Distance: 84 miles Springfield, MO to Berea, MO
Ride Time: 7:11
Average Speed: 11.7
Altitude Gain: 5761 feet
Average Temperature: 93
I came to an intersection and met a cyclist loaded down with bags. His name was Matello. He had just graduated from high school and his dad told him that he had always wanted to ride his bike across the country but was too old at 55. Now was the chance for Matello. He had started in Yorktown, VA and was now in Kentucky. He had run into Dave earlier that day. Dave had been riding all weekend and I had taken Sunday off. Dave and I are both older than Matello’s dad. Matello and I wished each other well and headed our different directions.
Because of narrow roads and tight curves, we were cautioned not to take the trailer up the same roads that I was riding. This has made things real hard to meet up in towns that we have no information on. We were going to meet in Harrodsburg. Kathie’s GPS told her she had arrived in the town and pulled over to wait for me. This town was a lot bigger than either one of us had thought earlier. After a while she decided that she would have to move to another place. She went down the road and was pulling over just as I was pulling through a bank parking lot and saw her pull up. We were both rather shocked to see the other at this corner. Harrodsburg was big enough that if Kathie had not moved when she did, I would have turned and been on a totally different road and away from the part of town she had been waiting. Just another miracle in a town with no communication.
My GPS had been sending me down streets that were real strange and lonely. I had been working up and down a street when I came into a very small town. Most of the stores in town had been boarded up. I was relieved to see a man walking down the street and when he said hello, I was very happy to talk to a real person. It turned out that this man was the major and owner of most, if not all, the stores in town. He said he owned a bike shop and if I gave him a few hours he would get me a bike mechanic to work on my bike. I had been having shifting problems, and seriously considered his offer, but the last time I had adjusted the derailer tension it had worked well and I wanted to get to where I could talk to Kathie. This man also told me he owned the Bed & Breakfast, the campground (even though the road coming into town was too small to drive a trailer down) and a bar. He said that during lunch break he and some others in town would go on a group bike ride. He told me to take the second right and it would lead me on to the next town. It turned out that his “second turn” instructions were the only help that got me through the GPS failings of the next few turns.
As soon as I got out of the small valley of this little town, I got a phone signal and Kathie called and let me know that she had a campsite at the Walnut Meadow campground. I stopped and asked directions to the road the campground was on and because of traffic had to pull my bike out into the weeds. By the time I got to the road the campground was on, I had a flat tire. I stopped in a gas station to fix it. Like most flats it seemed like it took forever to fix. From the instructions I had received, I thought I would have to turn left and go down the hill to the campground. As I was rolling out of the station, a man hollered at me and asked how I kept cool enough to ride. I stopped long enough to answer him and he asked me where I was headed. I pointed to the left and said, “Down to the Walnut Meadow campground.” He looked at me funny and pointing to the right said “the Walnut Meadow campground is right there”. It was only about 100 yards to the right. He had saved me from getting lost again.
It was a relief to see Kathie again. After dinner I worked to repair some tubes and reload my bicycle tool bag.
ThruUSA2 