We had a simple route planned for today - back roads north from Jamesport to Lamoni Iowa. Because our route was roughly parallel to I-35 (10 miles to the west), any traffic we encountered would be local.
We planned on 2 stops along the way, because there were only 2 possible places to stop other than shade trees: Gilman city at 18 miles and Ridgeway at 38 miles.
The Marigold Inn in Jamesport didn't have much in the way of breakfast, but they did have pots of coffee that would have been plenty strong enough to clean our bike chains. There were 4 pots in a row. Decaf is not an option. The manager doesn't wake up early, but each pot is on a different timer so there is always a fresh pot from about 5:00 am on. We had leftover blackberry pie to go with the coffee.
Wide awake and ready to leave the Marigold after a cup of joe.
Ridgeway was supposed to be our lunch stop. When we arrived we discovered that the Pitstop, the only eating established in town, had burned down on Memorial day weekend. Luckily the building next door (the fire station) survived the fire. The cause of the fire is believed to be an electrical surge. A house down the road also caught fire at the same time.
The remains of the Pittstop and the fire station in Ridgeway.
With the Pittstop burned down and the gas station closed, there was no place to get lunch in Ridgeway. But there was a place to cool down. We went into the bank to use the facilities and enjoy the air conditioning. The friendly bank tellers, Caroline and Alicia, offered us some bottled water which we gratefully accepted. Our only options were to keep going 22 miles to Lamoni, or to sidetrack west to I-35 to Eagleville. We choose to keep going north to Lamoni.
Small town hospitality at its best in Ridgeway. Thank you ladies, that water got us to our destination!
The farms in northern Missouri we passed are huge - 5 to 10 thousand acres. The problem with such huge farms compared to the farms of a generation ago is that there are fewer farm families. Gilman City has a high school with about 100 students. Ridgeway has a combined K - 12 school with only about 90 students. For now there are no plans to close the school, but loosing the Pittstop is a big blow to a small town. We hope they can bounce back and rebuild the store.
There was not much to see along the way but crops and animals. We flushed a deer and a turkey, but they were gone in a flash before we could get a picture. The domestic animals were easier to photograph, since they were in pens.
Along the way we broke a spoke in our new wheel. Most likely the spokes are under-tensioned and the rim is flexing. Our hopes rose when we spotted a Bontrager shop, but it was not a cycling shop. We decided to keep moving and deal with the spoke when we got to Lamoni.
Bontrager seems to be a common Amish name. Bike shops are not common.
We finally had our lunch when we got to Lamoni. Iowa does pork and pie in a big way, fresh vegetables not so much. For the next 8 days we'll be on a quest to find salad with something other than iceberg lettuce in Iowa.
A front page story in the Des Moines Register informed us that the RAGBRAI pre-ride is taking place this week. Volunteers who will support the actual ride are riding every mile of the route this week to identify any possible problems.
Unlike Alain, Kerry does his own wrenching on his bikes and has built wheels before. He graciously volunteered his expertise to get team A's wheel in good enough shape to carry on until we reach a bike shop somewhere near Des Moines. Thanks Kerry!
