2014-07-24: Day 29 The Western Express, Hartville to Ash Grove, MO

Mileage Today: 75 Total Mileage: 1480

Last night we learned that camping on the lawn of the court house next to the Sheriff Department in Hartville puts you in the middle of the local late night hang out spot for Hartville youth. Loud trucks, motorcycles, lot of guys and girls hanging around until late. It was not a restful night. However, the sun still comes up and its time to ride again.

Today was one of those days when the stars, and the moon, and the sun all aligned. I pumped up my tires and lubed the bike chain then we got on the bikes and pedaled up the first hill. At that moment, I was thinking. Gosh. Don’t know why but I‘m feeling pretty strong today. The bike feels light and responsive. IN FACT, TODAY THIS BIKE FEELS LIKE A ROCKET! Wow! It’s going to be a great day. Perhaps all my training has made me stronger or I somehow found the fountain of youth in my sleep or maybe my vitamins and pseudoephedrine has created a steroid effect .…

That’s when I notice that even the soybeans in the field next to me are leaning way over and pointing the way west for me. Soybeans never lie. They revealed that my strong riding has little to do with me. Today, we’ve caught The Western Express, a strong pushy wind coming out of the east. It’s pushing west and it is pushing right on the center of my back. Hallelujah! This is the first time we have had this favorable of a wind since we started riding a month ago.

Jon and I cruised today to the highest daily mileage of the trip. We came off the western edge of the Ozarks into a terrain of rolling hills. We rode plenty of those hills today - 4400

vertical feet. But with the wind at your back, it really doesn't matter. I will not say it was easy but it was certainly easier than we expected. Finished the day at Ash Grove at the Copper Grill where we stopped for ice cream. The owner said that she gets lots of riders in all summer. Loves talking with them because them come from all over the world. Sometimes she finds places for them to stay, does laundry for them, and gives them rides. That’s a familiar story along the route. Everyone continues to be super supportive of the several hundred of us out here having this crazy adventure.