On the road by 5:35am, and it was in the 70's already. Shortly out of town, I heard a strange sound in the dim light and looked to my right to see a fox running out of the brush and away from the road. In my rear view mirror, I noticed a couple of bike headlights about a mile back. (It must have been the Brian and Stephanie from yesterday). Well, we will hook up later when one or the other stops for a break. As I made the first turn directed by the map, there was a detour 6 miles ahead warning. Nearly all other roads heading this direction are stone and the next turn off is a state highway, which is probably very busy. Kim planned to take the state highway. So, I figure, there is always a way around the detour, right? So, I turned. Soon, I realized that Brian and Stephanie must have opted for the state highway as their headlight did not follow me.
It was a 7 mile, quiet, smooth ride to the road closed, bridge out area. I road up to it and saw about a 1/3 mile span of impassable terrain with a lot of huge cranes in place to replace the bridge over the Neosho River. As I sat there with my sad face of defeat, there appeared to be three options: 1) Carry my bike over the rugged terrain and risk making the construction crew mad or getting hit by a crane, 2) ride back west the same 7 miles, turn south 4-5 miles and ride east again the 7 miles on the state highway, 3) ride west 1 mile, then south on a stone road for what appears to be 4 miles to the state highway then continue East. What to do? What to do? I picked door number 3. So, off I went at a blistering 6 mph pace on the stone road. I am not sure if anyone has tried this on a touring bike, but they are really not made for riding on a stone road. It was not much fun and the couple cars that did pass created a huge cloud of lingering dust! Well, the estimated 4 miles turned out to be almost 6 miles to the state highway. But, I made it and I had to rinse the dust off the water bottles. So, I was rolling again at a great pace and the wind seemed to be helping slightly again today, with a SW direction. The negative thing was the absence of a shoulder on the state highway. It was not terribly busy and the motorists were all courteous to get over. The Adventure Cycling Maps gave enough of an overview so I could pick up the prescribed trail again about 25 miles down the road in Girard, KS. In Girard, there was another bridge out detour which did not affect my route, but I know Kim was to go that way. I hope she lets the GPS pick an alternate route. I found out later, that they tried my "go around trick" instead of following the detour signs and they had to drive on some stone roads! Bummer!
Shortly before lunch, we all made it safely to the Pittburg, Kansas city RV park. As the Black Beauty was not shifting so well, I took her to the Vet. Tailwind Cyclists bike shop examining the patient and offered the bad news. The chain should have been changed about 500 miles ago and it has damaged the rear cassette. Bummer! Roger was willing to work on the patient and get it finished today. So, it was an expensive fix, but we are good to go as I approach the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. We found a laundry and cleaned cloths. It was another Hot day over 100 degrees and it is starting to wear on the team members. But, tomorrow we will enter Missouri and will have conquered Kansas! Yeah!
Riding on Stone Roads.. Hey Kids, "Don't try this at home."
Why does this guy have dinosaur skeleton statues in his yard?
Hey, Trinity Lutheran church is having VBS with the same theme and on the same week that our home church is having VBS. The little kiddies were playing outside.
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