June 25, 2001.
Greenfield, MO to Pittsburg, KS. (52 mi.) Mile 1647
We
wobble into Kansas
We have had four different types of
breakfasts on this trip:
1) The small town country cafe
breakfast - high fat, predictable menu
2) The grocery store breakfast -
fresh fruit, bakery items, juice, milk, yogurt
3) The convenience store breakfast
- when there are no other options - coffee and donuts
4) The McBreakfast - a small step
above the convenience store breakfast
Our motel was located between a
convenience store and McDonalds, and since there were no other choices close by,
we had an early McBreakfast and headed out for Kansas.
Kansas Welcome: flat land at last!
We'll remember Missouri for the
rolling hills of the Ozarks. We'll also remember special hospitality, like that
shown us at Cooky's in Golden City, where we arrived this morning after about an
hour of riding. Golden City is another small Missouri town that looks like it
was booming in the 20s-40s, but today, the downtown buildings are largely
closed and boarded up. However, this is home to Cooky's Cafe, with a reputation for
the best homemade pie on the Bikecentennial Trail. Unfortunately, Cooky's is closed on Mondays
and today is Monday.
Cooky's in Golden
City, Missouri
While we were outside Cooky's making
a phone call to the Houston post office, Carol Eldred, who runs the cafe with her husband
Jim, noticed us
and invited us in for some coffee and free custard pie. She said she always
hates to see the bicyclists come by when they are closed. She also wanted us to
sign the guest book for cross country cycle tourists. We signed our names behind a number of other tourists whom we have met so
far. Carol and Jim enjoy visiting with the variety of bicyclists that come
through. They let us use the phone, wanted to know about our trip, and gave us
special attention, even more special considering they were closed.
It was good news when we phoned the
Houston, Missouri post office. They had our box of camping gear. I was beginning to
feel pretty stupid for trusting the post office with our things, but was still
in the denial stage of loss and felt it would show up eventually. There was no
choice but to arrange to have the box sent
ahead to our destination in a few days. We may just
play tag with our camping gear across the country.
After Cooky's we set out to outrun
the heat, stopping briefly to talk to John, a retired lawyer from Denver,
bicycling eastbound. He said that he had heard of five other stories where
owners of Cannondale T2000s had problems with their rear rims too. John's
advice for Kansas: "You can see the city water towers at 7 miles, the
tower legs at 4.5 miles, and the support struts at 1 mile." The terrain
has now flattened out, the sun is hotter, there are fewer services, and less
shade.
Back on the bike, drafting behind
Mike, I noticed his rear wheel start wobbling. We stopped to confirm two
broken spokes. We decided to pick up the pace and wobble on into the bike shop
in Pittsburg with the wheel as it was.
After another 30 miles of hard,
hot, hammering, Mike wobbled on into the bike shop while I stopped on the
outskirts of town to become the first customers of the day for Ashley,
Rebecca, and Shane; Pittsburg, Kansas entrepreneurs capitalizing on their
location along the bike route with their Popsicle stand. They told me to
"tell everyone about us." I promised I would, and gave them this
website address so they can see that I have. They have had success selling to
bicyclists in the past. They also mow lawns.
The sign reads:
Come See Us For
Cheap Prices
Popsicles - red,
green, blue, orange, pink - 25 cents
Chips - Ruffles
(original) - 25 cents/bag
Ice tea - Sweet
and unsweetened - 50 cents
When Mike left his
bike at the shop, the shop gave him a loaner bike for the day, because our
bicycles are our only vehicles. We checked into a motel and returned the
emergency camp gear that we had bought at Wal-Mart in Missouri, to the
Wal-Mart here across the street, optimistic we will connect with our own camp
gear soon.
As I write this, Mike
has just returned from the bike shop where they spent over 2 hours on his
bike, tuning, truing, and adjusting. A total of 5 spokes were broken, some
indicating they may have been over tightened in Carbondale. We've arrived here
early enough in the day to be able to kick back and enjoy things, once we're
done with the daily ritual of hand washing clothes. Mike is particularly upbeat
about the attention his bike received. Tomorrow, we'll try to outrun the hot
part of the day again.
