Day 15 - A new set of experiences!

(My view on crossing the Mississippi river)

The glories of a motel! The AC is on (although it isn't doing much), I have a fridge with some fresh fruit I just bought sitting in it, and I have a shower! It was an interesting day. For summary, I only made about 56 miles of progress today, but I bicycled a reasonable bit further than that.

The day started out with a fast breakfast in Linn, MO. There were still plenty of rolling hills, so I was off and running, hoping to make plenty of headway before the sun got up in the sky. I was making good time, with a nice shoulder and nearing Jefferson City, when suddenly there was a jarring and I had to struggle with the handlebars to stay in control. I stopped quickly to figure out what was wrong. It turns out that one of the vertical supports coming up from my axle to the rack on the back of my bicycle had snapped. putting all the pressure on the remaining supports and letting it swing around a fair bit, throwing my cycling for a loop. Fortunately, I was within just 3 or 4 miles of Jefferson City at this point, so I walked my bicycle a bit, then discovered that I could bicycle gently without any problem. I stopped and got directions to the nearest bicycle shop - J & D Bicycle shop.

The people at the bicycle shop were very friendly. One was an older man while the other was a teenager who actually had his graduation from high school today, probably a few hours after I left. I had hoped to just replace the small screw in part at the bottom of the rack, but he didn't have those as a separate part, and I didn't want to wait around a few days or to take my chances with the damaged rack, so I got an entirely new one. He noted that this was the first time he'd ever seen this happen. I have a theory as to why - way back when I was in WV, I had a little incident I decided I didn't need to mention to save people from worrying. Basically, when going through a parking lot, a lady had backed up and hit my bicycle lightly. I'd managed to move my leg so it never touched me, but it did hit my pannier hard enough to cause the bicycle to skid a bit to the side. I'm guessing the pressure bent the metal a bit and it finally gave all the way up here after getting rocked back and forth for days. (For the record, I think the lady was more shaken than I was - of course I was pretty tired at the time, and exhaustion helps decrease being freaked out!)

While they were putting on my new rack, the high school guy and I chatted a bit about my trip and his activities. Friendly guy who is headed to college in Colorado for all of the outdoor activities that that involves. Besides the rack, they basically did a tune up on my bicycle for free, including cleaning up the chain and re-oiling the chain and cables, fixing up the brakes, etc. The whole process took a bit, but it was a good time. They suggested a possible trail to take, but after my prior experiences following trails, I was leery of heading off on this one, especially since it would have required me to head a bit north and to cross the Missouri river at least twice in total.

It turns out their advice was probably well founded. Immediately after Jefferson City, the nice shoulder I had been using lost some quality. This wasn't a bit idea until I got to California, a small town a bit after Jefferson City. From a bit before that on, the shoulder was all gravel. I had been using the gravel to get into California, but almost as soon as I left - BAM, HISSSSSSS. My first flat tired of the entire trek (incredible luck for me to have made it so far with no flats!) With temperatures in the 90s, high humidity, the sun high in the sky and no shade around, I grumpily started working on getting a new tube in. Just as I was finishing up, a police car pulled up to check on me. Some passing car had called to tell them about me and he was checking to make sure I didn't need any help. After a thanks and learning from him that the shoulder stayed miserable for as far as he knew, I was off again. Soon I got tired of dodging cars and decided I needed to just head for a parallel road - something I'd avoided thus far because of the lack of good ones. Still, I figured my time would be better if I just got away from the traffic.

I was probably a bit low on energy at this point, but I pressed on rather than eating like I should have, going several miles north before I could loop west and drop into Tipton, exhausted and frustrated by my progress. While stopping at a a grocery store for food, I saw *drumroll* a COIN LAUNDRY!!! I was definitely getting a motel for the night, and now I might have clean laundry as well! Success with the laundry, chatting with some of the locals, and getting some food in me has dramatically improved my outlook. I really think that running out of food energy can do terrible things for your outlook, but getting food into yourself again can lift even heavily sagging spirits!

So here I am, a bit closer to the end. The biggest challenge I'm now facing is sunburn. Despite layering on SPF 50 sunscreen regularly, all day long, I just keep sweating in this weather, and getting burned bit by bit despite all I can do. In the last 7 days, I've used up almost the entire bottle of sunscreen, and still am getting awfully pink. I may need to set a policy that on sunny days, I'll just not ride for the 4 hours or so when the sun is highest. It might slow me down, but a bad burn would be a disaster. For now though, I will clean my gear and take a nap. Tomorrow, we'll see where I go (more sideroads until US 50 improves again, so progress will probably be slow, but steady.)