Day 11 - ending at Humansville, MO - Tri-points on the Tri-speed

May 24, 2013

Day 11 - ending at Humansville, MO

rode on Katy Trail

Posted via email Sat May 25 12:35:02 2013 PDT

Woke up at 4:35am. Packed up the stuff inside the tent. The tent itself was wetter than I've ever seen it, and I spent a great deal of time drying it. The wind was helping some, but it took the sun to get the job finished.

Finally packed, I left at 8:58am. I'd picked up a "Windsor, Missouri, Amenities at a Glance" brochure at the trailhead last night, and it showed a place to eat on the way back to the trail. As I left Farrington Park, I passed the actual camping area. Should have taken a left instead of that last right last night.

Arrived at the Wagon Wheel Diner at 9:17am. Enjoyed a Country Fried Steak Breakfast with large orange juice, while talking with other customers.

Full - especially of coffee - I left at 10:25am, arriving at the trailhead at 10:41am. At 11:10am, I stopped at a bench for a half-hour nap. It was a very nice day - sunny, cool, with a nice breeze. Arrived at Calhoun at 12:17pm. I finally had a cell phone signal, so sent out the message I wasn't able to last night to friends and family on where I was.

I'd been observing the bicycle set-ups of kids zooming past me, and also kept thinking about the girl yesterday that passed me twice (I know, 'Get over it!'). Anyway, I decided to raise my seat. Man, what a difference! And it was only two inches (my best guess without a ruler). Now I was really moving!

Around 1:15pm, I passed a fellow resting at the bench at West Fork Tebo Creek. I stopped to talk and check out his bike - a folding type. Chris is a retired science teacher, with plans to use his bike as transportation at ports when he goes on a cruise with his boat. He does rides between Clinton and Calhoun to stay in shape. It was fun talking with Chris, but he reminded me I'd better keep moving to get where I wanted to be tonight (which I wasn't exactly sure of yet - somewhere down MO-13 toward Springfield).

At 2:21pm, I was at the Clinton trailhead. I headed south, remembering the Arby's I'd ate at before. Ordered lunch at 2:52pm and researched, using the BlackBerry's Poynt program, places to stay on down MO-13. Not as many as I would of thought. There was the Gazebo Inn Motel in Humansville. It might be possible to make it to there. I called them. They had one single room left. I booked it and received directions for getting there.

Left at 4:13pm, with GPS information saying I should arrive in Humansville somewhere between 9:30pm and 11:30pm. At first the highway's shoulder wasn't very good, but it greatly improved later. My only concern was the two bridges that I remembered didn't have any shoulders (it was actually three bridges). Traffic was heavy, due to the Memorial Day weekend. But there was enough of a break in traffic each time to get across the bridges OK.

Arrived in Lowry City at 6:40pm, where I stopped at the BP (it had been Shell) for a strawberry milk and a Starbucks drink. Drank the milk and stuffed the coffee can in my mattress roll. Had it later down the road at 8:00pm. Beautiful moon tonight off to my left, once it got dark.

Arrived at the city limits for Humansville at 10:00pm. But I wasn't there yet. Relying more on the Poynt program than directions I received from the motel owner, I headed into town. At the intersection of MO-123 and E 330th Road, there was no Poynt-indicated motel. I called the motel. They said go back, I'd passed by them. I still couldn't find them. Called again (I'd been using my TracFone), but this time the phone was cutting out. Re-called using the BlackBerry phone. That worked, and it was a good thing too, since the motel owner was getting ready to look for me in his car (in the wrong area)! Got straightened out after giving the owner an exact description of where I was.

Arrived at 11:08pm to a warm welcome. Settled in room #8 and to-bed at 1:10am, after a shower.

Jeff

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Spent: $10.07 plus $2 tip (breakfast) + $8.69 (lunch) + $4.66 (Starbucks Doubleshot) + $50 plus $5 tip (motel) = $80.42.

Day 11 - Windsor, MO to Humansville, MO

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