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Andy and I were without a third roommate after John left us in Pueblo. When we got to St. Joe, there was another room shuffle, and we got Fred, the eldest of the three Dutchmen. He's a nice guy, but he likes to get an early start on his day. He was up before his 5:00 wake-up call, showered, shaved (electric shaver, buzzing like an alarm clock), went in and out several times to get ice for his water bottles, and was at breakfast by 5:30. Luggage load was scheduled for 5:45, and breakfast for 6:00, so Andy and I would normally have woken up at 5:30. As a result of this, we left the hotel in the middle of the pack, and arrived early, where we usually leave dead last, and arrive in the middle. I don't feel like my life is improved.
Also, being a highway, US-36 has smoothed out a lot of the little ups and downs, and created some really big ups and downs. The strategy for dealing with rolling hills doesn't apply here. No matter how fast you go downhill (which isn't very fast, because of the poor road surface), you're faced with a long, grinding climb. And another one on the other side. We had two unmanned water stops today - one before and one after the single sag stop. Water is good. After dinner, Dan practically led me by the hand to the convenience store next door, where they had Fat Tire beer, an incredibly excellent brew from Colorado. I didn't know it was sold in Missouri, let alone in a gas station/Dairy Queen/convenience store next to the highway in Chillicothe, Missouri. I was in heaven. Andy and Dan drank Corona, as usual. We heard from Philly Dan and Marnie just before route rap. Remember they took Amtrak home from Grand Junction. They got home that Friday, saw the oncologist on Monday, and Dan had the surgery (orchidectomy - look it up) on Tuesday. The preliminary biopsy results are encouraging; it's either benign, or at least non-agressive cancer. |
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We were riding US-36 for most of the day today. We've had our share
of crappy roads, but this was the crappiest - poorly maintained
concrete roadway, with even more poorly maintained asphalt shoulder.
The shoulder was literally crumbling away, with pot-holes, lots of
gravel and debris. My GPS has a battery contact that is just slightly
loose, and extreme vibration causes the batteries to shift enough to
lose contact, and shut the thing off. It shut off no fewer than 20
times in a 10-mile stretch of US-36 between Stewartsville and Osborn.
To be fair, it wasn't this bad for the whole 70 miles, but it wasn't
pleasant.