Week 8: Making Up For Lost Time

Summary: Great Bend, KS to West Plains, MO 481 miles

May 25th to May 31st

To view map in google click here.

This week was by far my most productive. I would do over 300 miles in 3 days and almost 500 miles total. I passed from Kansas into Missouri, was caught in multiple thunderstorms, even had to take shelter twice. At one point, I was mere miles from a tornado warning, stuck inside a locked down McDonalds. I said goodbye to Angus, my cycling partner from the week prior, but quickly ran into others headinding eastward. I went from the plains of western and central Kansas into the rolling hills of Missouri. I met some incredibly interesting people including a messianic jew who shouted fire and brimstone ate me while offering me a free lunch. I would begin working my way southward towards where my brother lived in Memphis.

Day 50: Great Bend, KS to McPherson, KS 61.2 miles

Monday, May 25th

Upon waking, our hostess, Kimberly, made us an all you can eat breakfast of biscuits and gravy which was delicious! Angus and I said our fairwells then were on the road again, heading east. After about 30 miles we arrived at a town called Lyons, which was where Angus and I parted ways. His relentless pace was just a little too much for me, and I didn’t want to hold him back. Angus taught me several new British phrases that I can add to my international vocabulary including “lorries” (semi-truck) and “stag-party” (bachelor party) among several others I can’t currently recall. I would miss his company and the challenge his pace presented but we bid each other adieu, he continued on while I ate lunch and found a hotel to blog at. I would stop at a Sonic for lunch, I can’t remember ever having been to one before. It was quite good. I even ran into a bunch of migrant workers from South Africa. Very interesting bunch of guys.

Angus and I during a roadside break.

Kansas wildlife.

My migrant working mates from South Africa.

Being memorial day, the library was closed, so I would spend the next few hours at a Comfort Inn using their lobby computer. Around 3 o’clock I would finish my blogging and be on my way. It was a beautiful partly cloudy afternoon so I decided to continue onwards and eastwards. Soon I would come across a wind sock that proclaimed I had a tail wind. However, it was behaving quite peculiarly, changing direction even as I watched it. This would be quite foreboding as fate would have it. Within minutes some clouds rolled in and it began to rain. The wind picked up, not going across my body. Then the rain intensified, turning from a shower to an all out hail storm. As the wind gusted even more heavily the hail began sandblasting my skin leaving me soaking wet and in more than a little pain. A crack of lightning, significantly louder than I have ever heard, blasted directly in front of me. I quickly ducked for the only shelter I could find: a copse of trees in a nearby field. Once under the canopy I was protected from the majority of the storm. I reached into my bag and pulled out my blue tarp which I quickly wrapped myself in. I then did the only sensible thing I could think of… I called my mommy. (Pause for comedic effect). Although I was soaking wet and my arms were red and raw, I was actually enjoying myself. I wasn’t cold, and I could see on the NOAA weather app on my phone the storms movement in real time. It passed in about an hour, leaving me with partly cloudy skies once again and back on my bike. I would later find out that these series of storms would claim the lives of over 20 people in Texas and Oklahoma. Very sad.

Under my tarp.

Just after the storm.

As the storm blows on.

Aftermath.

My hiding place.

The wind kept up and dried my clothes within minutes. I would make it another 30 miles into McPherson where I had another Warmshowers host waiting for me with warm food and a nice hot shower. I would pop another tube about one mile from their house and limp along with a deflated tire before arriving. Peg, my host, met me with open arms, showed me along her splendid country house, complete with pool and swimming pond, then offered me pizza to fill me up. I spent the evening talking with her, her husband (who owned a local Ace Hardware) and son (who was a sophomore in college studying engineering). I fell asleep to the sound of another storm rumbling in the distance. I would weather this one inside.

Loved the cloud formations at the end of the day.

Day 51: McPherson, KS to Rosalia, KS 85 miles

Tuesday, May 26th

I would have breakfast with the family in the morning and Peg would make me a very ample lunch for me to take on the road which included sandwhiches, trail mix, celary, and an apple. I would ride a short distance with a steady tailwind (the 3rd day of tail winds during my whole trip thus far) to the town of Newton. I would stop for lunch there, taking my bike into the shop to buy some new, heavy duty tires. I was more than tired of having flats. I had over 5 flats in 4 days. I would also purchase a few Kansas postcards and have lunch and a little Café filled with Americana memorabilia.

My favorite piece of decour in their hosue, a giant Gorilla Glue Cutout.

My hosts' backyard.

The owner of Newton Bicycle Shop giving me a hand.

Some of Newton's art.

I then continued on towards the town of Rosalia. As the day got longer the clouds got thicker and darker. I wasn’t about to get stuck in another storm so I double timed it to the town of Rosalia. As I rode into town, I saw some clothes drying out over the railing of a church, which is a classic sign of a bike tourists’ campsite. Sure enough, as I approached the church a very fit, gray haired, elderly man in biking attire came out to pick up his clothes. Although he spoke little to no English, we were able to communicate enough for me to find out his name was Vitus, he was German, and he was heading to San Francisco.

Scenes from the road.

Vitus invited me into the basement of the Church where he was staying that night. Within five minutes a storm blew threw and dropped down hail stones that were as big as marbles. Those would have really hurt if I had been stuck out. The church was very nice digs, complete with kitchen area and bathroom, but no shower. So I grabbed a hand towel and did a spit bath using the bathroom sink. Then I rolled out my sleeping pad onto the linoleum floor, and slept the night away.

Marble sized hail as seen from the safety of the church.

The kitchen area.

Day 52: Rosalia, KS to Walnut, KS 107 miles

Wednesday, May 27th

Vitus and I woke at roughly the same time, around six o’clock. I had a meager breakfast and then, after saying goodbye to Vitus, hopped on the road again. Many of the roads I passed were swamped with water which barred access. The water level was still quite high and there were flood warnings in the area. I would pass several groups of bikers this day, including one group of over 10 tourists heading west. Both would mention a church just passed the town of Walnut that was open to bicyclists and had a plethora of free food to stock up on. However, to get there I would have to put in another 100+ mile day. I would have to play it by ear.

Vitus, my German companion for the night.

Flood effects.

Group of bikers I passed.

I would stop for a late lunch/early dinner in the small ¾ town of Benedict, KS. Riding into it made me feel like I was jumping into an episode of True Detective (awesome show, you must watch it) which is based out of Louisiana. A small, backwater, curvy road with masses of growth on either side would eventually lead me to a little, rickety convenience store. The clerk there, Joe, would introduce himself, claiming the title of Messianic minister. He would then simultaneously offer me free popsicles, sodsa, and sandwhiches while preaching fire and brimstone. I don’t think I said more than 10 words to him but stayed well over an hour just listening to his sermons. We covered everything from the origins of the bible, the translation of my name in Hebrew, to prophetic teachings saying the world will end in exactly four months. Although towards the end I had to interject and say I had to leave, it didn’t stop him talking. Even as I hopped on my bike and began riding away he was listing off verses for me to memorize. Really a quite friendly man and clearly intelligent, if a little eccentric. He even gave me $20 for the road. How that man stays in business I have no idea.

Scenes from the road.

Joe's place.

At the following town, after buying several snacks for the road, I ran into another bicyclist, this one going east! Her name was Lydia. I had been chasing her for days now, ever since Scott City. Everybody I passed would tell me of a cyclist just ahead of me. First two days, then one, then hours. Lydia was heading back home to Florida, before returning to school in Colorado Springs in the Fall. She too was heading to the Church passed Walnut so we decided to bike together.

This last leg to the church, Immanuel Lutheran, would take us well into the evening. Eventually the sun would go down and we would have to pull out our headlamps. I had, by this point, already done over 100 miles and my legs were tired. But as a little reward for my perseverance, I saw my first firefly. One turned to hundreds and pretty soon the entire side of the road was lined by shimmering lights. It might sound silly, but seeing a firefly was one of my few goals on this trip. Check!

Finally, just before 10 o’clock, we arrived at the church. It was all we could hope for. It had multiple fridges full of food and snacks. After taking another spit bath (where I would notice I had a mild case of hives, complements of my worsening summer allergies) I would cook myself some spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread. I would also set my camera up for a timelapse of the mornings sunrise.

Lydia and me.

Never seen a "CHURCH" sign before.

Day 53: Walnut, KS to Pittsburg, KS 26 miles

Thursday, May 28th

The following morning I would wake to sounds from the kitchen. One of the churches attendees was beginning preparations for a luncheon they were having that afternoon and he insisted Lydia and I stay to eat. He was speaking my language. We did indeed stay and eat our fill, even though it was more spaghetti, I would devour multiple portions as well as several plates of dessert. There were about 40 people at the lunch and I spent the majority of the morning bouncing from conversation to conversation while meeting some great folks.

Kansas sunrise.

Lunch with the people of Immanuel Lutheran.

Towards the end of the lunch, the cook from that morning offered to drive Lydia and myself into the nearby town of Pittsburg. Being that it was raining cats and dogs, we took him up on it. We would split the cost of a hotel room that night (a double, get your mind out of the gutter) my second hotel thus far, while we waited out the storm. The forecast for then next few days was much better. That night I would sleep with TV dinners in my stomach and refreshing Air Conditioned air blowing around the room.

Day 54: Pittsburg, KS to Springfield, MO 89 miles

Friday, May 29th

I would eat ham, cheese, and Ritz cracker sandwiches for breakfast. Lydia would leave bore I would that morning, but I would catch her about 20 miles down the road where we stopped for a second breakfast. I had a delicious BLT and chocolate milk. I then said my goodbye to Lydia as our routes diverged at this point. Hers would take her eastwards while I would head steadily southeast where I would see my brother who lives in Memphis.

Welp... we're not in Kansas anymore. There, I said it.

Mailbox of the day.

Lydia: the bicycle model.

Town of Pittsburg.

Pretty flowers.

I love vines!

Did somebody say crawfish?!

The first few hours of the day I would be pedaling through a constant rain but it was so warm out that I wouldn’t even use a jacket, nor would I mind. At some point I crossed into Missouri. At this point my allergies were really taking a toll on me. I had a hay fever that seemed to be getting worse the further south I went. It was all I could do not to scratch my constantly itchy eyes out. For the foreseeable future I would be popping Benadryl like tic tacs.

Scenes from the road.

I was planning on going to the city of Springfield where I had another Warmshowers host but towards the evening, with about 10 miles left to go, another storm blew through. It was borderline bad enough to where I though about waiting it out inside a local McDonalds but I figured I could do 10 miles pretty quick. A driver at a stop light must have read my thoughts because he opened up his door and yelled at me that I should probably take cover, there were Tornado warnings in the area. A warning means that a Tornado has actually touched down! I quickly took his advice and went back into the McDonalds I had just passed.

I was very glad I had taken that gentleman’s advice. Within minutes it began raining and hailing sideways. The manager of the McDonalds shut all his machines down and said that we were in “lockdown.” To my disgust, this met with much disapproval from many of the customers who wanted their food. The tornado must have been such an inconvenience for them. We watched most of the storm on the news, right up until the cable cut out. The storm quickly passed though, and the store was reopened, having been closed less than a half-hour.

Locked down at McDonalds.

At that point, my Warmshowers host called me and said they were picking me up. Brad Gilmore rolled up in his 4-door sedan, along with his daughter, their Great Dane pup they had just taken to the vet, and Brian, another cyclist who happened to be staying with them that day. We had to disassemble my bike in order to fit it in the trunk and even then a good portion was poking out but we cinched everything down with bungee cords. I was just grateful for the ride.

As we pulled into Brad’s home I would meet Rebecca, his wife. We would spend that night scarfing down Pizza Hut’s best and watching their two Great Danes rough house around. I would sleep on their hide-a-bed that night.

The storm.

Brian with the dogs.

Day 55: Springfield, MO to Willow Springs, MO 91 miles

Saturday, May 30th

Brian and I were the first to wake up so we (and by that I mean Brian) began immediately cooking breakfast for the crew. We had pancakes, sausage, eggs, the works. After collecting my things and double checking I hadn’t left anything, we set out, Brian to the North, me to the south.

Ready to set out.

I would quickly pass through the town of Springfield and hop onto a rather busy four-lane highway that was really the only practical route to Memphis. The cars and trucks were racing by me at 65 mph but there was a wide enough shoulder and a strong enough tail wind that day to make it OK. The only problem was the day wasn’t very scenic. You just don’t get the same views while on a highway. I did, however, make great time, stopping about every 20 miles to eat a snack and refill my water bottles. At one point I passed a very unique sign. Most “share the road” signs were referring to bicyclists, but this one had a horse drawn buggy on it. Shortly after seeing said sign I would witness an Amish couple in their buggy going through a McDonalds drive-thru. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. Apparently that county I was driving through had a fairly large Amish population.

Say whaaaat?

At about 78 miles I would pull into the town of Cobool, quite ready to be done for the day. I called the local sherrifs office to see if their was somewhere near town I could camp. They told me not in Cabool but about 13 miles down the road in the town of Willow Springs there was. So I would slog the final length of my day southward 13 more miles… and then find out the KOA was no longer in business. I would then contact their sheriffs office and subsequently be invited to camp out near the local fire house.

As I arrived at the firehouse they were just wrapping up a bbq they had that day. No leftovers unfortunately. The fire chief showed me around the building and pointed out the bathroom before leaving me to be. There are two kinds of people I meet on this trip: those who find my bicycling exploits crazy and interesting, and those who just find it crazy. The fire chief was the latter.

Unfortunately, the grassy area where I would set my tent up was adjacent to a tall grass field, of which I was surely allergic to. I would spend that night in veritable agony. My eyes would fill with so much gunk that it felt like I had slugs laying on them. I could hardly breath I was so congested. I think I managed to get around 2 hours sleep that night.

My campsite.

Day 56: Willow Springs, MO to West Plains, MO 22 miles

Sunday, May 31st

After having such a poor nights sleep and waking up feeling very miserable I felt that, being Sunday, was a good day for me to take a rest day. I packed up my tent without eating breakfast and was out on the road around 6 o’clock. I went 22 miles on an empty stomach to the neighboring city of Willow Springs where I would check into a Super 8 motel. Luckily they were still serving breakfast at that time and I made myself half a dozen waffles and some cereal.

After doing my much needed laundry while showering I opened up Google Maps and typed in “churches near me.” I found a rather large list of over 20 different churches in only a few square miles. I arbitrarily picked out a Baptist church to attend. It was a goal of mine to try out as many different denominations on this trip as possible. I was at two so far.

I arrived to the service 20 minutes early and spent most of the time talking to Rick, the interim pastor, telling him about Young Life and my reasons for biking across the US. He didn’t seem to mind that I was not exactly in my Sunday best with sandals, shorts, a baseball cap, and a scraggly beard, although I did have a button up. At the beginning of the service he would actually tell my story to the congregation and lead a prayer for me, although slightly embarrassing it was very kind and appreciated nonetheless. It would have an unanticipated effect. At the end of the service, people began lining up to shake my hand and wish me well, all while pressing 10 and 20 dollar bills into my hand saying it was “lunch money.” A man named David would take me out to a steakhouse for lunch. David was a pharmacist, a bicyclist, and new in the area. We spent the afternoon talking med school and biking before he would drop me off back at my bike and the hotel. I would have catfish for lunch for the first time in my life, apparently it was a common dish in the south.

It was a very pleasant rest day in Missouri and I would spend the remainder eating Subway and relaxing in the recliner chair in my room while reading my book. It was days like this day that make it all worth it.

A little strong for my tastes.

Our lunch site.

David was a most welcome Road Angel.