Day 9 - ending near Fagus, MO - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

May 23, 2023

Day 9 - ending near Fagus, MO

Day 9 - Bloomfield, MO to Fagus, MO

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Distant train sounds from the south and a perfect temperature gave me a pleasant night's sleep - no extra layers needed. Started on report work at 5:33am. The cell phone signal here was better than I'd expected, so I was able to get the report sent in just before I left at 11:02am. Before that I took time to turn the bike upside down and carefully check the tires. They're still within a few pounds of where I put them when I left home. Haven't had to add any air yet! Bolts were still tight and no broken spokes, so we're doing good, so far.

Today's destination is Coon Island Conservation Area near Fagus, Missouri.

I wasn't looking forward to the gravel road I'd have to take to get from here to pavement. One advantage I had was it was mostly all downhill, so I just made a controlled coasting descent. I reached US-60 and the end of the gravel at 11:50am. Dexter was close, and I was looking forward to lunch there.

Crossing US-60, I continued south just east of town. Here's where all the train sounds were coming from that I was hearing last night. I crossed one track where a train was stopped just before the crossing, then got to a second set of tracks where a train was just sitting, blocking the crossing. I decided to wait until 12:05pm to see if it would move, and it did.

Noon mileage was 3.2 miles, which was the same as it was from 11:56am to 12:04pm.

At 12:31pm, I arrived at Corner Stop Cafe in town. Had Mountain Dew, a Reuben sandwich with potato salad, and blueberry pie. Finally left at 2:00pm.

I initially went from here with my pre-planned route, then realized that some of it would put me on gravel roads. I think I've figured out that on the Missouri Highway map, if the road isn't shown on the map, it's a gravel road. So I made changes as I went trying to 'stay on the map'. South and west was my heading. Road-H was used instead of gravel Road-631. Then Road-U, Road-CC, MO-53, and Road-N past Qulin. All paved and flat. And going west gave me a tailwind. An enjoyable afternoon, for sure.

At 4:02pm, turning from Road-H to Road-U, I stopped at Crossroads Country Store for an ice cream bar and lemonade.

Back on the road, ahead was a crop duster. He was after me, as so many others have been on other trips. I figured out this plane was dropping small green pellets, since they bounced on the highway in front of me.

I started seeing rice fields today. They, as well as other types of crop fields, are irrigated with white flexible plastic tubes.

At 7:26pm, I was at the turn for the 1.5 mile gravel road to the conservation area. Fairly good riding gravel. Arrived at the area at 7:47pm. The designated camping area looks pretty wet, so I set up at the corner of the parking lot.

I had both bottle generators engaged for most of the afternoon and was happy to see my accessories battery at 12.4 volts this evening. Worked on picture selection while the phone charged. I had troubles with some of the pictures because they were accidentally taken in video motion mode, which I finally figured out how to turn off. To bed at 11:28 pm, after another good day.

Jeff

Spent: $17.05 plus $3.95 (lunch) + $3.71 (Powerade) = $24.71

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 408 miles (657 km)

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