Well, I tried to sneak out without getting the dogs excited at the hunting farm and you can guess how well that worked. They did not bark for very long and I warned Bill that I was leaving before sun up. It's all good...except for the ride to the main road. Running Springs Farm is 1/2 mile off the route on a "dreaded" stone road.
I have to say that even though there is no shoulder to ride on, the roads are very smooth and many are freshly paved in the past few months. Plus, the drivers have been very courteous to me and waiting to pass until there is a clear sight distance. Concerning sight distance, the rollercoaster road continues. You climb one side and can not see how big of a down side you will have until you crest the top. Then you are excited to see the down is a 30+ mph hill, but there is an equal up hill once you reach the bottom. So, all the horror stories seem to be true, except I find the challenge to be enjoyable in some odd way!
Speaking of odd, Missouri names the state routes with letters instead of numbers. For example today, I was on State Routes A, Z, K, V, BB, CC, E, J, and W. It is like alphabet soup. I don't know, but I guess it works for them but it is just different.
At about 30 miles on State Route BB, I topped one of many hills to find a car pulled over to the side. There were three people standing around the flat tire on the small VW. John was on the phone with AAA and had asked for assistance. After getting off the phone, John asked if I knew anything about cars. I said I have changed tires before. John was trying to change the tire while Daughter Kim and wife/mother Salina looked on. John had a big 3-foot pipe on the end of a four-way tire iron and said he could not break it free. Well, I am not sure what happened, but I took the 3 foot pipe off the end and put all I had into turning the tire iron. To my amazement, the first lug broke free, then the second, and so on until they were all loose. The group was so excited. I finished helping them put on the spare and they cancelled the request with AAA. John wanted to buy me breakfast, but I told him, I wanted to get along while it was not so hot. They were intrigued by my trip and asked a lot of questions. They were so thankful, and the discussion came to my comment that is was nothing but Divine intervention that I came along when I did and was able to help them.
Further down the road, I stopped and ice cream sandwich and chocolate milk in Fair Grove, MO. Outside the store was cyclist John from the Philadelphia, PA area. He had lots of questions for me on what I had faced in Kansas and Colorado. But, he also was sharing events of his past legs to include more horror stories about the Ozark Mountain hill ride. He was making plans to meet up with his girl friend in Colorado and was asking about my past timeline. I enjoyed our visit.
After more riding up and down the hills (which I enjoyed), the stop for the day was at the Fountain Plaza Mobile Home/ RV Park in Marshfield. It was nothing special, but it had RV hookup essentials. We ventured into town, stopped at Walmart and found a Camping World close by. It was a quiet evening to include a slight drop in temperature. Tomorrow we are looking forward to the visit from the kids in Houston, MO!
Up and Down
Stranded Motorists, John, Kim and Salina
John from PA.
It is hard to capture the UP and DOWN in a picture.
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