Platte City

We have several stories for today but before we pick on Jeff, let us tell you the other ones—Carl’s departure, the weather, and our long day.

Carl originally intended to cycle the whole trip with us but as our journey drew near he decided that he could not be away from home this summer. We had the pleasure of Carl’s company from Boonville until today. Before heading to his home in Carrollton, Missouri, he cycled with us for about 10 miles until we reached the town of Henrietta. It was sad to see him go.

Mother Nature wanted us to appreciate the fine weather we had mid morning and later in the afternoon. Our earlier weather and the weather during the afternoon made our day more challenging. We left Lexington under gray skies and misting rain. After Carl left us, Mother Nature decided that she would let us know who is in charge. We cycled into gale force winds and rain for about an hour before the sun came out to give us a beautiful morning. By mid-day the temperatures rose into the 90 degree range and we baked. However, by 3 p.m. the temperatures again moderated back into the 80s.

This was our longest cycling day so far. When we set up our Blog we really did not want to focus on miles, time on the road, and elevation changes. However, like all good goals, we are breaking this one. It was a long day. We started our 72 mile day at 7:30 a.m. and did not get to our day’s lodging until 5 p.m. Up until the last 20 miles it was easy cycling. First we ran into road construction. Actually, the road was closed and the detour would have added far too many miles for us to consider. Joe talked the job foreman into letting us walk our bikes across the construction and between the earth moving equipment. Finally, as we were wearing out, the hills came back. Those Missouri rollers chased us all the way into Platte City.

Now for the Jeff story, that really isn’t funny but which kept Joe laughing all day. As we approached the town of Liberty, Joe asked Jeff to program his GPS to find the nearest restaurant. Jeff’s GPS is a different model than Joe's or HP’s and we have used this feature successfully several times. Jeff’s GPS found a family restaurant about 1.2 miles away, so we all headed off route towards a good meal. However, the route was very hilly and took us into a residential area. Finally, the GPS guided us up a dead end street with no restaurant in sight. Of course, Jeff got blamed, Joe was in stitches with laughter, and HP felt vindicated because this proved that GPSs cannot be trusted.

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