St. Joseph, Mo - Day 29

Hi everyone from St. Joseph, Mo.
Well, just as I was so complimentary to the state of Kansas yesterday, it seems it retaliated with a vengeance today!!!! We started out early this morning in a light drizzle that didn’t even require a jacket and didn’t last more than 5 miles. Then it became sunny and very very windy for the rest of the day – of course it was a head wind and really slowed us down after 108 miles yesterday!! At one point at coasted downhill to see how fast I could go and into the wind could only reach 7.5mph without pedaling – of course uphill, I wasn’t moving much faster than that – therefore a slow day for me!
We rode out of Topeka and headed for St. Joseph, Mo – riding most of the day on rt 4 and then 59. Both roads are two laned with a small shoulder on them – traffic wasn’t too bad, but due to the winds you had to give a little extra attention to your efforts.


My first picture today was a little church that caught my attention – notice the sky at this point.



Our first SAG was at mile 30.7 and shortly after leaving it, I passed this sign – Delaware River????




Shortly before lunch we rode over a "purple" patch on the highway - this is Meiri and Norbert riding over it!

27 miles later we stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen and then had to cross the Missouri River over the Amelia Earhart Bridge – I was tempted to shuttle across because it is a “grated” bridge, but finally decided to travel with two other riders – it was a very narrow bridge and we were instructed to take the middle of the lane – we did and as you might imagine several cars behind us were frustrated – second vehicle back was an impatient pick-up truck who went around all of us by going into the other lane!! I was quite happy to get over the bridge.

And…..on the other side of the Missouri River was the welcome to Missouri sign!!! It is hard to believe that we have come through 5 states already!!!! The next couple of states will be only about half of the number of days as the first five.


At mile 63, we circled around the base of what was to become 4 miles of big climbs. We thought when we got to the top of the first that it was the last – but, no, welcome to state of rolling hills – actually, if I weren’t so tired, they would have been fun because you fly down one and see how far up the next one you can go.
This was a little store at the SAG in the little town of DeKalb – the owner waits for us every year – when I was there, she had a note on the door that said “Be back in 15 minutes” – a car stopped and people got out and upon reading the note, just sat down on the provided chairs to wait for shop owner’s return!
The last 18 miles had some more rolling hills and came through a park in downtown St. Joseph – we had route rap at the hotel and then walked to dinner – all riders were walking around like they were in a daze – combination of two tough days and anticipation of rest day tomorrow. I think we will be happy to sit and watch the Tour de France for a while.


Rose and Joe are brother and sister who joined us in Pueblo, Co and will leave tomorrow – they have been doing one leg each summer for the past two years and plan to do another leg or two next summer too. We will miss you and wish you well.
At this point we have no new riders joining for the rest day, but we anticipate both of our medical issue riders to return in Indianapolis to finish the tour with us!!! Yeah Jim and Rick!!!
Today I added a list of other rider's blogs that you might be interested in following - just click on the name and it should take you right to the blog.

Today's hurrah goes to my friends from Alabama - Carl, Cindy, Arlene, Clarence, and Merry Ann and Tara who taught me how to ride in severe heat and humidity - I will be using their suggestions over the next couple of weeks!

Thank God for the safety, health, and energy!