. It was not like I felt great hunger pains, but it was more like feeling weak. After rolling by Jefferson City, my next best option for food was the town of Hartsburg, which listed the availability of restaurants. Sometimes the KATY Trail stations would have advertisements of the lodging and restaurants available in town. Hartsburg listed a diner, and then a more upscale restaurant. The diner was more in my price range, but it was really a bummer when they put out the “Closed” sign, right when I arrived. I went back to the station to check out the prices of the Hartsburg Grand Restaurant. Their prices were higher, but they were clearly bicycle friendly. At the station they had a blackboard easel, listing their hours of service, and offering to fill up water bottles with ice water. I had no choice, I needed to eat.
I was so hungry and tired, I forgot to take pictures, but they offered a Father’s Day buffet. It was more than I wanted to pay, but the buffet looked good. They had some great pork roast, chicken, and burgers. They also had pasta, deviled eggs, potato salad, and deserts. I couldn’t pass this up. Plus, everyone in the restaurant was really nice. Despite my worn, dusty, and sweaty appearance, I had some good conversations with the waitress, the owner, and a customer who was feeding his granddaughter fruit from the buffet.
Now that I was refueled, I hustled down the road, but found that I often had to take rest breaks due to the heat. After forgetting to take pictures at the restaurant, I tried not to further neglect the uniqueness of this journey. Have you ever seen anything like this before?
The bluffs to the right of the trail continued to provide interesting points of interest, many of them discovered by Lewis and Clark.
I missed the marker explaining the following ruins, but I later found out that explosives used for the building of the railroad were stored here.
My pace began to slacken, and my rest breaks grew longer and longer. Mosquitoes had not been a problem up to this point, but they now started to bother me during my rest breaks. It was becoming clear to me that I could not keep up the pace scheduled for this trip. Typical rookie mistake, but I still needed to adapt. Many touring cyclists do not hesitate to take rest days in motel rooms when necessary. My problem is that I am on a schedule, so I need a plan that works with my time constraints. As I rolled along, I came up with a plan to abort the idea of riding the entire KATY trail both ways. My plan was to find lodging in the town of Rocheport, maybe even take a rest day, and then proceed to complete the KATY trail and Rock Island extension one way. By only going one way, I could reduce the number of miles I needed to travel each day, and still get back home in time by returning on the Amtrak.
I thought this was a great plan, especially since my camping destination just past Rocheport was the most primitive of the campsites on my planned route. No water or restrooms would be available. So, I continued toward Rocheport, and actually arrived earlier than any of the previous nights. Unfortunately, the straw that broke that camel’s back hit me. As if heat, hunger, mosquitoes, no food, no water, and no bathrooms, were not enough, my bicycle developed a problem.
The weight of the gear on my bicycle, while heavy, was certainly not beyond what many touring cyclists carry. But, about 50 yards from the Rocheport station, I heard this unusual noise. I didn’t think much of it, as I was able to proceed to the station as usual. However, when I leaned my bicycle up against some of the station poles, I could see that something was clearly wrong. I could see that my rear rack, had separated from the rest of the bicycle frame. It slid backwards, and I was surprised that my gear did not end up strung along the trail for the past quarter mile. Here is a picture I took at home, after the fact.
I thought that some of the screws and bolts had just come loose. I thought I might be able to fix the problem. But, the screws and bolts all seemed tight. It appeared that the weight of my gear just yanked the rack out of the existing sockets. As best as I could tell at the time, my trip was over.
I managed to beat the rack back into the sockets, and I tied a nylon cord between the bicycle frame and rack, just so I could ride around town looking for available lodging. Cell phone coverage was minimal. Only after walking my bike up a very steep hill, did I get some cell phone reception. I asked my wife to find if there was any available lodging in town. Fortunately, she found a bed and breakfast where someone cancelled at the last minute. They offered a reasonable price to fill the vacancy for that night. For the third night in a row, I was saved late in the evening.
The bed and breakfast was nice by my standards, and I was able to cook a frozen pizza and get some soft drinks. Don’t laugh, these items tasted so good! The next day, the rescue squad (my wife) came to pick me up. We met the owner of the B&B, who was a very chill guy. He was really glad he could help.
This adventure is now prematurely over, and my first bicycle touring trip was a failure. But, I am not giving up, I am already hatching plans for my next trip.