June 8, 2021
Day 27 - Houston, MO to Marshfield, MO
Death grips
Last night, Greg messaged me and asked if I had the platform pedals that I bought in Carbondale. I was replacing my old pedals that I thought might break down, but then decided to go with a clipless system in Farmington. So, I was carrying two extra sets of pedals until the weekend was over and I could mail them back. Fortunately I was too tired to stop anywhere and still had them because Greg's pedal broke in Summerville. Since he would come through Houston tomorrow, I decided to hide them in the rafters of the picnic shelter so he could pick them up a few hours later (he was only 29 miles away). So we set off towards Marshfield. Everyone was dead tired this morning after yesterday's extreme difficulty. We stopped alot and went slow. We had a bit of a tail wind for a while today and although it was threatening rain for the 3rd day straight, it didn't rain at all.
We stopped for lunch at a grocery store and made sandwiches out front. The lady inside told us the road ahead will suck and a guy yelled at me on the road about getting run over by trucks pulling livestock. Neither turned out to be completely true. The hills were not nearly as bad as the Ozark scenic river area of the last few days but as we neared Marshfield the cattle shipping diesel trucks became more frequent and very agressive. Mary almost got hit by a passing trailer and we also passed a cat stuck in a tree who was meowing loudly at passersby. Too bad he was on someone's property.
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I got a text from Greg and he said that the pedals were gone. I confirmed that he was looking at the right spot, and he assured me it was gone. They also asked all the maintenance people and looked in trash cans. We couldn't believe someone stole them in just a few hours. The locals must have seen us camping there and checked to see if there were any things left behind. I bet whoever took them won't even use them. So Greg had to buy a crap pair at Walmart to get by untill Pittsburg, where the next real shop is.
After arriving in Marshfield we went to the DQ for ice cream and to plan our next move. The RV camp was not very tent friendly and next to the interstate, the city park had no showers and no bathroom after 8 pm. We were also really smelly since we haven't had a good place to wash clothes and it's been on and off rain. We decided to split a hotel room and didn't regret it. We cranked the ac down, showered up, and chilled. Everyone else started a load of laundry on site and I sat down and made oatmeal. Mark went for Mexican food across the road, but I couldn't do Mexican again. We are supposed to be stretching now but we will see if that actually happens. I'm also trying to plan a possible rest day in Springfield since Pittsburg, KS doesn't have that much going on.
Mileage:66
Altitude gain:3400
Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 1,447 miles (2,329 km)
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