By our standards it hasn't been very long since the last blog entry, but we're treating ourslelves to a short-ish day today having emerged from the fearsome Ozark Mountain range, an area that some people think is the toughest part of the whole Trans America Trail route. It has indeed been pretty hard, and this is what we've accomplished:
28/7: 79.5 miles, Marshfield
29/7: 63.5 miles, Houston
30/7: 69 miles, Ellington
31/7: 63.5 miles, Farmington
The strange and slightly infuriating thing about the Ozarks and the difficulty that they pose to cyclists is that the land itself really doesn't merit the title of a mountain range. It is simply an expanse of rolling hills and it is the routing of the roads that makes traversing them such an exhausting exercise. In the UK this sort of terrain would be negotiated by roads that weave their way through the low lying sections of land, avoiding unnecessary steep inclines, presumably as they are both hard to build and to drive on. But that is most definitely not the American way as even here they like to keep their roads as straight as possible, brazenly laying the tarmac straight up and over the hilltops, even if there is nothing there for the road to service. This creates something of a self-propelled rollercoaster ride for cyclists, up and down, over and over again, with no flat sections in between to catch your breath. The only saving grace is that the climbs are never that long, as they were in the Rockies. Some of the inclines were steep to crazy degrees and when we were grinding up one particularly savage example, in our very lowest gears for the first time on the whole trip, a truck actually couldn't manage it on its first attempt and had to take a big run up a second time. The riding is, however, through extremely pretty countryside, so very green, and not unlike much of the UK. So when it poured torrentially on the Houston to Farmington day, we felt right at home, as some smart arsed suit and tie wearing guy in a nice dry car felt the need to tell us that we should out of his window!
But the people here in Missouri have, as they have been right across this awesome country, been phenomenal. We're probably beginning to sound like a broken record, but the friendliness is overwhelming. New members of the Hospitality Hall of Fame, joining the Kliewers of Newton, are the Swyres family of Ellington who took us into their house, provided us with wonderfully soft beds and a hot shower, fed us a delicious meal of "Drunken Chicken" and generally showed a level of generosity that was mindblowing. We thank them sincerely and hope that we can take some of this hospitality ethos back home with us. It is worth noting that once again it was the eldest son of the family who approached us as we were looking pathetic and wretched outside the town grocery and that he was again called Jonathan. There's clearly something in the name!
The other big news is that ROB HAS HAD HIS HAIR CUT!! It was absolute hell for him cycling in such ridiculous heat and humidity with such a crazy mane, and it is a wonder that he lasted so long. So he's had the short back and sides treatment and looks like a highly presentable sixth form pupil! The 10 inch locks have been stored safely in a plastic bag and will be delivered to a charity that provides hair to children who have undergone chemotherapy. Pretty cool, huh!
As you may have noticed from the mileages that we've listed in this entry, we are slowing down a bit. This is partly because of the tricky terrain, but partly also because we have earned the ability to do so. In our first 30 days or so we made tremendous time, overtaking several cyclists and being passed, as far as we are aware, by only one nutter who, in his own words "basically cycles all day every day". So we're going to take it relatively easy for the last 20 days and arrive in good time, but not stupidly early, for Dan's flight back to the UK (Rob will be staying in the States for a bit with his girlfriend Sarah and her family).
Well, that's probably it for today's instalment. A swimming pool is our next port of call, followed by a night in Farmington Fire Station, which puts up cyclists for free. If we're lucky we'll get to slide down the pole!
Please please pleeeeeeeeese keep the donations coming at http://www.justgiving.com/robertdstevenson1/. We are now really close to our target of 5000 pounds, which delights us to the max.
Also, we've managed to get a few more video clips from Rob's swanky camera up on youtube. If you go to www.youtube.com and search under "robertdavidstevenson" you'll see the selection. The Oscars are going to be flooding in for sure...
Bye for now good people of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment