Thursday 7/12/18

Houston to Ellington

Louis had laid over at Houston also. After giving Joyce a final kiss goodbye, now 3 of us headed down Highway 17 towards Eminence. Aaro Froese, the Boonslick District Executive, was going to be joining us later. He was going to drive to a point ahead of us and the cycle back to meet the group.

The closer we got to the National Scenic Waterways area, the hillier it became. Not to bad early while still cool out but very difficult later on the day with the high heat index thrown in. As the other day, the steepness and heat had me walking the tops of several hills. I figured walking speed is walking speed however done.

Nishanth and Louis were a bit ahead as I made a Enlace brochure stop at a church. A driver soon appeared and it was Aaro. Now finding me he drove to Eminence and cycled back. Once cycling together we had a good conversation about Aaros days as a bicycle racer and my trip so far.

Arriving at Eminence Aaro asked if I needed to eat. It was about 1:30 but there was a line at the touristy burger stand.  I said I would just get cold water from the Sinclair station and eat something I had along. But once inside, I saw the Sinclair station had a deli and no line. So I got a sandwich and ate the remaining banana muffins that Joyce had brought me for dessert.

Loius and Nishanth were going to rest in the shade a bit longer so Aaro and I got pedaling. Aaro had a volunteer training meeting later that evening in Columbia to attend. Seemed strange that I had pedaled half way across the country and was so close to home that folks could quickly drive to see me and them get back to other activities. Aaro rode with me several miles and then needed to turn back to his car. It was fun riding with Aaro as I had anticipated the possibility of friends riding sections with me in Missouri.

The afternoon was a hot hilly ride. This area was state forest and no homes for water resupply. I had warned the group to leave Eminence with every bottle full. As I was close to running out of water, I saw the leaving state forest sign and then soon a trailer sales business. There was an outside spigot and I filled a couple of bottles for the remaining 7 miles to Ellington.  It was still hot and I thought possibly more big hills.