On our way to Branson

Morning mist rising over a hay field in Missouri

Spider webs glistening in the early morning sunlight

The morning chill, 44 degrees, turned into a bright sunny days as we headed into the Missouri countryside for Branson. As the morning mist burnt off, this day became one of the nicest we've had for riding, winds were light and mostly favorable.

Our initial route took us through some pretty small rural towns where farming and cattle were the economic drivers. Towns like Stella, pop 701 and Wheaton, pop 727, finally started to grow larger when we reached Cassville, pop 2,870. Along the way, the landscape was changing from basically flatlands with gentle rollers to tree covered hills with increasingly steep grades to pedal. We left the farmland for the Mark Twain National Forest. I must have seen hundreds if not thousands of the large round hay bales today in the fields that we passed.

As we climbed from 900' to 1,500' during the morning we were able to see out over the Mark Twain National Forest. The view was a refreshing change from Oklahoma's wide open spaces; everything was nice and green also.

Matt, Archie, Stephanie and me were the first to arrive at lunch today. That was a change in the normal order of things, primarily because the Colorado train and Ricky Bobby has several flat tires. (Greg remained in the van today - doctor's orders but he is well on his way to recovery as his wit and humor have definetely returned. He'll be back in the saddle on Friday.)

Today's roads were in excellent condition although most of the secondary country roads had no shoulder.

At lunch we said good-bye to Jack. He was getting a ride to Springfield, MO from Dan, the TREK bike mechanic, who just arrived to do rest day bike maintenance on our machines. From Springfield he was headed back home to Iowa to be with his Son and Daughter in law for the funeral of their infant baby.

Lunch was at mile 52 which meant we had 38 more to go. My GPS told me we had climbed a little over 3,000' so far, which meant we had 4,000' to go. Some serious hills lay ahead. By mile 63 we had descended into the town of Cape Fair below 950'. From there the climbing began for the next few miles it was a steady climb on winding road back to 1,400'. I like these climbs much better than the rollers; you get into a steady rhythm both cadence and breathing, versus the constant up and down of the rollers. After a few more longer climbs on rollers we reached the outer reaches of Branson.

Here everything changed once again. Gone we the quiet two lane roads; now we had 4 lane divided highway and wide shoulders. Fortunately the traffic was relatively light; a sign of the "off season" and slowing economy perhaps. The last 6 or 7 miles broght me back to central Florida, if only for a few minutes. As we neared our destination, I realized I was riding on a stretch of road that reminded me of a combination of I Drive and 92 by Disney World. The line-up of souvenir shops, restaurants, night clubs, theaters, miniature golf, tacky attractions (Ripley's and the Titanic museum) and hotels seemed endless.

Finally, one last descent into the original town on Branson and arrival at our hotel, a very nice Hilton located on the White River riverfront.

Nine straight days of riding has come to a close as we get a rest day Thursday. Everyone is tired and looking forward to the time out of the saddle. I've lost track of the miles but our guides tell us were 2/3 of the way across America. I take one day at a time, but when i stop to think about how far we've come by bicycle it staggering; when I hear that we have only 12 days left to our journey, I wonder where has the time gone.

After some needed downtime this afternoon, the group rejoined for drinks and dinner at a second Hilton (Hotel and Convention Center) about two blocks away. another sign of the "off season/slowing economy" hit - we were the only ones in the lounge and then in the restaurant all evening! The food was excellent but the service was very slow, no doubt because of the limited staff working. We blitzed the kitchen with 15 dinner orders at one time. I started with a sauteed shrimp with artichoke hearts, bacon and asparagus appetizer - delicious (or was I famished?), a small Caesar salad, and as my entree, sliced tenderloin au poivre with more asparagus and roasted ptoatoes. The meal was served at a very relaxed pace as the entire meal took 2.5 hours; however we were one tired grouip of bicycle fanatics and spouses or significant others.

We left the restaurant at 9:30 pm, past my normal bedtime on this trip. Once I got to the room it was lights out as i crashed to the pillows.

Ride Statistics:
90.9 miles
two flat tires, not mine!
2,650 kcals burned
16.5 mph
5.5 hours of riding time
5,348' of climbing according to my GPS; the route sheet had 7,059! I'll believe my GPS.