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| Kyle, Laura, Penn, Tyr, and Willow |
I waited even a bit extra to grab the free breakfast at the hotel rather than paying for one down the road. Have I ever mentioned that I'm a cheapskate? The breakfast was pretty good. The rubbery eggs were a higher class of rubber and the biscuits and gravy weren't that translucent. I decided to skip the waffles even though they're usually my go-to.
I was on the road by 6:15. The roads were were still wet but water wasn't getting kicked up so I timed it about right. It was 67 degrees and felt great.
The sun hadn't come up yet but the sky was getting light. I worried a bit because I was headed due east and I've had to ride into the sunrise many times on trips like this, and bikes don't come with sun visors.
As the sun started to peek over the horizon it revealed a layer of clouds. There were occasional glimpses of a beautiful orange sunrise but it was mostly blocked. I think I'll live with the blocked sunrise over the blinding light in this case.
I tried to get a picture but it just didn't work, too dark.
By the time the sun cleared the clouds I was able to tilt my helmet down to block out direct sunlight. It was uncomfortable for half an hour, then more clouds moved in to help with the glare.
I stopped about every hundred miles which was about an hour and a half. By the time I was nearing Kansas City, it was after 11:00 and the temperature was rising. It was only 85 degrees, but the humidity had started to climb as well. I didn't bother putting on the evaporative vest because I figured it wouldn't work with the high humidity. Come to think of it, that might have been yesterday's problem as well.
I got through Kansas City and onto I-35 northbound before the heat forced me to stop for a longer break and some lunch. I stopped in Kearney to gas up and eat a Jimmy Johns #7 spicy itallian sub. Just as they handed me my sandwich a trio of LDS sister missionaries walked it. They were fretting over what to get so I walked over and offered to buy their lunch. They said I didn't need to, but I insisted. I've done this a few times over the years when the opportunity arises. It took them about 10 minutes to figure out what they wanted and after they ordered, I paid, then excused myself and found a table to eat at. With Elders, I will sometimes sit and talk, but with Sisters it feels a bit creepy for an old man to buy them food then hang around.
I got back on the bike about 1:00. The temperature wasn't climbing any more, but the humidity made it pretty miserable.
I've made this drive about 10 times in the past, so I knew I would take I-35 north till it intersected a large state highway. But this time google maps told me to exit quite a bit early. I thought about it and decided to try the new route. It cut a bit across the landscape through some small towns and eventually led back to that state highway. But it was a nice scenic alternative to non-stop interstate.
I arrived in Chillicothe just after 2:00. That's very early to check into most hotels, but the lady at the Comfort Inn had no problem letting me check-in. I thought I would unload my stuff and rest a minute, then go to Kyle's house to hangout. I laid down and woke up an hour later. It felt great.
By this time, Laura and the kids were home from school. The plan was for them to get kids in swim suits and come over to the hotel for a nice long swim and pizza. In the mean time I started getting clothes and things ready for an overnight ride with my grandson to Hannibal MO starting tomorrow.
I put on my swimming suit, got my dirty clothes packed and separated, then went down to the pool to wait for the grand kids, oh, and my son and his wife. But mostly the grand kids.
The pool was pretty warm. Not bathtub warm, but not as cold as pools usually are.
I bought a new camera for this trip. I've had an Olympus waterproof camera for about 10 years and it finally died earlier this summer. I got the latest model, a T7. I like waterproof so I can keep it out and ready on the bike regardless of the weather. It's especially nice for things like this pool to get fun pictures. I took quite a few knowing that most would be bac. I got about a dozen good shots while we played. The saddest part was me forgetting how to take movies. I caught Tyr just dancing in the water and singing to himself "I love to swim" over and over. I completely missed it.
After 90 minutes I headed up to the room and Kyle ordered pizza. I took a quick shower then headed to pickup the pizza. I thought we'd stay in the pool area and eat there, but by the time I got back the kids were all cold. So we headed up to my room so the kids could take hot showers. We watched the pictures and moves that I took while they took turns showering. Both Tyr and Willow couldn't get enough of seeing themselves and kept asking to see it over and over.
Finally by 8:30 Willow was laying on one of the beds nearly asleep. So they left Penn with me and took the others off for home. Penn and I will do an overnight ride tomorrow to Hannibal MO. The plan is to listen to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on our way there. It's an 8 hour book so we won't get through it all, but I'll stretch the ride out a bit and hopefully get to some of the good parts.
Daily Mileage: 325
Total Mileage: 670
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