Days 30-31 – Do These Hills Ever End?

July 20
Hartville, MO to Ash Grove, MO
76 miles

July 21 – Rained out; 0 miles

After Alley Spring (which we rode through several days ago), we were under the apparently false impression that the route would get continually flatter as we neared Kansas. Oh no. Yesterday we encountered another 30-mile section of continuous roller-coaster terrain. The climbs were shorter and a bit less steep than the hard section several days ago, but exhausting nonetheless. And, the heat is back. Although it wasn’t humid, the sun beat down on us relentlessly and by the late afternoon we felt like rotisserie chickens. We are dreading Kansas with its triple-digit temperatures.

For lunch, we stopped in Fair Grove at a delightful café called Oddfellows: a virtual oasis in the Land of Everything Fried and All Vegetables Cooked for Hours. We thought we might be hallucinating when we approached the café; it seemed so out of place. We had panini (!) – delicious.

About 15 miles outside of Ash Grove, our destination for the day, a thunderstorm caught us. The rain felt good and cooled us off a bit, and created steam as it hit the hot road. We took cover (not before getting quite wet) at a convenience store, and enjoyed some chocolate milk while waiting for the rain to subside. Another 7 miles down the road, ML’s rear tire flatted. At this point in the day, hot, tired and hungry, the last thing we wanted to do was stop and change a rear tire. Hoping it was a slow leak, ML pumped it up and we kept riding. The strategy worked; we pumped it up every couple of miles and made it into town without stopping to replace it.

Once in town, we stopped at the first gas station/convenience store to ask directions to the town park where we planned to camp. Tom, the store owner, directed us to the park, but warned us that the forecast called for strong rain overnight and added that if we wanted, we could talk to his wife about renting their small apartment over the store. We thanked him and went in search of the park. We found the park in short order but were disappointed to find that the pool (and showers) was closed. Having gone the night before without a shower, we were in dire need of a good scrub. The wind had also picked up and the sky was darkening. The park had a couple of pavilions, but they were small and would offer poor protection against a strong storm. We made our way back to the convenience store to inquire about the apartment. We thought that they rented the apartment as a regular thing, but in talking to Leanne, Tom’s wife, it was apparent that no one had been in the apartment in over a year. She said it wasn’t fancy and apologized for the lack of a dishwasher, tv, or Internet when she showed it to us. We, on the other hand, felt like we had won the lottery. It was a multi-room air-conditioned apartment with living room, bedroom, full kitchen (with stove/oven, refrigerator, and microwave), and a washer & dryer! We thought this fine accommodation would be way over-budget, so when she said that it would be $20 we nearly fell over.

This morning we awoke to steady rain, a forecast of heavy rain and thunderstorms, and a flash-flood warning. It’s 30 miles to the next town, and the only accommodation there is camping, so we’ve decided it’s safer to stay put. Tom offered to lend us his truck to drive to the library and Leanne just showed up with a big steamer pot and a box of fresh vegetables from her garden. We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity of the people we are meeting.