Flee the Flooding
I’ve had some bad luck lately. The floods have been following me all over ever since Denver. That’s close to 3,00o miles. From Denver to Oklahoma to Dallas to Kansas and now Missouri, the rains have been following me. Maybe I should turn aroun and head back to California. They’re the ones who really need the rain.
I rode the Katy trail essentially all day today. I dodged some good rain clouds along the ride too. Slowly, but surely I meandered along Central Missouri. I’ve been riding on my rear tire for about 3,300 miles. It’s been on it’s last leg, but I’ve been tryin to get every mile possible out of it. Unfortunately, the past few days I’ve been trying to find a bike hop on my route that would carry the tire I need. No such luck. One shop didn’t have my tire size, while others were all closed when I came through town. At about mile 80 today my tire finally blew. It was gone. Luckily I have a spare that I was able to swap out that will be sufficient while I ride to St. Louis.
I wasn’t able to get a whole lot of pictures today. Not because my camera died. Not because I needed to bike fast. Nope. Mosquitos. The offspring of satan were everywhere. You better not stop for more than a few seconds. They’ll find you, and they’ll swarm you. The standing water from the flooding of the Missouri River certainly does not help either. And from talking with locals, I heard that flooding can make the water moccains more agressive. Wonderful. Just what I want. Sure enough, along today’s ride, I came within feet of riding over one!! After my adrenaline levels calmed down for a bit I got off my bike to take a picture. It’s not great, but you can see the snake! I’ve now encountered both rattle snakes and water mocassins. The only snake I want to see from hear on out is one of those firework snakes on the 4th of July.
The limestone of the Katy trail is nice, but not when wet. It really slows you down. Because of that, towards the end of the ride I actually hopped on the roadway and was reminded how fast I could go with a good tailwind and nice pavement. I picked up speed and rode into Hermann for the night.
Biking along the trail is nice because it follows the route that Lewis and Clark took. As an adventurer myself it’s always great to cross paths with some of the historical adventures of this great land. The Lewis and Clark expedition always intrigued me and witnessing the route tha they traveled as I pedal on my own just makes it more special.
My host for tonight is Marty who’s a huge fan of the Cardinals. From Stan Musial to Adam Wainwright he loves the team. He took me out to dinner and gave me a nice warm bed to crash in. I even get to catch the end of the U.S. Open while I’m blogging. Heck yeah!
It’s a short blogpost tonight. Short but sweet. Tomorrow I ride into St. Louis and ballpark number 12. I can’t wait to experience Busch Stadium and the surrounding neighborhood. Let’s ride!