May 25, 2018
Seven Hillbillies and Two Owls
Sleeping in Putnam's Woods
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. -Amelia Earhart
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by Ron and Jen
The ride to Atchison, KS, home town of Amelia Earhart, was pleasant and short. We are purposely doing short mile days for awhile to get in the groove and to deal with the unexpected heatwave across the Midwest that reminds me more of August than May in this part of the country.
The bridge across the Missouri leading into Atchison has wide shoulders and plenty of room. We rode over to the Veterans Memorial, it being Memorial Day weekend and all. There were some nice monuments to war veterans, including a piece of the USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor.
It was about 9:30 am, so we decided to ride the 3 miles to set up camp in the tent field at Warnock Lake. When we left to ride back to town at about 11 am to run errands, the temperature was already in the mid-80's. The air-conditioned history museum was a nice break on our way to the grocery store and had displays featuring Amelia Earheart and an artist whose name escapes my heat-riddled brain.
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When we returned to camp, the temperature had risen to 90+ and a drunk hillbilly had set up camp about 20 feet from us, complete with a battery-operated radio blaring really bad country "music". (Note for my country fan friends- I like some country music, just not the annoying drivel mouth-full-of-marbles schlock this guy was playing). Since he was all drunk in his tent, Jen snuck over and turned it down.
Anyway, a few minutes later a few of his friends arrived on Harleys with, um, rumble-enhanced pipes. They we're big, burly and scary. The men weren't any better. And it kept getting better as the group grew by a few more who arrived in cars with plenty of beer and whiskey for a night of hard partying. That would have sounded pretty good to me and my buds back in the day, but we had to get up at the crack to ride before the heat.
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Jen here:
We rode away in search of a shady spot to sit, wondering how we would get the rest we needed for an early departure. We ended up at the International Forest of Friendship, a beautiful arboretum dedicated to Amelia Earheart and other pilots and space explorers.
As we meandered into a densely-wooded cove along the path we looked up to see 2 owls feeding their owlets. The rare owl sighting, peaceful setting, and calming birdsong inspired us to search for a stealth camp location outside of the Forest of Friendship. We found the perfect spot, quickly abandoned Hillbilly Headquarters, and set up camp just before sunset. It was a nerve-racking process, as the objective of stealth camping is to be invisible and to not get caught by The Man.
Instead of staying up all night listening to moonshine-induced rants and hollers, we dozed off to a forest filled with birds, frogs, and chirping insects. When the alarm went off at 5am we woke up feeling refreshed ... And we were able to break down camp, erase all evidence of our presence, and pedal away, undetected. Now, that's stealthy!!
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6 years ago
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18 miles
Elevation gain 1484
8.5 avg speed
Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 31 miles (50 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
6 years ago
6 years ago