Friday, May 17th – Day 45 – Carthage to Springfield

Best part of the day:     Countryside riding

Worst part of the day: Being chased by dogs. Guess how many?

Distance: 77.55              Riding Time: 7hrs 22min

Bed count: 26                 Sleeping Bag count: 19

Had the alarm set for 6 but rolled out of our sleeping bags around 6:15. Had our own breakfast in near of the office along with the muffins we had a couple days ago from the Buffalo Run Casino Resort. Looked at the weather and it said sunny with crosswinds and a little tailwind but for only until about 10ish. So we decided to get going around 7:45 to take advantage of the winds.

(We came upon this “blast from the past” place less than a mile outside of the RV Park! It looks to be an active theater!!)

The roads were so nice with hardly a car to be seen as our route took us off of Route 66 and meandered through the back country roads of cattle ranches and Timothy grass (we think) farms.

We were “greeted” by a lot of dogs that loved to chase after us. We think we’re getting so use to them by now that we just kind of take our time and not panic. Well, except for the ones that look and sound very vicious. Then we just holler, growl meaner and make ourselves look bigger than them!

(Someone’s “Engine”-ious idea for a mailbox!!)

(One of several live turtles that we saw crossing the roadway. This one hopefully did as this road is not heavily traveled.)

For 40 miles, there was nothing until the first town we came upon which was Miller with a population of 699. We came across a local diner there, the Burger Shack, that had a lot of cars in front and more people were arriving there, too. We were hungry and in need of a break. Both of us ordered a double cheese burger with fries and a drink. As we were waiting for our food, we got to talking with some people next to our table. One couple moved there about 9 years ago from Colorado because they came to visit a friend and absolutely fell in love with the small town. Then her sister moved out there about 2 years ago. They were curious about our ride and had many questions for us. Finished our lunch and were back on our way with 35 more miles to go.

Here’s where our ride really turned on its head. The morning part of ride was relatively flat with easy rolling hills. But, as soon we left after lunch, we encountered many rollers and “roooolllers” that we didn’t expect. (For those of you who are familiar with Irish Hill Road out towards Ione, think about those “dips” on that road, but, on steroids!!)

Fay was feeling very sluggish after eating that huge double burger and was having a hard time. Up and down and up and down. It was a Friday and in the later afternoon, many more cars were out on the road with only a little shoulder.

Came upon the neat little place called Paris Springs. A South Carolina transplant had married into a family that had this Route 66 property. He’d been working on it for a number of years. Lots of eclectic memorabilia there!

(Right out in front of the Paris Spring Sinclair station in the middle of the road.)

Still had around 25 miles remaining to the home of  our east Springfield Warm Showers host, Miles. We contacted him to let him know that we’d hope to arrive by 6. We rushed to arrive by then as they were wanting to getting on the road by that time to Kansas City for the weekend. We actually got there around 5:30 where Miles warmly greeted us and showed us to the garage to store our bikes. He then gave us the tour around the house and said we could use the kitchen and washer and dryer. He also said that we could even use their car if we wanted!! Wow! Now that’s a host!! His only requirement for us, just feed their cats twice a day.

(Rob “entertaining” the cats with the sunlight reflection off of his watch onto the wall.)

Then they were off to KC leaving us in charge of their house and the cats! Since we had hurried to the house, we didn’t take time to do any dinner grocery shopping. Thought about ordering a pizza to be delivered, but, decided upon Chinese food instead. Ordered a whole bunch items and used Door Dash for the very first time! We’d ordered plenty enough for even lunch and dinner for tomorrow. So, there’ll be no need to leave the house and venture out into tomorrow’s forecasted nasty weather.

Looking forward to a good night’s sleep and tomorrow’s planned rest day.

Until our next post….