Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Southward bound

Day 32 again

~10 miles

So, I know I mentioned this day in my previous post, but, as you might expect, some stuff happened after I finished posting. After I left the McDonalds where I had been using the Internet, I went looking at the Mammoth Springs state park, where Google said there would be camping. There wasn't. In fact, the entire park was mostly just picnic tables and an "interpretive walk" which described the springs and was about 400 yards long. I did learn some cool stuff about the springs including the fact that they're about 58 degrees Fahrenheit year round and pump out millions of gallons of water an hour, making them the 10th largest springs in the world. Fascinating. But not worth hanging around for too long. So I set off in search of a campsite nearby and found a privately owned one a few hundred yards up the road. It was small and privately owned, which meant I definitely had to pay to stay, which was unfortunate as it was situated right next to the train tracks. Trains ended up coming by every half-hour to hour, and I'm pretty sure I found out where the sound designers found the scream for the Black Riders in the LotR movies.
When I first got there, I found out that I was two dollars short on the money I would need to pay for the site, and ran around town looking for a place to get cash back, and was unable to find anywhere. I did find a bank where I used the ATM and was able to withdraw some cash, but then I had to find a place to make change. After running around for a while, I finally had money to pay the fee for the site, and returned to set up camp. Unfortunately, I found that the place I had wanted to claim for the night had already been claimed by a couple who were halfway through setting up their own site. I settled down a few sites down and began gathering wood for a fire. As we were both gathering wood, the guy chatted with me a bit, and when I was about to start building up my fire he came over and handed me a few sheets of newspaper to get the fire going. I thanked him and set to building, but a few minutes later he came over and offered me a beer! I thanked him again and offered him some whiskey, which he readily accepted. He and his wife came over and chatted with me, and it turns out they had been traveling and camping about as long as I had, though they had been doing so in a car. They were both a bit rough-looking, with dirty blonde hair, and leathery skin. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought they were related, but it turns out they had been married only a few months before. They were nice, but soon broke off the conversation, and went back to their site to cook dinner. After a little while longer though, the guy came back and offered me a turkey burger, which I politely declined, explaining that I am a vegetarian. He shrugged and started eating the burger himself. Over the next few hours we ended up roasting marshmallows together (they had the largest marshmallows I have ever seen, each one was as big as my fist) and I gave them some hot cocoa, and eventually they went to bed, saying they would see me in the morning. Unfortunately, I stayed up late, reading as usual, and when I woke up they had left. I wish them well.

Day 33

51.73 miles @ an average of 12.2mph, 39.9 max
Total ride time of 4:13'53

Woke up just before noon, and scrambled to get going since I wanted to cover the 50 miles to flat land before the sun went down. As I was scarfing down my breakfast, an old, beat-up, red Ford pickup rolled into the site and stopped where my neighbors had been the night before. The beefy owner stepped out and let his tiny dog run around. As I was finishing up, he got back in his truck and pulled around, making to leave, but stopped as he pulled even with me. "Where you comin' from on that bike? Dallas? That's quite a ride..." etc. He spoke in a slow drawl, which matched his movements, and before he even spoke for a couple of minutes I was tiring of the conversation. I just wanted to get going, but he rambled on, asking questions and stating that he could not go on a journey like the one I was on. Looking at his bulk, I thought to myself, "well, probably not," but said "You get stronger as you go." Soon enough he was complaining about Obama, and I was really ready to leave the conversation. I don't know what it is about this part of the country, but everyone seems really ready to talk about politics whether you brought it up or not. This strikes me as funny, as I was brought up being told that the three things you never discuss with strangers, or around the dinner table, are money, politics, or religion. This man managed to roll all three into a discussion about our current president. I groaned and tried to extricate myself from the conversation as quickly as possible. When I finally had, I rolled onto the road, and headed south.
After about 18 miles I stopped for a breather, and as I was standing outside the gas station I was approached by a younger couple who were interested in my trip. The normal conversation ensued, but these two seemed enthusiastic about helping me, and told me exactly how many large hills I had to expect on my way toward the flat land. They told me about the largest hill, which was "just around the next curve." The woman expressed that she would never want to climb it on a bicycle, "It's hard enough with this 4-cylinder," she said, banging the hood of their small truck. It wasn't "just around it curve," it was about two miles away, but I still appreciated the warning, as I was ready for it. Honestly, I've hit worse hills. This one was only about a mile or so long, and relatively smooth, without too much variation in the slope, so I took it relatively easily. On the way up, though, a question was raised. Why is it that young women always yell at me and cheer when I'm pumping up a large hill? On this one, a Mini Cooper convertible filled with young women blew past, yelling at me, while their arms waved out the open roof. Why do I never run into these women at my stops? It's always old men and married couples. I swear young women don't stop along the road, they just drive without ever running out of gas...
Anyway, I found a machete along the side of the road! As I passed it I decided to keep it, slowed to a stop, and ran back to pick it up. It isn't the best machete ever, I have a better one at home, but it will still work as a fire poker and wild animal/zombie protection (you never know when the zompocalypse will happen).
By the end of my journey, I was absolutely wasted. My legs were so tired that the last five miles to the campsite felt like agony. As I rounded one corner, however, I spied the lake through a group of trees. Seeing the burst of color from the sunset reflecting off the glassy surface gave me a burst of energy and I plowed through the last two miles, getting to camp just as the last of the light left the sky. My arrival reminded me that it was the weekend. The camp was already full of RVs, crying children, and yapping dogs. Just what I needed when I got to camp, annoyance. Anyway, I spent some time gathering firewood, getting my fire going, and cooking dinner, and before long, all the noise had faded away. Had I not looked up from my writing, I would have sworn I was alone. No such luck, but it was a nice thought.
As I went to sleep I made a plan for the next day. I only had to ride about 40 miles to the next camp site, but I needed to stop at Wally World for some more camp fuel. I keep using too much heating water for hot cocoa. Once I got to the site, I would call my friend TJ who lives in Memphis and ask him if he was going to be in town when I got there.

Day 34

~44 miles @ ~13.7mph
Unknown ride time
(Accidentally reset my odometer before I had everything written down.)

The first six miles out of camp were hilly, but not bad, but once I reached the highway to head southeast the land flattened out. Finally. Flat land! After leaving the hills my average was around 11.5mph, but by the time I reached Jonesboro, I had raised it to 14.8mph! To put it succinctly, I was hauling ass. Unfortunately, Jonesboro is surrounded by hills, and the shoulders are pretty much gravel, both of which slowed me down. By the time I reached my campsite just outside town I was down to around 13.7 average, but it's still my highest average so far on this trip, and I'm incredibly proud of that.
So, I got to the campsite, the signage at which was terrible, and so I was not able to find the primitive sites on my own. I settled down at an RV site and had already gathered wood and started setting up my kindling when the camp attendant came by and told me the price for the site I was at was $20. I told her that was absurd, and that I could find hotels for around that price. She replied that it was because it was an electric site. She then showed me where the primitive sites were, and promised to bring me some wood. Apparently, wood is part of paying for a site. With this in mind, I decided it wasn't so bad to pay $10 for a primitive site so long as I got free wood with it. I had the attendant bring me a massive amount of wood, and had burned it all by morning, enjoying warmth all night long. The nice thing was that the fire was incredibly easy to start because a few logs were still smoldering in a nearby site's fire ring, so I grabbed one of those logs and used it to quickly start my own fire. Once again, I stayed up too late reading.

Day 35

39.28 miles @ an average of 11.9mph, max of 33.9
Total ride time of 3:17'31

So I woke up early enough, but having stayed up late the previous night, I was tired as heck. The wind was also howling at 25-30mph. The lack of sleep in addition to the wind, which was either in my face, or straight across the road, pushing me into the lane of traffic, made me angry. I was not a happy camper. I had intended to reach Memphis by the end of the day, but the wind was keeping me going painfully slow. The wind only assisted me for about 6 miles. Six wonderful miles, I might add. Still, by the time I had gone about 30 miles into the wind, I was fed up and started looking for a motel of any kind. I found one for $25 a night, and it was possibly the worst hotel I have ever seen. Okay, maybe it was tied with the first one I stayed at in Broken Bow, but it was the kind of hotel that would feature prominently in a film like Spun. I wouldn't have been surprised if one of my neighbors was cooking meth. The paint was peeling off the walls, there were scratches in the door, the bathtub was covered in cigarette burns, there were no shades on any of the lamps, there were water stains all over the place. Still, I was happy to be out of the wind, and I settled down to enjoy the night, looking forward to the ride to Memphis the next day. I also got to watch the season premier of The Walking Dead, which I have been looking forward to since the end of the first half-season. Still, having read the comics, there are things I want to happen, which haven't, and that upsets me. Some characters are still present, who I want gone, and others haven't appeared yet, and I hope like hell that they do at some point...

Day 36

39.89 miles @ an average of 14.0mph, 24 max
Total ride time of 2:50'49

Not much to say on this day except that I rode my ass off to get to Memphis, crossed the Mississippi, and once I crossed the bridge, I stopped at a park where my good friend, TJ, picked me up and brought me to his house. That night I met a few of his friends here in town, including one who works at a bike shop, and is active in the bike community here in town. Even better, he's a professional photographer who is working on something he's calling "Project Bike Love" and, after hearing about my adventures, he decided that he had to take my picture, which he did in TJ's back yard. The pictures came out AWESOME. He's going to send me proofs soon, and I want to order a few copies, and one or two of them will be on my facebook for sure, if not here on my blog. Seriously, I love these photos. Check out this guy's site at http://nathanwberryphotography.zenfolio.com/p590739699
I promise, you will not be disappointed, and sooner or later my picture will be up there too! I'm so excited! Oh yeah, staying here in Memphis for an extra day since rain is for sure, and the temperature is dropping dramatically. I only hope that I have enough warm clothing for riding after I leave. It's gonna be a cold ride, and I'm really glad that I'm headed south where it should be getting warmer as I go along!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Just passing through

Day 28

54.59 miles @ an average of 11.1mph, 35.7 max
Total ride time of 4:52'46

So I ended my last post saying I was going to caverns on this day. Nope. I found out that the caverns I wanted to go to were included in a larger park, the entrance fee to which was $50+ and I was not about to pay that sort of money to see some caves. Caves are cool, and all that, but I just wasn't up to paying that much to see them. So, I headed east out of Branson towards Mammoth Springs. Along the way I stopped in The Smothered Mutt, a place that specialized in hot dogs, but had some delicious fried mushrooms, which I devoured. I chatted with the owners for quite a while and promised to like them on Facebook, which I have. While I was there the told me about a couple who had stopped through who were biking from coast to coast. They had a short write-up from their (the bikers') home town paper displayed below the counter. It kind of made me wish I had a riding partner, if only so that I might have someone to talk to on a regular basis, and so that the majority of my conversations weren't limited to "So where are you from? Dallas? You rode that bike all the way from Dallas? Well, have a good day, ride safe."
I rode on from there and, once I reached my supposed destination, I found that it was not my destination. Google had steered me wrong once again. The campsite was marked about four miles from where it actually is, and so I turned around and headed back towards my home for the night. On the way a motorcyclist slowed down and chatted with me for a few minutes while we rode, and we talked about bikes. Turns out he has the same mountain bike I have back home. I would have liked to continue our conversation, but we were holding up traffic, so he took off, and after another two miles I found the campsite I had been looking for.
The campsite, it turned out, was crap. Privately owned, open for all to see with no trees to speak of, no running water, no working electricity, and locked bathrooms. I hate campsites like that. I hung my hammock between two poles holding up the roof over a picnic table and lit a roaring fire to warm up by, and set to reading.

Day 29

23.38 miles @ an average of 11.1mph, 39.2 max
Total ride time of 2:05'26

Woke up and ate at the on-site diner, not because I really wanted to pay money for food, but more because I really needed to use their restroom, and, as I stated above, the campsite ones were locked tight. After breakfast I packed up, pretty slowly, and headed out on what turned out to be a mostly-uphill adventure. I really need to find a WallyWorld to restock on some much-needed supplies, such as fuel. Unfortunately, the closest one to me at this point is in Thayer, north of Mammoth Springs, and still quite a ways away. Along my ride I stopped in Gainsville and chatted with some very nice people, including a former triathlete who had recently had his shoulder replaced.
I found my campsite without difficulty this time (it was just off the highway I was trekking along) and set to work putting up my hammock. While putting up the rain fly I bent one of my stakes to the point that it won't be used again, but that's why I packed four when I only really need two. Still, it makes me want to get out of this rocky terrain so that I don't have to worry about bending stakes as often.
The owners of this campsite, Rocky Top, are incredibly nice. Before one of them drove into town he stopped by my site and asked if I needed anything. I told him no, though I should have asked about fuel, as I was almost out. Still, it's a great campsite with working water and electricity, a disc golf course, and a pool table in the office. I didn't use either of the latter, as I was too busy setting up camp and getting a good fire going, and once both were done, the owner was locking up the office and going to bed. Still, I would recommend this site to anyone who plans on camping for a few days, it's really nice.
Anyway, for the past few days I had been in touch with my friend Jamie, who has been working in Wyoming for the last few months, and said she wanted to camp with me a night, about which I was very excited. She had called me in the morning before I left my previous site and told me she was stopping through Branson to pick up a friend and that she would call me afterward to find out where I was. Unfortunately, she never called back, and I spent the night alone with my new mantis friend, who stuck around my site until I went to bed.

Day 30

39.06 miles @ an average of 12.7mph, 32.4 max
Total ride time of 3:04'31
Additional 5 miles walking on dirt roads I couldn't ride on (not included in average speed)

Another day, another late start. Woke up late and packed slowly, so that I ended up leaving my site around 1PM. Went into Tecumseh, the town nearby to the campsite and tried to buy some fuel. Unfortunately, the only fuel they had was a gallon tank, which I have no need of, and have no ability to carry on my bike. I bought it anyway, and borrowed a sharpie with which I wrote "free" on the tank after I filled my own fuel bottle, and left the tank outside the gas station at which I purchased it. Next I made a wrong turn. Rather, I went straight when I should have turned, and I didn't notice the mistake until a couple miles down the road. Not wanting to turn back, I continued on, feeling that, if nothing else, I could cut back to the road I wanted to be on at another point, though it did end up adding some miles to my trek, and kept me from getting to Mammoth Springs this day. Still, this is why you don't plan ahead too much on these types of trips. Anyway, I continued on, and somehow managed to skirt the rain that had been forecast for the day. The last 11 miles were foggy and wet, but beautiful.
Once again I followed Google instinctively, and passed up my intended campsite by about 1.5 miles while walking, and had to turn back. This was a completely primitive campsite buried deep in the woods along rough dirt roads. It was beautiful, but I kept hearing animals in the woods around me, and I was grateful I had built such a big fire to keep me warm, as it also helped keep predators away. Throughout the night I heard growls and shuffles, and often heard coyotes howling within a few miles of me. To say the least, I stayed up quite late, and only went to bed when the rain began. The rain continued, as far as I can tell, all night long, and I woke up with my hammock sagging from the moisture.

Day 31

20.10 miles @ an average of 11.4mph, 32.4 max
Total ride time of 1:45'07

Woke up late after a long, restless sleep, packed up camp, and walked the 2 miles back to the highway. The rain had turned the roads to mud, and the walk had me wet and filthy before I even began my ride. To say the least, I was cold, wet, and miserable all day. When I had my jacket on, I was too warm, when off, too cold. The only good thing about the ride was that I only saw 10 cars going my way the whole ride, which means about one for every two miles. I don't know if it was just the weather, or if I realized I've been away from home for a whole month, but I miss my friends and my cats. Still, I was glad when I got to Mammoth Springs that I could find a hotel and be warm and dry for the night. There I lazed about and did practically nothing but read, watch TV, and order a pizza.
Honestly, almost nothing happened on this day except me feeling exceptionally down.
Oh yeah, and my headphones stopped working. Rather, they work, but they continually pause/unpause my iPod to the point that it is nearly impossible to listen to anything. Going to have to purchase more tomorrow, along with more batteries, and some other minor supplies. Damn, I have the worst luck with headphones. They never last me more than two or three months.

Might as well talk about today, day 32, while I'm posting... It won't take long, it's been boring.
Here goes: did laundry, bought some groceries, bought batteries and new headphones. Now sitting at McDonalds (for free wi-fi, not buying anything, I promise) and writing this blog. Going to camp at the state park outside the springs if I can, and take another day's rest. Tomorrow I will be trying my best to get to flat land, and then finding a campsite. Day after, haul ass toward Memphis. Wish me luck. (Told you it wouldn't take long.)

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Eureka! (Springs and such)

Day 23

37.85 miles @ an average of 12.7mph, 38.0 max
Total ride time of 2:58'36

After checking out of my hotel I rode to the Sprint store to see if my phone had arrived, and it hadn't. I checked the FedEx website to see when it would arrive and it said "by 3PM," and I figured I wasn't going to stick around the store for it to show up. I would rather spend my time sucking down caffeine at a local coffee shop, so I wrote my name and number on a card for the store clerk to contact me when my phone arrived. As I turned to leave, however, the FedEx guy was walking in the door with my brand new phone! So, I got it activated and went to a coffee shop anyway where I spent far too long sucking down coffee and chatting on Facebook with friends. After picking up some lunch, I finally hit the road in earnest.
About half my ride this day was in the cities of Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers, which make a line north towards Missouri. In Rogers I turned east and headed toward my campsite, but only after stopping at a local bike shop where the attendant stoner told me about the problems he was having with police in the area. I couldn't care much less, but I stuck around to rest my legs before hitting the last stretch of my ride to camp, which wasted even more time. I had hoped to find some portable speakers for the road at the bike shop, but they didn't have any, so I just purchased a patch kit and headed out.
By the time I reached the campsite it was just before sundown. The camp site was terrible, and the road down to the camp site was worse. Worse still was the price they charged for a site with no amenities: $15. On the way down the road toward my site I tried riding, but the hill was comprised of rocks the size of my fist and I almost fell twice, so I dismounted and walked the rest of the half mile to the camp sites. Once there I warmed myself by collecting firewood for quite some time, and then created a roaring fire and cooked dinner. I got to sleep quite late.

Day 24

30.51 miles @ an average of 11.0, 39.8 max
Total ride time of 2:45'31

Got a late start due to my late bed time, and therefore by the time I reached the caverns I wanted to visit between my camp and Eureka Springs, they had closed for the day. Still, I rode on, and after about 18 miles I stopped at a gas station/deli-type-thing for lunch and a quick break. Then I pedaled on toward my destination, but stopped about 2 miles outside of town when I saw the World's Largest Tuned Musical Wind Chime. You know when you watch movies about road trips the family always stops to see the "world's largest ball of twine" off the side of the highway? I had to stop, it was too funny. I snapped a bunch of pictures and rode off, chuckling to myself.
As I entered the town the first thing I saw was a hotel. And another. And another. And more, and more until I was sure that no one in the town actually lived there. With so many hotels I was sure the town had to be comprised completely of transients. I stopped at McDonald's (they have free wi-fi) to check Google to find a hotel with a decent price. I didn't find one with a great price, but I did find one with a Jacuzzi in the room and a sweet location right in the middle of downtown.
Turns out, the hotel was constructed in 1905 soon after the town got its start. As I learned later, the town of Eureka Springs has always been a tourist spot ever since the discovery of natural radiation in some of the springs in town. Some of you may know that in the early 20th century, after the discovery of radiation, it was believed that radiation was actually a healthy thing to expose one's body to. People believed that bathing in the slightly irradiated springs would heal almost any ailment, and so people flocked to the area from around the country. If this surprises anyone, remember that this was also about the time that cocaine drops were used to soothe the pains of teething infants, and Bayer was marketing Heroin as a way to stop morphine addiction.
So, the number of hotels really wasn't that impressive when you think about the fact that the entire town is based on tourism. Some of the locals told me that, were it not for tourists, the town would disappear due to lack of money. There would be no money in Eureka Springs without tourism. So, I felt mildly good about supporting the local economy while I was in town.
After checking into my room, I was told that most of the places in town closed down by 9, so it would be a good idea to go find some food before this happened. Downstairs and across the street from the hotel was a small "Indian" restaurant that served mostly hamburgers. Anyone missing the irony here? No? Good. I got a nice veggie sandwich, a samosa, some fries, and devoured all of it, along with a beer. Then I asked my waitress where one might go for a drink and a game of pool, and she directed me to the place the locals go to drink to get away from the tourists. Now this was what I was looking for. I headed off in search of good conversations, and I was not disappointed.
At the bar I met a ton of locals, all of whom were incredibly interesting, as well as incredibly interested in my travels, so I talked for hours, much longer than I had intended to, and finally got back to my hotel a while after midnight, where I filled up the Jacuzzi and watched Mythbusters. Shortly after my long, relaxing soak in the monstrous tub made for honeymooning couples, I crashed for the night.

Day 25

2.81 miles @ an average of 3.9mph, 12.3 max
Total "ride" time of 0:42'27

Decided to stay in town for another day since Eureka Springs is such a cool, little town. In the daylight I noticed it's a lot like the small mountain towns you run across in Colorado like Idaho Springs or Frisco. There were a ton of little art shops and rock shops and other locally owned businesses, so I bought some stuff from a few of them, including post cards and a birthday present for my dad. I spent the majority of my day just walking around, pushing my bike up and down the streets, talking to locals and learning the history of the town. Funny thing about tiny towns though, after a while people started walking up to me saying they had heard about me and wanted to know how my trip was going. This was positively strange. Complete strangers walking up to you and knowing your story is not something I'm accustomed to, but apparently the people sharing their stories of meeting a guy traveling the South on his bicycle were accompanied by a description of my mustache, so I was easy to spot. Still, throughout the day, as I met more locals, and told them my story, I had just as many people walk up to me saying they had heard it. I saw a bit of the grapevine at one point. After talking to one store owner I saw him go outside and yell to another, "This guy's traveling around on his bicycle! He came from Dallas!"
One of the people who I think was most responsible for spreading the story of the mustachioed traveler was a young man by the name of Steven, who I had met the day before at the locals' bar. I ran into him a couple of times throughout the day, the last of which was at the "Indian" restaurant, where I went for a quick beer before heading out of town. I told him I was planning on staying at the campgrounds just outside of town, but he said that it was dangerous to ride on that road at night, as there is not shoulder, but he offered me an alternative. As it turns out, Steven does not have a solid place to stay in Eureka Springs, and instead camps out in different places around town. He offered to show me one of the places he usually camps so that I might stay in town for the night without being bothered by anyone. I gladly accepted, and decided to stick around chatting with him until he was ready to show me where I would be sleeping for the night. Luckily, he also had something of a rapport with the waitress and was able to wrangle us up some free soup before we left, and somehow, in the middle of this, I ended up showing him contact juggling. He said he had another friend in town who also contact juggled, and wished that I could meet him.
Anyway, after finishing our soup, we headed to my home for the night where I locked up my bike and followed him to an open mic night at a local bar where he was planning on performing. As it turns out, he makes most of his money by busking on the streets of the city during the weekends when most of the tourists are present. His music is wild and intense. He beat boxes into a flute. I took a video of it, and I will post it as soon as I have a faster connection than the one my current hotel is offering. It is really mind blowing though. I've seen beat box flautists on YouTube before, but I've honestly never seen one quite as good as Steven. He blew me away. Anyway, after open mic we went back to my camping spot and he left me to chill with some friends, but after a few minutes he returned saying that I was welcome to come join them, and that his contact juggling friend was there! I went with him a few hundred yards down the street and met a group of people and contact juggled for them, and drank some beer and had a generally good time, but I was tired, and so I soon excused myself and returned to my hammock for a good night's sleep.

Day 26

42.27 miles @ an average of 12.0mph, 35.0 max
Total ride time of 3:33'18

Once again I left the town late and was unable to visit the caverns I wanted to, as I arrived just after they closed, but I rode on. And on. Despite the mountains I positively flew through the miles. I can't wait to get to the flat lands again as I'm sure I'll be making 50 miles per day easy. Still, despite missing another chance at touring some caverns I did reach a milestone. I made it to Missouri! More than that, I made it to Table Rock Lake! I'm at the destination of my journey, yet somehow I don't feel like sticking around that long.
One thing I noticed on my ride is that, at some point while Steven was helping me get my bike up the trails to my camping spot the previous night we bent the wheel a bit and there was a noticeable bump in the steering, so I decided to head to a bike shop as soon as possible to repair the damaged part. Still, it wasn't so bad that I couldn't get to my destination on the edge of Table Rock Lake, where I camped for the night. Apparently, I wasn't supposed to camp there, though. All the water in the park had been turned off, as had the electricity. Still, I made a great, roaring fire once again and stayed up way too late reading, which ended up being slightly problematic the next day. However, on the way to the campsite I was able to stop a couple of miles away and purchased a 1/2 dozen eggs, 3 of which I ate for dinner, saving the other half for breakfast. I also learned that toasting poptarts over a campfire is awesome.
For some reason I was in a great mood, and despite having ridden so many miles, I still had the energy to dance around the campfire to the music on my iPod for a while before making dinner. Maybe I'm just happy to be reaching the pinnacle of my journey. Maybe I'm just happy to be moving again. Who knows.

Day 27

22.29 miles @ an average of 11.0mph, 37.0max
Total ride time of 2:01'16

Woke up early enough, but it was so warm that I was feeling sluggish. Compounded with a lack of sleep, I ended up bleary-eyed for quite some time after rising, and took quite a while before getting on the road. Still, I knew my destination was Branson, MO, which was only a few miles away, so I didn't try anything to hasten my wakening. Once on the road I took it easy, especially since I had to climb a few hundred feet at the start of the day just to leave my campsite, but once I hit highway 65 I was flying. It was the first taste of a long stretch somewhat flat road I've had in quite a long time. I averaged 17mph, if not more, just on that road because it was miraculously flat in such a mountainous region. I guess that's what you get with highways, instead of going over hills, they just blast right through them so the road is straight as can be.
Anyway, I got to Branson and went to the north side where I had located a bike shop. I went in and asked the owner if I could use his truing stand, and he was more than welcoming, so I set to work, and had soon fixed the bump in my ride, but I spent the next hour and a half talking with him about riding and touring and life and idiots who drive cars, and all sorts of other stuff until he closed. I left the shop in good spirits and phoned a nearby hotel to check their rates and found the cheapest rate I've encountered on this trip so far. Google lied to me, however, and the hotel wasn't as close as I had seen on the map, so I got to see a bit more of Branson than I had wanted to initially. It turns out this town is a consumerist hotbed where all the people who were never big enough to make it to Vegas end up, and all the mid-west retirees go on their weekends to see one-hit-wonders from their youth. Seriously, this place wants to be Vegas. There are lights flashing everywhere. From my hotel I can see a mock-up of the Hollywood sign with a King Kong climbing a miniature tower. There's a giant building that's something like a mock-up of half the Titanic complete with iceberg. Every half-assed comedian I've ever heard of (and a ton I haven't) apparently is still alive and well, and performing lackluster shows on a weekly basis here in Branson.
I can't wait to leave.
There's a cavern nearby. I think I'm going to go to it tomorrow.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Trials and Tribulations

Day 19

23.97 miles @ an average of 10.0mph, 31.6 max
Total ride time of 2:21'11

So, this day started pretty well, but quickly turned to shit. I woke up early and went to a local coffee shop to chat with some friends I hadn't talked to in a while (love you guys, you know who you are). After a few cups of coffee I decided it was time to head out of town, so I packed my phone away and headed north on 23 out of town. A couple miles out I heard something hit my wheel, but didn't think too much about it until a van pulled up next to me and told me I had dropped my phone. I immediately pulled over, parked, and sprinted back to the phone as well as I could in my bike shoes. Unfortunately, there were about six cars behind the van and I think about half of them ran over the phone. By the time I got to it the screen was shattered all over, and only the bottom quarter showed anything at all. I cursed myself out for a while, figuring that somehow I hadn't zipped the phone into the pouch I use to hold it most of the time. So I turned back to town to find a temporary phone to use until I get a new one. Then I took time to activate and charge the new phone. By the time I was leaving town it was about 5PM and the sun was going to set in two hours, while my destination was over twenty miles away and uphill almost the whole way. I headed out without much hope of making camp by nightfall. With this in mind I picked up some whiskey on the way out of town.
On my way to my planned stop, however, I ran across a private campground next to a rafting river which had a great gift shop and cheap camping spots. This was about twenty minutes before sundown, and as you might imagine, since I was in the mountains, it was getting quite chilly and dark already. At the gift shop I went on a bit of a spending spree, something I often do when stressed out, as I was from the phone incident earlier in the day. I finally got some patches to sew onto my panniers, a warm hat to wear at night, a map of the Ozark National Forest, and some food and drinks, including beer. Once I got to the campsite across the road and picked out a good spot with a fire pit I spent a couple hours gathering wood and getting a good blaze going before hanging my hammock and starting dinner, but as the temperature dropped, I was glad I did the tasks in this order. I ended up having a good fire until about 3AM, at which time I put out all but the center mass of coals, which I warmed up by in my skivvies before racing to my sleeping bag for the night.

Day 20

30.16 miles @ an average of 9.6mph, 35.2 max
Total ride time of 3:08'33

I was awoken early in the morning by the roar of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Hundreds of them. I tried to go back to sleep, but slept only fitfully as there were groups of four to twelve motorcycles coming and going from the gift shop all day long. Every time a group would leave, they would all rev their engines to the maximum shout to show all the other bikers that they had massive genitals. This got incredibly irritating after a while, so I finally rolled out of my hammock and got some water boiling for oatmeal and hot chocolate. Breakfast of champions. Because I hadn't slept well (due to the fact that my feet kept freezing during the night, and then the early motorcyclists), I lazed about quite a bit and finally got packed up around 2PM, and then lazed about some more. I didn't leave the site until after 3PM. This, as I later discovered, was a terrible plan.
My ride for the day started with an 8 mile climb. Seriously. Eight strenuous miles of switchbacks and straight climbs with Harleys roaring by, deafening me with their penile-enhancement engines. Hundreds and hundreds of weekend warriors flying by on a three day escape from corporate enslavement. I don't think a single one of them was not a middle-aged person in middle management. After this weekend, I will forever associate HD's with mid-life crises. Anyway, I finally reached the summit of my climb, and was treated to a few miles of downhill, although I'm pretty sure I didn't descend more than half of what I climbed that day. After a few miles I turned toward Fayetteville where the nearest Sprint store was to get my phone replaced. Unfortunately, by this time the sun was quickly setting and the temperature rapidly dropping. I began to stop every few miles to don another set of warm clothing, and when I got to Crosses, AR I stopped at a gas station to ask about nearby lodgings. There were none. They had a diner inside, however, so I ate some greasy food and decided that I should keep an eye on the parking lot to see if anyone with a pickup truck with a decently-empty bed pulled up so I might ask them for a ride to Fayetteville in exchange for some gas money. One woman suggested I just hike down to the river and camp by that, but I wanted warmth, and I didn't think that setting a fire in the middle of the wilderness without a fire pit was such a good idea for multiple reasons. After a while, a couple of guys in a Toyota Tacoma pulled up to eat in the diner and I asked them if they would help me out, but the driver said he wasn't headed in that direction. No other trucks arrived within half an hour.
Feeling defeated, I remounted my bike and headed for Fayetteville again, cold, miserable, and looking forward to 22 more miles of this feeling. After about two miles, however, I saw the Tacoma pass by, and I thought to myself "Thought they weren't headed that way, bastards." After a minute, however, I saw the same truck headed back in the opposite direction. Ahead of me they turned into a gravel drive and stopped. The driver climbed out and called out to me, "Still want that ride?" "Fuck yes," I said, breathlessly, as they had stopped near the top of a large hill. They helped me get the bike in the bed, and I climbed in the back. They said something about it not being too comfortable back there, but I wasn't exactly in a position to complain.
I haven't gone that fast in weeks. It felt like we flew to Fayetteville, and on the way they asked if I knew where I was going to stay once I got there. I admitted that I didn't know, and they told me that all the hotels in the city were booked up and had been for months due to the fact that a large motorcycle rally was going on in the city that weekend. This explained the inordinate number of HD's I had seen on the road that day. Still, I was non-plussed, there must be somewhere in the city that wasn't completely booked. I asked them to drop me off at a coffee shop or somewhere else I might have access to wi-fi so I could look for a place to rest my bones. They obliged, and soon I was sitting at Hastings scouring the web for an open hotel room. I never did get their names, but I'm forever grateful to them anyway.
They were, however, correct about the state of hotel rooms in the city. The first five places I called were all booked up, and the sixth had two rooms available. For $179 per night. Plus tax. The hotel attendant assured me that this was a good deal as their normal rate was $249 per night. I told her I would call back if I couldn't find anywhere cheaper. There weren't any in Fayetteville. North of the city is another city, Springdale, AR, and I started searching there for hotel rooms, and finally found one for $89 after taxes. It was 7 miles away from Hastings. I'll pedal 7 miles at night in the cold for a chance to save a hundred bucks. I got there before 10:30 and was asleep not long after that.

Day 21

13.57 miles @ an average of 12.0mph, 32.9 max
Total ride time of 1:07'49

I woke up with the idea that I would get my phone fixed and head out of town. Never plan ahead. I got some breakfast (complimentary!) and checked out by 11:30AM, and was using the Internet access in the lobby when I noticed a guy taking huge stacks of money out of the gambling machines lined against the wall before the front desk. "What do people win from those machines?" I asked him. "Room credits," he replied. This started a conversation which led to me telling him about my travels and adventures, and he was impressed. Impressed enough that he bought me a room for the night. "Rest your legs for another night on me, man." His name was Herman. I haven't seen him since, but I'll remember him.
I unpacked my bags into the new room and, unloaded for the first time in a long while, headed to the Sprint store to fix my problem. Which led to more problems. Apparently Sprint workers are not even allowed to touch a phone if it is as damaged as mine is. All replacements and insurance claims are handled through a third party. Why? I don't think I'll ever know. It probably has something to do with them sending you faulty equipment in return for your broken equipment and Sprint not being culpable for that. Maybe I'm just jaded... Anyway, I spent most of my pre-paid minutes trying to get the people from that company to replace my phone, ended up having to call my dad to call them because they said that the security key I told them was incorrect, when in fact it was correct, and then I had to call them back again to get them to ship the phone to the Sprint store, which meant they had to speak to a manager to get him to say that they would accept the phone for me, which meant spending more of my valuable minutes, which meant that after a few hours at the Sprint store I was fed up and needing feeding. And my phone wouldn't be delivered until Tuesday. Stuck in town. Thank Herman for the free hotel room for the night!
So, I headed back to my room and stopped for some Thai food on the way. It was delicious. I got back to my room, ate, and searched the Internet for a bar. I found one a short distance from my hotel and went there for a couple of beers and some games of pool. I was one of three people there. It closed after 45 minutes.
So I went back to the hotel and read for a while until I finally fell asleep, tired and wanting to get out of the city, but knowing I would have at least one more day here.

Day 22

18.63 miles @ an average of 12.5mph, 30.4 max
Total ride time of 1:28'57

Because I'm stuck in an urban area, I decided to do what I would do in any urban area. I found a coffee shop. First, though, I found a Bank of America to cash a couple checks I had from graduation presents I still hadn't cashed in on. Then I went to a bike shop and got my chain re-lubed, which it needed after being outside so many days and through so many rainstorms. There I also purchased a pair of cold weather riding gloves for the mountains and the coming month as autumn approaches. These were both next to the University of Arkansas, so I decided to check out their campus. It's not as pretty as Texas State's, but I may be a bit prejudiced. Still, it reminded me a lot of San Marcos with rolling hills and lots of young people. The people didn't seem as friendly as Texans, though. I saw a group of people with ENO hammocks like mine all hanging out in a tree (pun intended) and I thought they might be working with ENO trying to sell hammocks. I went over to them to try to strike up a conversation, asking their affiliation with ENO, which they said they weren't, they just liked them, and I told them I'd been living in one of the hammocks for about two months. They didn't say anything, just kept to themselves. So I wandered away, failed to meet more people, checked out some bikes, found them to be mostly blue in color, and then headed to a nearby coffee shop. Where I failed to meet anyone, but had a few cups of coffee which were better than Starbucks, but still lacking when I think of the coffee in San Marcos. So, I pedaled back towards my hotel, 8 miles away, and stopped by the bar I visited the previous night about a mile from my hotel. There were actually people there, and one of the pool tables was open, so I started playing by myself and a guy walked up and plunked some change on the table. Glad to have an opponent, I finished off what balls I had left on the table and started playing him. We played for a few hours. He was good. I would say he was about my skill level, probably a bit better, which made playing fun. After he beat another guy out of $10 he started buying my beers, and we started playing for fun, first playing "next shot" and then we played a game where I played one-handed, while he played behind-the-back. I won both, and he insisted we go back to regular pool. After a while, and quite a few beers, I was famished and tired, so I took my leave of the bar, returned to my temporary home, and started some laundry while I waited for Domino's to deliver me a pizza. Both are finished now, and with that, so is this blog post.

Oh yeah, passed the 500 mile mark for my journey today. Looking forward to the next 500!