Devil’s Elbow, MO to Marshfield, MO

Picture Recap:

1. Picture from the Route 66 Museum.
2. Clouds on the horizon
3. Yes Virginia, there is a Route 66 Museum housed in the local Library (forgot city)
4. The fence keeping people off the Route 66 bridge
5. The warning sign stating that the bridge is closed
6. The stop that has a Candy Factory and the Biggest Gift Store (and yes it is huge)
7. Tonight’s resting place: Marshfield, MO Fire Station

Today was quite the day with a little bit of everything.   First though, here is the retraction.   I was NOT in St. Robert last night.   I got the city from the telephone in my room and it was wrong.   I was two miles east of St. Robert and I find it interesting that while I thought I was in heaven apparently it was quite the opposite.

Today was a mixture of lots of things.   I have become accustomed to sleeping in a tent.   I was not real comfortable in the motel room and woke up several times looking to see if the promised rain had come.   At 5:00 I got up and got dressed to step outside.   When I did I felt drizzle and saw jagged bolts of lightening piece the sky to the South.  The thought that went through my mind was finally, some adversity!

Reviewing the weather report on the Weather Underground it appeared that there was a 20% chance of rain from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. so it didn’t appear that a reason existed to stay in quarters.   Miracle Go and I headed out to a McDonald’s two miles away in St Robert.   It got us started early since the restaurant that was close didn’t open until 6:00 a.m.

For the first two hours life was good with evil clouds all around us.   About 9:00 the drizzle started, followed by harder and harder rain.   The rain never reached fever pitch but it was enough to get our attention.   While I did hear thunder I saw no lightening.

An hour later the rain stopped and Miracle Go and I dried off.

The most interesting story of the day was the Route 66 bridge closure.   I was riding on Route 66 when I was met with a road closed sign.   I went back to a restaurant and asked about it.   The truckers said that the bridge was closed and I would have to get on I-44 for 5 miles to get around it.   The locals said that I could ride on the other side of I-44 where there was a sign that said the bridge was out but you could life your bike over the fences.   This was illegal too but sounded more fun and I had to see if I could get Miracle Go over the fences (one on each side of the bridge) since she is no lightweight.   We met the challenge and continued to follow Route 66 the rest of the day..

Route 66, for the most part parallels I-44.   This takes some of the magic and beauty of riding in the countryside but probably does ensure there are roads stops now and again.

Story #1 – Armadillos:  You may not know it but I am know for my diligence and analytical mind.   Here is an example.   Turtles and Armadillos both have:

1. Four legs
2. Armor
3. Stubby Tails
4. Hard
5. Ugly
6. Both end up lying in the road

Ergo they are in the same family.   Since I don’t know the Latin family name I came up with my own.   They are in the “Caricus Runoverus Extinctis” family

Story #2 – I have two compasses on my bike.   One is by the device that counts miles and since it has a magnet in it the compass correctly points at the device and only at the device – not very functional.   The second compass is on my front tray that runs between the bike bags.  At first this compass was under the handlebars.  It worked okay but a couple of cables blocked a little bit of the view.   In my infinite wisdom I decided that I could move the compass out to the end of the tray and see it better.   I pried it up (it was glued and I cut my hand twice prying it up) and glued it to the front.   It worked great and I could see it extremely well on my test rides.   Unfortunately my testing was done without my handlebar bag on.   With the handlebar bag on the only thing I can do is stand up in the pedals and look over the handlebar bag.   I am guessing that people behind me think I am mooning them and don’t know how to do it.

I realized that my body is a sundial.    When riding in the morning and the sun is coming up in the East then my shadow should be straight ahead of me if I am going West and to the right if I am going South.    I know the day is progressing as my shadow shortens.  Kinda’ cool and now I don’t have to moon anyone.

Story #3 – When I was packing up to leave New Haven a couple of mornings ago I couldn’t find my bungee cord that is needed to tie my tent and ground cloth down.   Not finding it anywhere, I went to my storehouse, cut a little piece of nylon cord off the roll and tied everything to the bike thinking how irresponsible I was to lose the bungee cord.   As I got on my bike to leave there was the bungee cord across my handle bars where I couldn’t possibly lose it.    Fun being able to fix something and even more fun not losing the bungee cord.

Story #4 – Other bike riders have started to pop up all coming from the West.   Briefly talked to two gentlemen out of Oklahoma City.   They are riding to St. Louis.   Kinda’ fun comparing notes to see if we can save people time and adjust perceptions.    They now know about the bridge out and options.

Story #5 – Just can’t seem to get Goggle Maps to work for me.   They have so much detail that you can’t possibly follow their directions without the phone being in front of you.   I copied 60 steps for today’s jaunt and didn’t find one common land point.    Tomorrow’s map is listed as a “car” route off the interstate with no tolls.   That had three steps.   Curious to see how this thought works.

I am 22 miles outside of Springfield, MO.   I wanted to get closer but the Marshfield fire station was open and willing to let me pitch a tent.   I can’t resist having a place to stay.    Will get to Springfield tomorrow, do some shopping and figure out how to go West.

PIZZA TONIGHT – I am very excited.