October 14, 2022
Day 23 - Marquand, MO (Belmont B&B) to Farmington, MO (Al's Place Cyclist Hostel)
One Bad Driver, One Very Bad Dog, One Bridge Out, I'm in Jail, And Still It Was A Great Day!
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Statistics, Useful & Otherwise;
Elevation Gained Today; 2,253 ft Cumulative; 46,439 ft
Roadkill Seen Today; Armadillo (3), Possum (2), Raccoon (1) Cumulative; Hawk (3), Raccoon(5), Possum (17), Mouse (1), Squirrel (9), Armadillo (6), Bird (2), Coyote (1), Deer (4), Snake (2), skunk (3), rabbit (1), turtle (1), unknown (7)
Found Money Today; $0.12 Cumulative; $0.58
Lodging Cost Today; $20 (donation) Cumulative; $1,638.22
Bad Drivers Today; 1 Cumulative; 12
Dog Chases Today; 2 Cumulative; 19
Confederate Flags Today; 1 Cumulative; 6 (plus 30 little flags decorating confederate soldiers graves on the Natchez Trace)
Average Speed Today; 9.3 mph Cumulative; 9.91 mph
Summary of Today's Ride; Other than an idiotic driver, a dog bite, and a bridge out, it was a fantastic ride!
I was feeling lazy this morning in Marquand at the AirBnB known as the Belmont Inn, and I was slow to make breakfast and get around. There was a keureg coffee maker and a good supply of coffee pods, but I couldn't get the damn thing to work. I have one at home - a very simple one - and I've successfully used others, but I couldn't make this one work. No combination of adding water, opening and closing the coffee pod holder, and pushing buttons would make it work. Honestly, if I were at home I would have carried the piece of crap outside and smashed it on one of the large boulders in my back yard - don't mess with me before I've had coffee. I finally gave up and microwaved some water and used one of my tea-bag coffees for my morning cup. In the AirBnB review, I told the owner that I guess I wasn't smart enough to figure out how to operate the Keureg. Gee whiz, you shouldn't have to have a master's degree in engineering to be able to operate a coffee machine. BTW, and for the record, I do have a master's degree in engineering. I hate those damn machines!
By the time I finally got out and commenced rolling, it was 09:15 am. That's the latest I have started on this tour. This is Day 8 of the 8-day run, and I think I'm worn out now, especially after yesterday's session in the Ozarks. Today is an easy 35 miler and all I have to do is get there, so I'm not worried about the time. It was downright chilly early on, the temperature was in the high 30's, so my late start may have been beneficial in letting things warm up a bit. I rolled on through beautiful Ozark mountain country.
Dog Bite! I topped a little hill and rounded a curve and was suddenly adjacent to a home in the woods. The owner was out and was walking rapidly towards a large German Shepherd dog that had a harness on it. The dog hadn't seen me and I continued on silently gliding by, glad that the owner was out and was going to get his dog. But the dog spotted me and was on me before I had any chance of escape. This was a mean growling beast and he was mad at me for being there. It happened so fast that I had no chance to get the pepper spray I keep in the side mesh pocket of the handlebar bag, I could only yell "git!" and try to pedal away. He nipped me in the right leg - damn, I got bit! The owner got the dog right afterwards and said "I'm sorry, we don't let him out of the house, but my nephew is visiting and let him out accidentally." I told him that the dog bit me and asked him if the dog had his shots, and he replied that he had. And then the owner was off, dragging the beast with him.
I rolled on for a couple of minutes till I found a good spot to stop and examine my leg. The bite was not bad at all - it wasn't like the puncture wounds I got from last year's rabid dogs fight-for-my-life incident (Dog Attack), the skin had barely been broken, but it was enough to cause a little bleeding. I had some antibiotic towelettes in my handlebar bag, and I opened one and cleaned the wound. Then I considered what to do next - should I call the police? What if this dog hadn't had his rabies shot and the owner just said that because he was afraid of his own liability?
I googled and asked a question about the long-term efficacy of the rabies vaccine. Fortunately for me, the answer was good; 97% of patients who had received the rabies vaccine series still showed effective levels of immunization after 10 years. I received the rabies vaccine less than 18 months ago after being bitten by 2 mad dogs, so I should be good even if that dog hadn't had his shots like his owner claimed.
I reviewed what had happened in my head, trying to figure out what I could have done differently that might have prevented me from getting bit. There was really nothing I could have done - it happened too quickly. I didn't have time to get the pepper spray, I'm not strong enough to have sprinted away any faster, and this beast gave me no chance to dismount and try to use my bike as a shield. Even if I had carried a pistol in my handlebar bag, I wouldn't have had time to get to it. This was the 19th dog chase I have had on this journey. I don't count the times when dogs come out and bark at you because they are defending their territory, or even when they give chase a little but aren't truly trying to harm you - those 19 incidents were the more serious ones where the dog(s) either seemed intent on causing harm or where they were a serious nuisance. I'm rolling through the nation's underbelly and people don't seem to care that their dogs may harm others.
And, what can I say? I saw another confederate flag today within a few miles of the dog bite incident.
If you'd like to see some history behind the modern display of the confederate flag, here's a good starting point; Confederate Flag. The ride today was in some very pretty country. There was virtually no traffic, and almost everyone was polite and safe. One idiotic driver came up behind me and decided to pass me even though another car was oncoming! He literally forced the other driver off the road to avoid a collision, rather than just slow down for a few seconds. Seriously, what kind of mentality do these people have? (That's a rhetorical question, I really don't expect an answer).
I've passed many old structures that will soon be consumed by nature. As valuable as wood is these days, it would seem that there must be some salvage value to reclaiming and re-milling this old lumber.
The day was simply gorgeous, a magnificent fall day, and everything was going great (other than one idiotic driver and a dog bite, but why sweat the small stuff?), and then I came upon this.
Well, by now you know that I may very well have ignored the sign and continued, but I could see ahead that men were working on the bridge. A quick check of Google maps led me to believe that I could just detour over to highway 67 and ride the shoulder for a bit, and so I headed off. Unfortunately, my detour road didn't actually connect with highway 67, it went over the top of it. I needed to get down to the pavement below, so of course I did.
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Fortunately for me, a small strip of the bush adjacent to the guardrail had been mowed and I could push the bike along it - the stubble was kind of thick and the bike didn't roll easily - and the downhill was steep and a bit tricky, I kept one hand on the front brake at all times. Once I got down I had to clean off a bit of brush that got trapped in the fender wells, but that was all. Then I rode the shoulder of highway 67 for a few miles.
The shoulder had a bad rumble strip design. There was a rumble section on top of the fog line, and that would have been quite adequate to warn errant drivers that they should remove their head from their butt. However, there was also an unnecessary rumble strip section placed in the midst of the shoulder that limited the space available for me. Still, I had enough space, I just had to be careful to miss those semi-truck tire fragments that contain steel wires that can puncture bicycle tires.
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I cycled past several clear mountain streams today. Here you can see small fish in the clear water.
Despite the issues I had today, today was a marvelous day for cycling in the Ozarks. It may very well be the best day I have on this journey, unless of course I have a similar day without an idiot driver and a dog bite! The leaves are turning and the woods are beautiful, especially when viewed through the polarizing filter of my sunglasses. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to bring along a polarizing filter for my camera lens, so the colors in the photograph below are not as vivid as I am seeing them.
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Here's a photo typical of my road today. There was virtually no traffic (which makes the one idiot driver's behavior even more egregious) and it felt like I was a drone flying at low altitude as I rolled along through the hills. There were some short steep climbs, but hey - I'm in the Ozarks, you know, so that's just part of the game.
On my Northern Tier journey last year I noted timber operations most everywhere that had forests, and it's the same here in the Ozarks. The building boom needs lumber, and I was passed (politely) by several logging trucks today.
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I had a barbecue sandwich for lunch yesterday and it was quite tasty, so I was excited to see the following sign.
I was concerned that I might not qualify for entrance, but I never got to find out as the place was out of business.
I arrived at my destination, the former Francois County jail. Both Harvey and I are sleeping in the slammer for the next 2 nights, but it's not bad. I'll post more detail in tomorrow's update.
I do hope you can avoid spending time in jail. But if you must do so, the quarters I'm in are quite nice. G'nite all, I have a ton of things to do tomorrow on my "rest day," so I need my shut-eye...
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 1,105 miles (1,778 km)
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