Day 12: "But isn't that HARD?"

Troy, MO to Louisiana, MO

Stats!
Miles biked today: 51.2
Total miles biked on trip: 408.0
Max speed: 32.0 mph (a new record!)
# of miles off course on gravel roads: 4
# of times Meredith retched at the smell of a pigsty: 2
# of detour attempts: 2
# of flies that attacked us: 54367563878656254312215476587990

We knew today would be a tough ride, as we had entered "central Missouri hill country," according to our bike maps. Also making today a tough day was the fact that there were no towns with any services (restaurants, lodging, etc.) between our start town of Troy and our goal town of Clarksville.

We stopped at a gas station/grocery store just outside of Troy and bought some sandwiches and supplies to take with us so we could stop mid-way and rest and eat, despite the lack of grocery stores or restaurants. Here we encountered another group of unhelpful helpful locals. We really enjoy talking to people along the way, and everyone has been eager to help in whatever way they can and most everyone is super interested in the trip. So that's nice. But today when we were buying the sandwiches, some people asked about our plans for the day and we said we were headed to Clarksville.

Gas station loiterer: "On W?"
Us: "Yes, I think so."
Gas station loiterer: "Oh, that's no good. I think there's a bridge out on W."
Us: "Oh, no! We should check our maps and find a different route."
Gas station loiterer #2: "No, that bridge out was on H, not W. My crew just finished paving it on Wednesday."
Gas station loiterer: "Oh, well I knew there was a bridge out somewhere out there. Must've been H. Y'all will be fine."
Us: "Oh, good. We don't really know our way around here, so it's great if we can stick to our route."
Gas station loiterer group: "Y'all have a good day!"
Us: "You, too. Thanks for all your help!"

The bridge was out on W.

There was no detour route. We saw the warning sign about 3 miles out from the bridge and debated what to do. Ultimately, we decided to use Dean's phone to figure out an alternate route. Unfortunately, Dean's phone doesn't show rivers or anything like that, so we had to kind of guess which route would be the shortest detour, but still put us on the other side of the bridge safely. We decided to take NN to County Route 350.

NN was full of steep hills -- one of them was easily in our top 5 of the trip so far. When we got to CR 350, it was gravel. Fully loaded touring bikes are not meant to bike on gravel roads, but we did it anyway. It actually wasn't terrible, aside from the pig sty we passed, which was the worst smelling thing I've ever encountered in my whole life. We got back onto W, about 30 feet from the bridge, in the midst of massive repair work. We hadn't made it to the other side.

No one was around, so we got up close to see if we could find a way over, under or through. No such luck. It was way to dangerous, any way you looked at it. So we looked for another route. County Route 310 it was, taking us to F, which would take us back to W.

CR 310 was also gravel, and very, very hilly. I'm not totally sure whether it would have been doable to bike up and down those steep gravelly hills, but it seemed really unsafe with super heavy tour bikes. It was also hell on our cleats to try to walk it. So we changed shoes and walked it -- all 4 miles of it. At noon. On a hot day. With flies driving us insane. They were flying all around our heads, swarming. But there was nothing we could do -- biking was not an option, and our bug spray proved to be a total failure. So we just soldiered on.

We finally made it to F, and then back to W, about a quarter mile down from the bridge (for all our trouble). But the riding from there to Clarksville wasn't that bad. It was hilly, for sure, but mostly chump bumps, with only a few bad ones.


When we got into Clarksville, we had biked 40 miles without any food or water or bathroom stops (other than eating what we'd bought in Troy). We headed straight for a restaurant. The owner was a really nice lady and the food was great. However, she told us that the campgrounds where we had been planning to stay might be flooded. We called and it was confirmed. She also told us that the local inn had closed down. No Clarksville for us. We told her what we were doing. She asked, incredulously, "But isn't that HARD?" "Yes," we said. "It is really hard. But fun, too."

Fueled by our burgers, we decided to bike another 10 miles to Louisiana, MO. We asked the Clarksville restaurant lady if it was very hilly, since our maps imply that it's a tough ride. She said it was very hilly, and full of tough hills. I worried. But really it was mostly flat or gentle inclines, with one really bad hill. I'll take that deal any day.

So we are now in Louisiana. The motel owner where we are (*right* on the Mississippi!) is another helpful guy. He says from here to Hannibal is full of many very steep hills. He said that he'd use first gear in his car to get up them. I hope he is wrong. But I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Tomorrow is another 40-mile, no services along the way kind of day. If it gets really bad, there is a primitive campground about halfway, but I hope we can make it to Hannibal and have a rest day there.

On the up side, today was a BEAUTIFUL day, perfect for biking. I said "Wow!" a lot, just looking at the scenery. We got a lot of good exercise, without killing ourselves. We are pretty happy.