Today’s Date: July 5, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Ash Grove, Missouri

Today’s End Point: Marshfield, Missouri

Today’s Miles: 44.81 Miles

Cumulative Miles: 2,846.02 Miles

Today’s story isn’t as much about today’s ride, but last night’s weather.

When I crawled into my tent at 9:00 pm, it was still hot and humid with a temperature of about 90 degrees. I laid in the tent cursing the heat and promising myself that I will not camp in this kind of heat again, it’s just too hard to keep up with hydration after a hard ride. I set up the tent under the picnic table pavilion so I did not put the rain cover on, although I had it out just in case.

I was listening to the multiple fireworks going off when the sky started to light up. At first I thought it was a fireworks show, but quickly realized it was a thunderstorm approaching. It quickly picked up in intensity, with the wind pushing around my tent. Then the rain started, which at first was not a problem because of the pavilion. Soon, however, the wind was bringing in the rain sideways and it was coming into my tent.

I got up and put on the rain cover, which attaches to the tent on four corners. Of course I could only get three of the latches to work. I gave up at that point and fortunately the open end of the tent was facing away from the storm, giving me a great view of the light show.

The storm passed after about an hour. As a result of the heat and storm I did not get too much sleep.

I started to pack up the tent at 4:00 am so that I could hit the road early again. Thankfully the planned route was short, only about 40 miles and was going to end at a hotel in Marshfield, Missouri.

I left the campsite before 5:00 am and last nights storm meant for a foggy morning. Since the road again returns to its undulating pattern, the fog would sit at the bottom of each hill.

The fog gave some drama to the hills along the road. Although climbing the hills is tough, the landscape is picturesque. The green hills and trees look rich and lush, a stark difference from the flat plains of Kansas.

As with yesterday, the heat and hills make for some hard work. The good part is that with the climbs comes some fun descents (which never seem to last long enough).

After 30 miles I was feeling the cumulative effect of the repeated efforts. I stopped for a second breakfast (the first being Pop-Tarts eaten in the tent) and ducked into some air conditioning. The break seemed to help, and the last ten miles went by without incident.

When I got to my final destination, Marshfield, Missouri, there was a Dairy Queen near the hotel, so of course I kept to my priorities and stopped at the Dairy Queen.

I have never been so glad to get to my room and shower the layers of sweat and insecticide off my body. The tent is currently drying out and laundry has been done. Time to kick back.