July 29 - Carbondale, IL to Vienna, IL

Written by Gloria

We had a bit of a later start today, which was very nice.  Getting up at 4 am gets old after a while.  We base our wake up time on temperatures, how hilly the ride will be, and whether or not we have people visiting and/or joining the ride.

Yinka, Alex and Adrianna met us in time for breakfast.  The waffle machine got a healthy workout.  After breakfast, we rode off.  Yinka & the kids hung out at the hotel, then went swimming.  

We had a mixed ride today.  The morning was relatively calm.

Then we had about 10 miles of traffic.  We arrived in Goreville around 11:00.  Yinka and the kids were waiting for us.  We had lunch at Subway.  It was really enjoyable!

After Goreville we had about 7 miles on a busy road, then we found the perfect bike trail.  Tunnel Hill State Trail is a 44.5 mile bicycle trail that runs from Harrisburg to Karnak, Illinois.  It is an old railroad trail that has become a rail trail.  Although it is not paved, it reminds me of the Silver Comet Trail.   We finished the last 9 miles of our 48 mile ride on this trail.  Riding on it with no motorized vehicles was heavenly! 

On Tunnel Hill State Trail, we had to stop at Sandburn Junction because it had a big sign welcoming bicycle riders.  A 40-something year old man, an elderly man and a girl were there enjoying Italian Ices.  Turns out that the "store" runs on the honor system.  They have a price list, you choose what you want, then you pay for it by putting the money in a coffee can.  Michael had ice cream, and Eric and I had an Italian Ice while we chatted with the two men.  They seemed very knowledgeable about the Trail, as well as other areas that we will be riding through.  After finishing my Italian Ice, I decided to push on (Yinka and the kids were waiting on the trail in Vienna).  Michael and Eric studied maps with the younger man for quite a while. They caught up with me right before we entered Vienna.

We met Yinka, Alex and Adrianna at Vienna Park.  The park is really nice, and the kids were having a great time.  We hung around for a little while, then made our way to our hotel.

Our hotel did not have a guest laundry, so after a really short swim in frigid water, we decided to have happy hour in the town square park while waiting for our laundry to wash and dry.  I was worried about how this would work, but it actually worked out quite well.  

When Yinka and the kids were in Vienna park, Alex found a painted rock that said USA.  As we walked into the laundromat, Alex found another painted rock that said Be A Light.  The last rock was found by Adrianna.  It didn't have words but was painted like a US flag.  Apparently other towns (like Decatur, GA) are doing this rock painting thing.  They leave the rocks all over town for people to find.

We went to Wildfires for dinner.  Three people ordered the all you can eat seafood dinner.  It had fish, shrimp, frog legs, corn on the cob, beans.  It was a lot of food.  No one really liked the frog legs, and none of us had room  for pie, but it's all good!

July 26 - Rest Day Farmington, MO & July 27 - Farmington, MO to Chester, IL

Gloria

July 26 - Rest Day Farmington

We only did a few things on our rest day in Farmington.  

Michael - walked to downtown Farmington and had the best pizza maybe ever for lunch.

Eric - got a haircut and worked out on the treadmill.

Gloria - swam and got a massage.

The most important thing that happened was that Eric's sister, Ann, and her husband, John, joined us for Happy Hour and dinner.  We met Ann & John in the breakfast room of the hotel, where Eric had set up wine, crackers and a cheese dip.  After chatting for a bit, we went out to dinner at Catfish Kettle.  We each had a delicious meal.  Afterwards we shared...yep you guessed it...pie.  We have been eating our share of some pie on this trip.  Good stuff.

Ann & John live near St. Louis.  They drove 90 miles to join us for dinner.  Ann works in the school system helping special education high schoolers learn life skills.  John is a semi-retired investment trader.  They have 3 children - 2 boys and 1 girl.  Their oldest boy is getting married Labor Day weekend.  After talking to them for just a couple of hours, I felt like I had known them much longer.  They drove back to St. Louis after dinner.  Thanks for joining us, Ann & John!

July 27 - Farmington, MO to Chester, IL

Our ride today passed the Gloria Hill Test - the hills weren't too steep and there weren't too many of them.  But...there were hills...no shoulders and lots of cars and trucks.

We started out around 5:30 am from Farmington.  For the first couple of hours, there weren't too many cars.  It was peaceful and scenic once the sun came up.

Today we went through Missouri Wine Country.  We passed lots of vineyards and signs advertising vineyards.  I wanted to stop and take a wine tour, but we had to push on due to the threat of scattered thunderstorms.  We did not want to be in the middle of nowhere when a thunderstorm came.  Although...being stuck in a vineyard might not have been so bad~

We decided today to forgo lunch in order to make it to Chester before the rain.  But we did stop briefly at a convenience store in St. Mary, MO.  The attendant was very welcoming and invited us to sign her bikers book.  We obliged.

In order to get into Chester, you have to cross the Mississippi River by using a rickety (in my opinion) bridge that has so many patches that you can't tell where the original asphalt is.  It had no shoulders and lots of traffic.  We rushed across it.  I should say that Michael & Eric rushed across it and I brought up the rear.  Once you cross the bridge, you are in the Illinois town of Chester - home of Popeye.  There is a welcome center. We took several pictures here.

In the parking lot of the Chester Welcome Center there was an elderly gentleman selling watermelons and cantaloupes.  We asked him to take our picture.  It took awhile because he didn't look like he had ever used a smart phone before.  Still...it was a nice gesture.

Eric bought a cantaloupe and strapped it to the back of his bicycle.  It made it to the hotel without falling off!

Our 49 miles complete, we arrived at our hotel around 12:15.  During check-in we asked about food (we are always hungry).  The hotel staff said we could have Chinese delivered.  Perfect!  We had a delicious lunch.

Yinka, Alex and Adrianna arrived around 3:15.  It was so wonderful to see them!  After getting all their stuff into their room, we all headed to the pool.  Alex has become quite the diver.  He has torpedos that he throws into the pool and retrieves.  There was another family from Chicago with three kids in the pool, so we invited them to join us.  We stayed out there for quite a while and eventually played Marco Polo.

Happy Hour begins promptly at 5:30, so I must go.  Having good friends join us on this adventure makes life so much greater!

July 25 - Lesterville, MO to Farmington, MO

Michael

This morning we started out at 5:30 a.m., when Paula's Restaurant opened for breakfast. We arrived there 5 minutes early, but incredibly enough we were not the first people there.  An older gentleman was waiting in his pickup truck and kindly told us that they would be open in 5 minutes.  In many of these smaller towns, we find an older group of gentlemen who appear to have breakfast every morning in the same restaurant. What intrigues me is that, so far, we have never seen an older group of gentlewomen meeting for breakfast in these restaurants.

Paula was very attentive and offered to fill our water bottles with ice and water even before we asked. This was very helpful as bed and breakfasts don't usually have an ice machine. Our breakfasts were all excellent and we were properly nourished to face the day.

Today we did something new, brave, and adventurous... at least for us. We decided not to follow the Adventure Cycling Association's map for the first 20 miles. Our hostess at the bed and breakfast, Kathy, suggested that we take a different route that would be less hilly.  Indeed the hills were much more rolling and much less steep. Although traffic was heavier than we would like and there were no shoulders, we definitely appreciated the rolling hills with no steep inclines.

We had lunch at a Subway in Pilot Knob around 10 am and then proceeded on our way to Farmington. Just before Pilot Knob the shoulders on the road became much wider. This was very much appreciated. For the last few days we have found ourselves concentrating on traffic, on staying close to the right side of the lane, and on staying in the rather narrow shoulder. This makes viewing and enjoying the scenery much more difficult, if not downright impossible. So although this part of Missouri is truly very beautiful, we really didn't pay that much attention to the beauty at all.  The traffic, the road conditions, and the shoulders are probably the biggest reasons we have all been taking very few pictures in the last week. 

As the day wore on, it did get noticeably hotter, but not nearly as hot as it has been over the last few weeks. The temperature was only expected to reach the low 90s today. However that didn't stop us from enjoying the following sign that we saw in front of a church.

Upon reaching Farmington Eric went straight to the hotel. But Gloria and I went straight to the bike shop so a mechanic could adjust our derailleurs, adjust our brakes, and get Gloria's handlebar tightened. Ever since the accident last weekend, her handlebars have shifted off center at every opportunity. Hopefully the bike shop today will have fixed this permanently.  L.T. at Trans Am Cyclery quickly took care of our problems. The charges were very reasonable.  We both left much relieved that our bicycles were quiet, our brakes weren't rubbing, our derailleurs were properly adjusted, and Gloria's handlebar was once again straight.

Tonight we had dinner at the Pasta House.  All of us enjoyed our dinner - we also enjoyed an outstanding piece of chocolate cake.

Tomorrow is the first day of a long list of people joining us.  We are looking forward to seeing all of them, but to be honest I am little nervous about our ability to keep the blog up to date with all our visitors.  So if we fall behind, know that we are doing well, enjoying the company of our visitors, and having a great time. But we will catch up... eventually.  How's that for advance rationalization?  Also please be aware that our posts are not always in order.  

Life continues to be great and we are enjoying every bit of it. Although to be honest,
my favorite part of almost every day is arriving at our hotel knowing we have safely arrived and that the ride for the day is over.

July 24 - Eminence, MO to Lesterville, MO

Gloria

Today marks 2 months that we've been on the road...and it was my worst day since last Sunday.  It was almost too much for me.  Who thought it was a good idea to make hills so steep that I would have to walk up them instead of ride my bike?  This is NOT the Tour de France!  Steep hill after steep hill after steep hill...it was nonstop.  This was the day that I seriously thought about calling an Uber driver.

The day started out innocent enough.  We left the Shady Lane Cabins & Motel at our usual ungodly hour, got a quick breakfast and ice and water for our water bottles at the convenience store next door. Once we turned left leaving Eminence the hill onslaught began.  I was exhausted after one hour, and we'd only gone a few miles!

I've mentioned before that Michael and Eric have been excellent support for me.  Today they were superb.  Were it not for them encouraging me before and after every hill, I seriously would have Ubered.

After 27 seemingly endless miles, we finally arrived in Ellington.  It was 10 am.  We needed sustenance, and we needed it bad, but we had to wait because Spooners (the only restaurant that opened at a reasonable hour) opened at 10:30.  We had brunch (?), refilled our water bottles and reapplied sunscreen.

Traffic today was some of the worst we've encountered.  If I must say so myself, it was a bit terrifying.  We are riding on roads with no shoulder with logging trucks and cars going very fast.  Most people don't slow down, but they move over.  When they catch us on a hill that they can't see over, it gets tricky.  Eric and Michael are good at stopping and moving over on the grassy shoulder.  I haven't mastered that skill yet.  When I'm going uphill, I can't stop.  If I stop, I can't get started again going uphill, so I have to walk until it levels.

Our destination today was Lesterville (54 miles).  After many more hills, the road leveled out a bit and we rode into Lesterville around 3:15-3:30.

We are staying at Crocker's Country Charm B&B.  It's a big old house that the owner bought many years ago and decided to make it a B&B.  Due to our early leaving hour, we won't be able to take advantage of the breakfast, but Kathy washed and dried our clothes instead.  A decent trade off.

Paula's home cooking is where we ate dinner and talked with a few locals.  It's also where we will have breakfast because they open at 5:30 am.

Even though it was a rough day for me, life is still great.

July 21 - Everton, MO to Marshfield, MO

Michael

Today the weather was very hot.  That seems to be the general pattern lately. Regretfully we haven't even gotten into August when it usually gets really hot.

We left Running Spring Farm this morning at 5:45 a.m.  Not as early as we hoped but certainly an early start.

Gloria played superwoman today.  She rode the first 40 miles and then drove the SAG car the rest of the day.  40 miles is very impressive for a woman who was hit by a car last Sunday.

The scenery has changed significantly in the last couple days. It seems like the only roads in this part of Missouri are roller coaster like hills that go up and down, over and over and over. The good news is that you usually get a steep or fairly steep downhill to help you get up the next hill. The bad news is that you're on your own for the rest of the way up that next hill.  Fifteen seconds after you finish climbing an uphill you get to start all over again because the downhills only last about 15 seconds.

We all think the hills of western Missouri are much prettier than the flatter sections of eastern Kansas and the really flat sections of central and western Kansas. There are still large cattle ranches and farms, but they are not the only thing you can see.  This section of Missouri has quite a few trees in these roller coaster hills.

We met several interesting characters today. One, or two I guess, were a running back and a quarterback from a 1960 something football team that are still best friends years later.  What was especially gratifying to see was that one of them was a white man and one of them was a black man. Friendships like that were not nearly as common in 1960s small town Missouri.

The other characters were a young lady and a young man who are bicycling across the United States who had started in Yorktown VA. (However I guess at the age of this group just about everybody we meet is a young lady or young man.)  She was probably 10 miles ahead of him. I'm a little worried that after we start out tomorrow we won't see Gloria until we get to our destination.

I stopped about every two miles for the last 10 miles because of the heat today. We were all extremely grateful for the ice and water that Gloria was carrying in the SAG car. But we made it. 

We had a fine dinner at a local restaurant and now it's time to head for bed. If you haven't gotten up at 4 a.m. on a regular basis, I can tell you from personal experience that 4 a.m. comes very quickly. And so another day comes to a close. Life is indeed great.

July 23 - Houston, MO to Eminence, MO

Written by Michael - 

I like traffic on Sundays.  We are regularly finding that there are fewer vehicles traveling on Sundays and very few large trucks.

We left the hotel around 5:15 this morning, and we left the nearby McDonald's around 5:45 am... our stomachs full of the finest culinary delights the restaurant has to offer.

The weather was a little humid, but otherwise perfect, for the first few hours.  The cloud cover was much appreciated.  

The roller coaster hills continued today with occasional sections of slightly longer inclines or declines.  Twenty-two miles into our ride, we stopped in Summersville for a wonderful breakfast after we realized that we were all drinking a lot, but barely eating.  The waitress kindly refilled our water bottles with ice and water.  I was drinking so much water that my 3 water bottles had no water by the time we arrived in Eminence.

A lady in Summersville told Gloria we had to see Alley Spring when we passed through the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and so we did just 5 miles short of Eminence.  The spring and river were a beautiful green/blue in a pristine way.  81 million gallons of water a day come out of the spring.

Leaving Alley Spring we had a killer climb that was a 10-14 percent grade.  Luckily it was only 1/2 to 3/4 mile long.  We took a much needed rest at the top.

We reached the Shady Lane Cabins and Motel around 1 pm.

After lunch at a local convenience store, we did laundry, perhaps caught a nap or two, and caught up on emails.  Now it is completely cloudy and I find myself wishing it had been this way climbing that killer hill earlier today.

We are looking forward to Yinka, Alex, and Adriana joining us in just a few days.  I hope to go swimming with them in the afternoons.

Oh, and superwoman?  She is doing so well that I almost forgot to mention her. She did all 42 miles fully loaded with panniers with no problem.  We have almost forgotten about that little mishap last weekend.  She is still sore, but continues to improve.  Life is definitely great!

July 22 - Marshfield, MO to Houston, MO

Gloria

Yet another early start.  Michael was our SAG driver for the first 27 miles.  The first SAG driver usually doesn't get much action because we're not quite hot and tired yet.  So...Michael decided to go to the local Walmart and stock up.  We met him around the 5-6 mile mark.  He stopped every 5-6 miles until we arrived in Hartville.

We met Brent in Hartville as well.  Since he's riding that light bike with the thin tires, he goes much faster than us.  He had already ordered his breakfast and was Whatsapping with his family in Uganda when we arrived.    Lisa's LJD Cafe was booming.  Grandparents eating Saturday breakfast with their grandkids, the mayor and his wife and other locals were all enjoying themselves.  They all welcomed us (the mayor even introduced himself - his wife was born in Moultrie, GA).   We fit right in even wearing our Lycra bike shirts & shorts.

After breakfast Michael and Eric switched roles - Michael became a rider and Eric became the SAG driver.  I could not have asked for better bike partners.  These guys are phenomenal with a capital 'p'! They have been so caring and so willing to help me with my healing process by doing extra miles so I can SAG and rest.  Thanks, Michael & Eric - you two are the best!

When we arrived in the town (?) of Bendavis, Eric was deep in conversation with 6 children who were related to the owner of the only convenience store for miles.  The kids were so cute and inquisitive.  They asked questions about our bikes, where we were headed, etc.  We asked them questions and learned that many of them shoot bow and arrows.  Two of them wore their bow and arrow belt buckles proudly.  For those of you familiar with this sport, the bow that they use is a compound bow.  One of the adult family members is a traveling competitor.  We bought drinks and snacks and talked to the family a bit.  Before we left, all of us had to sign their bike book.  Since we've arrived in Missouri, we've seen more of these bike books.

Eric and I switched roles in Bendavis.  I had ridden 48 miles and was ready to be the SAG driver for the last 18 miles.  The job of a SAG these days is to have lots of ice, drinks, snacks, etc...but most importantly to find shade!  It often happens that we meet unusual and/or interesting people during these breaks.  Today we stopped at a shady spot near a farmer who was making bales of hay.  We found that very interesting.  First, they drive the "rake" over the hay to get it into piles.  Then another driver drives over these until the bale becomes large enough to drop out.  They completed 2 bales while we were watching.

Today was Brent's last day with us.  He seemed to have no problem riding any of the three days he was with us, but we were especially impressed when he completed the whole 66 miles today.  Thanks for joining us, Brent!

Brent was able to stay with us for dinner tonight.  We walked across the street from the Lazy L Motel and ate at Spring Garden Chinese restaurant.  The food was good.  We couldn't tell if it was because we were so hungry or because it really was good.  Afterwards people wanted dessert, so we went to Miller's Grill.  Blackberry pie and milkshakes were what the doctor ordered.

July 19 - Rest Day in Pittsburg, KS

As today was a rest day, we pretty much didn't do a whole lot. A few notes worth mentioning: 

We did rent a car so Gloria could ease into bicycling again. She plans to ride more and more miles each day until she's ready to go full steam ahead.  Today was the first day she got back on her bicycle and it seemed to go pretty well. She had no extra pains when riding a bicycle, but of course she is still sore and swollen from the accident. But she is determined not to let this accident control her life.

Brent Wolff joined us today.  He arrived in Kansas City on schedule, but his bike decided to take a different flight.   Possible late night to assemble his bike.  We are looking forward to riding with Brent over the next three days.

We had dinner at Jim's Steakhouse - the best steakhouse in town. The restaurant has great reviews, and they lived up to them.  All steaks are aged 22 days.  They were delicious!

Tomorrow we will be back on the road for a full day of riding to the big city of Everton, MO.  I am looking forward to being back on the road with Gloria, who keeps getting better.  We have survived this bump in the road.  Life is great.

July 20 - Pittsburg, KS to Everton, MO

Gloria

Today was a tough day.  We started out very early.  Michael was driving our rental SAG, and the three of us - me, Eric & Brent Wolff rode our bikes.  About the 8 mile mark, Brent's road bike (thin tires) had a flat.  Since Michael wasn't with us, I attempted to help with the flat (but texted Michael just in case).  I've never owned a road bike, and haven't changed many flats, so it was not going very smoothly.  Luckily Michael got the text and drove back to help us.  Brent had one tube, so they put it in, and he made it all the way to our destination - Running Spring Farm near Everton.

We crossed into Missouri around 7:30 a.m.  Since Michael was the SAG, he missed taking a picture at the border.  Eric and I stopped to take a picture.

Around 9:45 we all had breakfast at Cooky's Cafe in Golden City.

 Bob and I stopped at this cafe in 2007.  In his blog he wrote:

"The scenery improved sharply in MO, with more trees, creeks, rivers and hills. But the weather also got hot this day. We stopped at Cooky's cafe in Golden City, MO. It was a fabulous lunch and even better pies. They have at least 15 different kinds of pies cooked daily. We hated to leave."

We had breakfast and pie for dessert...and we were not too happy about leaving the air conditioning either.
I had intended to ride 10 miles today, but I ended up riding 22+ miles.  I rode 18.5 in the morning and 3.5 in the afternoon.  If I must say so myself, that's not bad for a woman who was hit by a car 3 days ago.  I was the SAG driver when I wasn't riding.

It was a brutally hot day.  We almost used up all our water.  There was very little shade...and the hills were relentless.  We finally all arrived at Running Spring Farm around 2:30 and collapsed in the air-conditioned bunkhouse.  The owner told us that the outside temperature was 101.  He also went out and bought each of us a cold Gatorade.  People have just been so kind!

After showers, we drove into Ash Grove and had dinner at the Copper Grill.  We ate fried everything - fried pickles, fried catfish, French fries.  The serving sizes were huge, so we left a lot of food on the table.
Our accommodations tonight are not fabulous.  We are all sleeping in bunk beds in the same room.  I've got my earplugs ready.

Ain't life great?

July 18 - Wichita, KS to Pittsburg, KS

Gloria

I woke up today feeling stiff, sore, and bruised, but very happy to be alive.  Me and the gang headed over to the Panera for breakfast and had a strategy session on how to get out of Wichita.  We emailed, texted and made phone calls without much success.  Until Jayden called Kelley (the volunteer fireman from Sunday).  Kelley told Jayden that he could help us out but it wouldn't be until the afternoon.  I went up to our hotel room to pack.  I was not there more than 5 minutes before Eric called and said, "Can you be ready by 10:45?  A Wichita Rotarian has agreed to take us to Pittsburg."  Yay!  

Eric Eakins from Wichita Rotary drove us to Pittsburg (over 150 miles).  He had a trailer on the back of his truck that fit all our bikes.  Our panniers fit in the back of his truck.  We were ecstatic!

As we rode, we learned a lot about Eric and his family.  He owns a company that designs and builds computer controlled equipment for processing functions.  His wife is on the Wichita school board.  They have one biological son and one adopted son.  They have lived in the Wichita area for several years and love it!

We arrived in Pittsburg around 2:30.  We checked into our hotel rooms, then went to get lunch.  While at lunch we discussed rental car options before calling Enterprise to reserve a car.  Since I don't know how much biking I can do, I would like to have a car in case I need it.  

After lunch, I went into the hot tub.  It felt so good.  I also walked around the pool a bit.  That also felt good.  Hopefully it will soothe my aching muscles.

While I was in the hot tub, I talked to a lady named Lindsey, who told me she was a pilot.  It was interesting hearing about her job.  The state agency that she works for oversees all air traffic in Kansas, including drones.  She told me that Wichita, Kansas has plants that make 73% of all the aircraft in the world.  I found that amazing!

For dinner, we went to El Charro Mexican restaurant.  Since it was to be Jayden's last night with us, we toasted and wished him safe travels.  We will miss having him with us.  Good luck, Jayden!

Even after the accident, I am still impressed with the kindness of people in Kansas, especially Eric Eakins.  Thanks again, Eric.   Life is great!

Postscript: If you are moved by this demonstration of kindness shown by a Rotarian, please consider sending them a donation.  They have lots of programs that help people locally, nationally and internationally.  You can find them at this link:
https://www.rotary.org/en

July 17 - Rest Day in Wichita

Written by Michael and edited by Gloria.

To answer your and my first question, today Gloria woke slightly stiffer, sorer, and more swollen.  But not nearly as much as I expected.  She applied ice yesterday and today and is moving around incredibly well.  

I tried to rent a car first thing in the morning so I could drive Gloria's bike to a bike shop.  However the only car available at Enterprise was not big enough to carry my bike after I had bicycled to Enterprise.  So we gave up on renting a car. 

Gloria called a bike shop and asked if they could pick up the bike.  Well over an hour later she learned they could.  By that time I had checked with AAA and learned they too would drive the bike to the shop.   So eventually Gloria's bike was driven to the bike shop, checked over, and returned in working order.  She also purchased a new bright green bike helmet, new panniers, new bright green bicycling shirt, new bright green socks, etc.  Everyone will be green with envy when they see her on her bike.  And they will definitely see her!

I had my drive train cleaned at the same bike shop and a new rear tire put on at another bike shop that had the touring tire I use.

Then we all started researching rental vehicles to get us and our bikes to Pittsburg, KS to get back on our schedule.  Things weren't looking hopeful until Eric asked Carol Pandak from Rotary International if there might be any Rotarian who would be able to drive us.  We hope to learn more tomorrow morning.  That works well for me as I still want to be near a hospital if Gloria wakes up feeling horrible tomorrow.  (I now know that she was fine the next morning.)

So we had dinner (and celebrated Eric's birthday).

After dinner we went on one of the free trolleys in downtown/Old Town Wichita and ended up at the river with a delightful wall with water running over it.  We walked a bit then took Uber back to our hotel.

We all went to bed dreaming of a ride to Pittsburg.  We are still ever so relieved that Gloria is alive and doing so well.  Her optimism is contagious and her positive outlook is quite impressive.  She knows we could get in a car accident anywhere or be walking in Chicago and get hit by a car.  She refuses to let fear stop her from living life fully!

July 16 - Newton to Wichita

Written by Michael with editing by Gloria.

There is simply no getting around it.  Today was not a good day, although for a very bad day a lot of things went really, really well. So I can't complain, but I will certainly understand if Gloria does.

We left our hotel in Newton around 6:30 in the morning so we could eat breakfast at the hotel's complimentary breakfast. The ride was fairly uneventful for the first 30 miles.

Around 10:20 am, Gloria had the bad fortune of having a driver hit her at 65 mph while looking at his phone.  (Despite rumors to the contrary, the car was doing 65 mph and not Gloria.  However Gloria did accelerate incredibly quickly after being hit.)  The impact ripped off both of Gloria's left side panniers and knocked Gloria to the ground.  As luck would have it, the side of the road where she landed had thick grass and a somewhat softer landing.

As incredible as it may seem, everything after that point went really well. A gentleman who had been traveling with us on a 3 wheel recumbent, Jayden, was in front of Gloria and heard the car hit her.  The driver stopped and Jayden called 911 and asked the driver to call 911.  Jayden's connection dropped, but the driver had a good connection. The driver stayed on the phone with 911 until the first responders arrived.  Jayden frantically flagged down the first car to pass and asked the driver to tell me and Eric that Gloria was hit (We were over the top of the next hill).  That driver's wife stayed with Gloria until the EMTs arrived.    And Jayden told Gloria not to move at all.

For being so far out in the middle of nowhere, I was really impressed with how fast the local fire, sheriff, and ambulance arrived.  Gloria was taken to Wichita, KS because they had a trauma center and, understandably, any bicyclist hit by a car doing 65 mph is usually traumatized.  I rode in the ambulance with Gloria. This left Eric with the not so small problem of how to get 3 touring bicycles and Jayden's touring tricycle to Wichita.  We were bailed out by Kelley, an incredibly kind volunteer fireman, who was the first responder to arrive.  Kelley went home, got a truck, and drove Eric, Jayden, and all our bicycles and gear to the hotel across the street from the hospital in Wichita.  Kelley, your generosity is beyond belief.  Thank you very, very much!!!!  (And my apologies if I misspelled your name.)

The wonderful staff at Wesley Medical Center evaluated Gloria and took numerous xrays and scans.  Incredibly enough, nothing was broken or even fractured.  That Gloria is one tough cookie!   They released her within 3 hours or so, but not without warning her that she would definitely be a lot more sore and swollen in the next 48 hours.

My theory is that Gloria's elbow hurts because it was hit by the car's mirror.  That mirror was completely ripped off the car.  I suspect her hip hurts from when she hit the ground.  The car may have grazed her hip, but my assumption is that her injuries would have been much worse had the car body hit her hip.

The handlebars of her bike were bent about 35 degrees off center and her rear light was twisted out of position, but I didn't see any other visible damage to her bike.

So we plan to take a rest day tomorrow and Tuesday to give Gloria time to heal, get her bike fixed and panniers replaced, and to figure out how to catch up on our schedule.

All in all, we have been incredibly lucky.  Several people have mentioned that Bob must have been watching over Gloria in that she survived this crash with minimal injuries.  Gloria however is a little upset that Bob was not doing a better job.  If so, he certainly would have had that driver miss her completely!

It is great that we are all alive and well!

July 15 - Sterling, KS to Newton, KS

Gloria

Knowing we had 58 or more miles to cover today, we left Sterling before 5:15 am.  It was very dark.  All I could see was our flashing rear lights and headlights.  It being Saturday, we did not encounter much traffic for the first couple of hours.  As a matter of fact, we had fairly decent roads (but no shoulders) and very little traffic for most of today's ride.

Not much in the way of wildlife...except...Michael spotted what he thought was an armadillo.  And all of us were shocked to be riding down the road and, lo and behold, we see a camel.  He looked so comfortable and natural there, just gnawing on some grass.  Not something one would expect to see in south central Kansas.  We learned later that a gentleman near Sterling buys exotic animals...not just one or 2, but herds.  We unfortunately did not see the whole herd of camels.

 We've probably already said this, but I have to say it again...people in this part of Kansas have proven to be some of the nicest people.  They really treat us bikers like we matter.  In my opinion, this part of Kansas beats all the previous states combined for their hospitality.  We discovered today that they have a law that cars must give bike riders 3 feet of clearance.  That's awesome!  And they follow the law!  Georgia needs a law like that.  Today we saw several signs welcoming bike riders and bike racers.   They really know how to roll out the welcome.  Ok...'nuff said~

Today we were privileged to have along with us a gentleman named Jayden.  Jayden is the biker whose partner broke his clavicle.  Jayden is from Pennsylvania and rides a recumbent.  He's hoping to complete the TransAmerica trail by August 15th.  For now, he plans to ride along with us.

The terrain/topography of Kansas started changing yesterday.  Today we noticed even more changes.  More trees, more hills (ugh).  We also noticed that it was more humid.

Around 9:30 we stopped in the pleasant town of Buhler for a bathroom break.  Once we went inside Mustard Seed Cafe, I was afraid we would never leave.  It was such a cozy little oasis, that we stayed and had brunch.  Their cinnamon rolls and coffee are the best!

The town of Newton is quite large (population of 18,500 or so) compared to most of the towns we have visited.  We took pictures of a sign as we entered the town.  The sign says "TransAmerica Bicycle Trail - Welcome to Newton."  And the town has a nice bike trail that runs along the river.  Pretty cool~

All of us were looking forward to taking our bikes to the bike shop in the big city of Newton, but we discovered that it is closed until August.  I loved Jayden's comment (not verbatim), "What are they doing closing in the summer?  Don't they know summer is the best time to make money?"

We had a very late lunch at Braum's.  A fast-food restaurant, ice cream and market chain that I've never heard of before.  It is also where we will most likely have dinner.

Eric is doing our laundry and Michael is taking a nap.  Speaking of Eric...you may notice that he has not written a blog post in a while.  That is because Eric has the responsibility of sorting through all the pictures that we all take and deciding which ones to put in the blog.  We thought it was unfair for him to have the added responsibility of having to write as well.  After all...he does need time to help Megan with their wedding plans.

Another great day!  Only 40 more bike ride days to go.  Unbelievable~