John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:
We completed our journey across northern Missouri over the last three and a half days. There must have been one thousand hills in that three hundred mile ride, and I enjoyed almost all of them. There were no mountains or canyons or grand vista, but it was beautiful in a simple and peaceful way everywhere. Three hundred miles of thriving green fields and meadows and farms. Small towns and lone farms spread miles apart. Quite country roads, where if you stopped, only the songs of birds and insects could be heard. And friendly, down-to-earth people.

Today started out special, because it is the 4th of July. Tommy and Emma decorated their bikes in celebration of the occasion. A few other people carried small flags, but that paled in comparison to Tommy and Emma’s creativity, so they easily won first and second place in the contest. Other than that, the day was like others, with ideal weather for cycling. It started out comfortably cool and ended pleasantly warm, under another clear blue sky. Our route was on quite country roads. Most were in good condition, but we did have some rough sections today. Overall, Missouri had excellent roads for us. We cycled passed farms and ranches all day, and rode through some Amish communities. I saw some people traveling by buggy again, and a couple young men working in their sawmill.

The hills diminished around mile seventy when we reached Canton, Missouri, near the Mississippi River. Our route turned south and followed the river. hence we enjoyed some flat riding in the final twenty miles. The Mississippi is swollen now and the fields between the river and road were flooded. Even the railroad tracks were under water. In the town of La Grange, some parks and lots on both sides of the road were flooded. Because of the flooding, Michelle rerouted us to a high bridge over the Mississippi River, and unfortunately we had to be shuttled across since the bridge was not safe enough to cycle on. Midway over the Mississippi, we entered Illinois. We continued our cycling in Quincy Illinois on Maine Street, where there were many fine old mansions. Some were decorated for the 4th.

Day 33

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 7/4/2013, 4:20:40

Duration: 07:17:49

Ascent/Descent: 3243 ft 3484 ft

Distance: 94.50 M

Today’s Highlights:
It was another ideal day for cycling. Missouri has been wonderful so far. Perfect weather, no wind, peaceful country roads in very good condition, and lush green scenery.

Our morning started comfortably cool with low-lying fog. We cycled back through the town of Chillicothe, and then escaped among farms after a few miles. The morning fog created a soft glow across the fields. It quickly lifted though, and we had another beautiful calm sunny day for our eighty one mile ride. Again for an entire day, we cycled through lush green farm and pasture land, with rolling hills in all directions. It is amazing to see this type of landscape for hundreds of miles, and that its inhabitants are such good caretakers of the natural resource. Farms and ranches are very well tended. There are more trees now, and more variety too. I have seen sycamore, maple and lots of oak. Near the end of the ride there was an expansive oak forest. We crossed over several rivers. They all are rather small, slow moving, and muddy. However, near most there was a road sign that warned of impassable roads during high water. That’s surprising since right now those rivers are far below the road level. Some high cut riverbanks indicate the potential. I occasionally saw a Great Blue Heron at some rivers, and more commonly the swallows. There are many more birds here compared to our first entry onto the plains. Red winged blackbirds chase us down the road if we happen to be passing a nesting site. Vultures are overhead in midday. Birds are heard all along the way since it is so quite out here. It is very seldom that a car or farm truck passes by. I have not seen much wildlife except for the typical farm animals, but I did get to see two deer near the end of the ride.

We only passed through a few towns today, and like yesterday each had 200 people or less. Linneus and Purdin were among them. Our destination, Kirksville, has a population around 17,000.

Day 32

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 7/3/2013, 4:46:37

Duration: 06:34:39

Ascent/Descent: 4355 ft 4145 ft

Distance: 81.21 M

Today’s Highlights:
It’s hard to believe that I cycled ninety miles today, because it felt like twenty. Maybe it was the great weather, or the beautiful pastoral scenery, or the rolling hills and smooth roads. Maybe it was the previous rest day or the four weeks of conditioning, or all of the above. Most of the riders agreed that today was a great ride.

We left St. Joseph Missouri with a clear sky and a comfortable 58 degrees. A light wind from the north did not effect our predominately easterly route. The temperature slowly climbed into the eighties by afternoon, which was still quite comfortable. The terrain was very hilly again. There wasn’t a flat stretch until about mile 81 to 82. But that’s what made it so fun. I just rolled over one hill after another with relative ease. We traveled on quite country roads all day, passing farms and ranches. Occasionally, there were horses or cattle. The houses on most of these farms seem to be much more modern or updated than those I saw west of here. The farms are still huge and the houses separated by miles sometimes. A few towns we passed through had a population of only 100 to 200. Their town centers had small house and quite streets. Our first rest stop was in a slightly bigger town, Maysville. One old local gentleman came up to chat with use. He handed Gene a large stack of 4″x4″ paper as a gift, and suggested he give each rider a small hunk of it so we could take notes about our trip. He wanted us to have something to remember his town by. It was a very friendly gesture, and I will remember him. Our next stop was in Jamesport, in Amish country. I saw some people traveling by horse-drawn buggies. As I came up behind one of them, two small girls peeked out the back window. Perhaps they were curious about me and my funny bike clothes. I was surprised how easy it was to cycle passed them. Horses don’t trot very fast. There was one Amish farm with several buggies parked in front, and a young boy riding a miniature cart pulled by a pony.

Our final town was Chillicothe Missouri. It’s a large city that seems quite prosperous. The bread slicing machine was invented here, so it is known as “the home of sliced bread”. There is a large mural on a main street building commemorating this. There were several other very nice murals.

Day 31

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 7/2/2013, 4:48:08

Duration: 06:31:27

Ascent/Descent: 3563 ft 3874 ft

Distance: 89.98 M

Today’s Highlights:
We are on day thirty of our adventure and it is our third rest day. Tomorrow we start a string of high-mileage days. Since there is little to say about a day of chores and downtime, I have selected a set of images to highlight all the riders of this cross country challenge.

But first, we say goodbye to one of our favorite members. Dave Kokinda left for home today, as planned. He had signed up for the first three sections of the tour, and cycled across half the country with us. He is an excellent cyclist, and I was lucky to ride with him often. He is also one of the funniest guys I have ever met and everyone enjoyed his good humor everyday. We will all miss him.

Thirteen riders and four staff continue on for the entire coast to coast adventure.

Meet The Riders: (in no particular order)

Dave Kokinda from New Jersey (San Francisco to St Joseph)

Ken Harris from Taxas (coast to coast)

Ken Koele from South Carolina (coast to coast)

Diego Betita (coast to coast)

Steve Lange from Illinois (coast to coast)

Mike Meinke from Ohio (coast to coast)

Bud Seabeck from Ohio (coast to coast)

Chris Harper from Minnesota (coast to coast)

Dave Marklund from Minnesota (coast to coast)

Emma Mason from England (coast to coast)

Tom and Tommy Evans from Colorado (coast to coast)

Mark Brandjord from Washington (coast to coast)

Meaghan Fondiller from New York (San Francisco to Salt Lake City)

Jed Beitler (San Francisco to Salt Lake City)

Andy Hiroshima from California (San Francisco to Salt Lake City)

Millard Yoder from Florida (Rocky Mt tour)

Andy Kaplan our mechanic

Gene and Jane Emborsky our support crew

Michele Sahli our ride leader