Day 26: To Wapapello

October 4, 2014

Today I start across a new state, Missouri. But the weather isn't very welcoming. Unusually cold with a relentless northwest wind. I started the day going west, into the wind, on highway K which is 8 lanes at first, but then only 2 lanes after crossing I-55. Traffic remained heavy until K dead ends onto highway 25. K seemed to be uphill all the way. I think it really was, but the wind made it seem worse.

Going south on 25 I had a tailwind for a few miles with the sun in my face. Finally I didn't feel cold. After a few miles of rolling hills I was suddenly back in the flat Mississippi delta. 560 feet elevation for 20 miles. Mostly going west into the wind, towards the Ozark plateau. Still kind of slow.

I was on the Mississippi river trail for a few miles in the flat delta.

Crossing a major creek in the delta. All water is muddy in the delta.

Highway 25 has moderate traffic but the road has a peculiar design. The main travel lane is striped to be 14 feet wide with a rumble-stripped fog line and only 1 foot of paved shoulder to the right of the rumble strip. The lane was unnecessarily wide, making the shoulder nearly unusable.

The shoulder was more rideable before only half of it was repaved.

After the little town of Advance I turned right, west, onto highway C, heading into the hills. I expected it to have much less traffic but I was wrong. It even still has a rumble strip.

Individual hills seldom climb more than 200 feet but there are many roller coaster hills with 10-12% grades. At least the wind died down late in the afternoon. High of 62F at 4 PM.

Proportionally more pastures and less forest.

Traffic was surprisingly heavy on C, but dropped off dramatically after crossing highway 51 where my road, C, turned into P. After a few miles on P I turned left onto road Z which goes southwest to lake Wappapello. Finally a no-traffic road. But up and down many steep forested hills, ending up hundreds of feet above the reservoir before descending.

I'm now entering the region known as the Ozarks. Most of it is in southern Missouri, but it also sprawls into northwest Arkansas. It's hilly, forested, with many spring fed rivers. The Ozark region is famous for "hillbilly" culture. The land is forested, very hilly, and not very good for agriculture. It's sparsely populated and relatively unspoiled.

Ozark region of southern Missouri, northwest Arkansas and northeast Oklahoma.

The temperature was 54F and dropping rapidly when I arrived at the little resort village of Lake Wappapello at 6:20 PM. The area has several Corps of Engineers campgrounds but they're closed now. I got a $62 room at Miller's Motor Lodge, the only lodging in town. Decent room, with a microwave and fridge. Dinner was across the street at the only restaurant that was open.

Tonight I turned on the heat in the motel room for the first time on the tour. The headwind and colder temperatures took their toll on me. This was a long difficult day.

Distance: 62.5 mi. (100 km)
Climbing: 2389 ft. (724 m)
Average Speed: 9.8 mph (16 km/h)

Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 1,337 miles (2,152 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0