The town of Cassoday was about half way into the ride.
In Cassoday we stopped at the general store.
They were offering a buffet lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad, macaroni salad, roll, and spice cake for dessert for $8. The three of us had lunch with some of the locals.
We passed several touring cyclists coming the other way who told us about the tornado that hit Eureka last night. They were camped in the town park and barely made it to shelter in the concrete-block bathroom/shower building before the high winds hit. One had already set up his tent, which was shredded by the winds.
It was very hot today. We were pretty wasted by the time we got into town. The police had half the town blocked off because of the tornado damage and most of the businesses in town were closed because of lack of power. The only hotel in town was closed for that reason. The supermarket was open so we were able to get some food and head for the park to camp.
The water and showers were working, but there was no electrical power. A cold shower felt wonderful after the hot day.
The temperature today was over 100 degrees with high humidity. Even though we got a fairly early start, rolling out of camp around 7:30, we still ended up riding in the hot part of the day. Also it is not true that Kansas is flat as a pancake.
The last 30 miles of the day were pretty much a death march. We had to stop several times and rest in the shade to be able to go on. We're staying in a hotel. Walking back from dinner at a Mexican restaurant we saw a sign saying it was still 91 degrees at 8:30 at night.
The last 5 miles were kind of tough because it was right into the face of a strong south wind and it was starting to get hot. Greg had talked about pushing on another 15 miles to Pittsburg where there is a bike shop so he could get his broken spoke fixed. But by the time we finished lunch it was the hot part of the day and we decided to stay in Girard.
Lunch was at the Eastside Cafe in town. We both had the special, cheeseburger with fries and drink. Before we finished, the waiter took back our check and told us that the people at the next table, who had just left, had paid for our lunch! We celebrated by each having a piece of pie.
The Adventue Cycling map says there is a B&B in town, but when we knocked on the door, the lady said they no longer take in guests. We went to the post office to pick up our general delivery packages and got talking with a lady there named Sue. She suggested that we ask at the fire station - they have showers there and might let us pitch our tents. The Fire Chief is her husband.
At the fire station Joe, the Chief, invited us into his office and proposed that we stay at his house instead! So we rode back to their house at the north end of town where they invited us in, gave us each a bedroom, let us take showers, and let us wash and dry our clothes in their mahines.
Joe is a cyclist himself and has done RAGBRAI 10 times. He went out for a 20-mile ride (in the wind and heat) after he got home and then we all sat down to a delicious home-cooked dinner. Greg demonstrated some magic tricks and then we sat around talking for the rest of the evening. Joe and Sue are really nice people who demonstrate true mid-west hospitality.
A mile before getting to the bike shop Joe got a slow leak on his front tire so he got it fixed at the shop. Greg got his broken spokes fixed and some other minor repairs and I had them replace my bottom bracket. That didn't fix the clicking sound, but the BB was near the end of life anyway so it was good to change it. Roger, the owner, did re-mount my pedals, which fixed the clicking sound. And he had in stock a (no longer manufactured) sensor mount for my bike computer that has been held on with a rubber band for weeks.
After lunch at the Napolis Italian restaurant in town we set off in the heat of the day on the 32-mile journey to the town of Golden City MO.
We got in town in time to eat at Cookie's Cafe, which had previously been recommended to us. The big news of the day was that I finally had a root beer float, which I had been craving for days.
We're camped in the city park, next to the baseball field. They do have showers with hot water. We can hear people shooting off fireworks nearby, five days before Independence day.
There is power on a post at the pavillion next to our tents so I was able to plug in the laptop, update the blog, and charge the Garmin from the laptop.
It started sprinkling just as we got to Cookie's and was raining pretty heavily by the time we left. Although it was cooler than yesterday I still got totally soaked with sweat underneath my rain jacket and rain pants.
We had lunch at a bar in Everton. Greg said the bar girl looked just like his physician.
In Ash Grove, the only accomodations are the city park. We didn't know what to expect, especially when we learned that they were having their Independence Day celebration in the park this evening. Would we even be able to stay?
It turns out there is a house called the Barham House in the park that is dedicated to providing visiting cyclists a place to stay! It is air-conditioned, has toilet and shower facilities, and includes a full kitchen.
There is a large room set up with cots and tables to put your stuff on. There is a bike rack in the garage and a Park bicycle workstand mounted on the wall. Perfect!
Two other cyclists are staying here, an Australian named Martin and a Frenchman named Marc who is competing in the TransAm bicycle race. His pre-paid cell phone quit working and he was having a horrible time trying to re-charge the SIM card by telephone. He only speaks a little English. Since Greg is fluent in French, he took on the task of dealing with customer service on the phone, but they were unable to get it to work. So Greg and Marc headed over to the supermarket a few blocks away to buy a new SIM card.
In the evening there was a festival in the park with fireworks afterwards. I bought dinner from one of the food stalls.
We got a text from Allan who is back on the TransAmerica route after visiting friends in the town of Nevada. He rolled up to the house a little before 7 pm and took a quick shower. Then we all went to dinner at the same Chinese restaurant where we had lunch.
Last updated July 10, 2018