Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Day 31 (7/23): Girard, KA --> Marshfield, MO (130 miles)

Days mileage: 130 miles

Another hot and humid morning with nothing the thought of getting out of Kansas hanging fresh over the yonder horizon line...so I made haste in packing up my gear, eating, and pedaling towards the east....it stayed relativly cool for most of the morning, but by the time I stopped for lunch in Golden City the humdity had hit the fan and the librarian was telling me to sign in to use the computers....

After a break of eating and updating blog I started to bike deeper and deepr into Missouri. Kansas was already a distant memory and the current was already testing my legs and determination to get to Marshfield by days end. The landscape slightly mimicked that of eastern Kansas with rolling terrain and more and more trees hovering over the road.

I made sure to stop often to restock in water and in rehydrate myself to heed off any form of unwanted physical distress...Once the map hit Pennsboro the terrain took a turn towards the sky..quite literally. Steep, steep, steep climbs were waiting for me after each turn in the road....and luckily there was just as steep of a descent on the flip side. There were some climbs so steep in grade I thought I was going to fall back off the bike...no joke....even in the easiest gear and standing up progress was slow, but at least steady.

I shoved the thought that this wasn't even the Ozarks yet towards the back corner of my mind....

Near the tail end of the day I passed some folks all heading westbound. One was a pair of guys going all over the place and mainly following the western tier route.....the other fellow was from England and I saw him in Marshfield updating his blog...he was great to chat with and helped take mind off of my tiredness and desire for food. We discussed the terrain the other would be facing within the next day or two and all that cool jazz.

I checked into a cheap motel for the night so I could stock up on some sleep and not have to worry about being atackd by mosquitos and/or the humidity.

1 comment:

Taz Brown said...

Watch out for the MO rednecks! Flying the good ol red, wht and blue helped us get through unbothered.