Day 43, July 9

Houston to Ellington, MO
71 miles

The day in summary: hills, dogs, hills, hills, Ozarks National Scenic Riverways, hills, dogs, rain/thunder/lightning.  Despite that description I enjoyed it immensely.

The gentleman below is Pelle. He came from Sweden to ride the transamerica trail. I have run into him at least half a dozen times, usually when he is blazing past me.  Unlike me he is staying in hotels/motels every night and therefore has a bit less weight to haul around.  This time he was stopping to check on me while I was making a minor repair. We ended up both stopping in Summerville for some food and spent a good 20 minutes discussing our careers, U.S. regional differences and American politics.

Entering Ozarks National Scenic Riverways:

The hills have not let up and have actually become far more difficult but at least now I am getting some good views over everything from the tops of them. I had two short (1/4 to 1/2 mile) climbs today with grades of around 20%. One was right after Jacks Fork River and the other was after Current River. I also had some really steep drops that had me approaching 40 mph about a dozen times.

Jacks Fork River:

The picture below was taken at a rest stop near the river. I have gained some "flair" along the way, including an American flag that I found on the side of the road and a plastic lizard that store owner back near Toronto gave me. He hands them out to every cross country cyclist who comes in his store.

I am hoping the flag may slightly reduce the number of things thrown at me by the good ole boys of the Ozarks and Appalachia.  Cyclists going the other way have warned me that certain drivers in both areas have a strong animosity toward cyclists and have a habit of blaring their horns at them, giving the one finger salute and/or throwing things at them. So far I have had a dozen or so angry horn honks and one cup of something thrown at me.

Lizard hanging out under my computer:

More of the river:

Just around the bend was the touristy part of the river where people were putting in rafts and inner tubes and floating downstream where old buses would pick them up and bring them back.

Downtown Eminence, where I got lunch:

Halfway up one of the many short but steep hills:

About 8 miles from Ellington the sky suddenly got very dark and I started hearing thunderstorms approaching.  I picked up my pace but it was too late and a downpour started while I was near the top of a hill about 5 miles from town.  I spent the next hour or so huddled under my tarp at the edge of the woods while a series of thunderstorms passed over.  The picture below was taken from under my tarp.

Eventually the rain let up significantly, so I threw on my rain gear and finished the ride into town.

In Ellington the sheriff spotted me riding into town and gave me the door code to a hostel for cyclists that the town had set up. I normally would have opted for camping but the city park had no showers.  I also needed to get some of my stuff dry.  Air conditioning was a big attraction too.  Despite the rain it had been a very hot and humid day

I had the place to myself and picked up a large pizza about a block down the street then spent most of the evening cleaning up myself and my gear.

Hostel entrance:

More of Mike and Austin's robot cards and stickers near the guestbook:

This is totally unrelated but I wanted to post the below pictures of my younger son Dante. Tanya sent them to me a day or two ago and I thought he just looked so happy with the results from the grape vine he planted last year.