GMRR Day 14 - St Genevieve, MO to St Louis, MO

The link to today's route and ride statistics can be found here.

Before I get in to today's discussion, I need to revisit yesterday.  St Genevieve is reputedly the oldest city in Missouri.  We had dinner in the old downtown section at a place called the Anvil Saloon.  The building dates to 1856.

It is a lovely building.  We ate upstairs, and the bar and floor were nice wood.  It has been well taken care of over the years.  The whole downtown area is doing well.  A couple of doors down from the Anvil is a building that advertises itself as the first brick building west of the Mississippi.


Now on to today's adventures.  They started out inauspiciously for me.  About 4 miles in to the ride, I popped a spoke, and had to call for our support staff to come rescue me.  They were quickly about the task, and I am happy to say had me fixed and on the road in short order.  They had also fixed an annoying clicking sound I had been fighting for a couple of days, so I was a happy camper from a bike point of view.
Today's ride was probably our most challenging so far.  We had 85 miles and I recorded about 5600 feet of elevation gain.  It was mostly the rollers that Missouri is so well known for.  Some of the shorter ones hit as much as 12% grade, but we had one about a mile and a quarter long that stayed between 7 and 10% the whole way.  I remember from my cross country trip that they said if Missouri was ironed out flat it would be bigger than Texas.  Most of the scenery was similar to the last couple of days, and since I was behind the pack, I did not stop to take any pictures until we were coming in to St Louis.


Here I am in front of one St Louis landmark.  I will show you me outlined by another.


We are right down by the Gateway Arch and the waterfront.  From my hotel window I can see the capital building looking one way, and one end of the arch looking the other.  I will report on what I see on our day off tomorrow.  My roommate went to see the Cardinals play the Cubs.  I probably should have gone, but figured I would fall asleep by the 3rd inning.

GMRR Day 13 - Cape Girardeau, MO to St Genevieve, MO

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

I started the day a little tired from battling the wind all day yesterday, so decided to take it easy.  The ride started in typical Missouri countryside, with steady rollers, some with decent grades, for about the first 44 miles.  Here are a couple of views of farms and landscape along the way.

I was intrigued (but not enough to take side trips) by signs for a Lutheran heritage museum, and in the town of Frohna, a Saxon Lutheran memorial.  Maybe my sister can check out what I missed.
At any rate, I also found a bunch of geese enjoying a small pond.  There were about two or three times as many as I captured in the photo.

At 44 miles, it was deja vu all over again.  We were back in perfectly flat farmland with the wind in our face.  The good news is it was not as strong a headwind as yesterday.  Here is the view.

As is traditional for these rides, America by Bicycle marked the notional half way point for our journey in the road about 51.6 miles in to the day.

The last thirteen miles were more like the beginning of the ride, with rolling hills and some nasty little testers.  I made it in to St Genevieve, which is a small town of just over 4000 folks.  They said there is a historic downtown, but I have not made it there yet.  Tomorrow we ride in to St Louis for our second rest day.

GMRR Day 12 - Union City, TN to Cape Girardeau, MO

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

Today was a three state day.  We started in Tennessee, made a short trip through a corner of Kentucky, and spent the bulk of the day in Missouri.  It was a very challenging day, but the first part through Kentucky was pleasant farmland, and left us at the Dorena Hickman Ferry, for a nice trip across the Mississippi.  Here is the ferry loaded with our bikes.

The ferry was most interesting in that it is what is called a swing ferry.  Once we pulled out, the engine section rotated to push the other way.  Here it is mid-pivot.

I also want to show you the barge we met moving down the river.  Not an especially large load as these go, but interesting anyway.

Once we were in Missouri, the fun began.  While the route was relatively flat, there was a strong wind directly in our face.  Much of the crew did the ride in a paceline, and shared the pain, but they were just a tad more than I could keep up with, so I fought the wind alone.  My quote of the day is from Alice Campbell, who was saying at the second SAG, if you asked what she saw today, it was a wheel and a butt.  I think she was defining the effort to keep moving.  Had she looked up, the scenery was much like in Mississippi delta country, large fields of flat farmland, none of which I found photo worthy.
After the second SAG at about 70 miles, the land became more the way I remember Missouri, with a lot of rolling hills, some with substantial grades, but generally pretty short.
Once we reached Cape Girardeau, my good friends Al and Janell Miner picked me up and took me to dinner.  Here they are later on the deck overlooking there back yard.

After dinner, they took me on a quick tour of Cape Girardeau.  One of the unique things about it is the art on the flood wall by the waterfront. Here is an example from the history section.
There is also a terrific Missouri Wall of Fame, with many, many recognizable names and faces.

I was also happy to note that the downtown area in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson were thriving, as opposed to what I have seen in many of the towns we have been through.  My thanks to Al and Janell for making this part of the tour possible.

GMRR Day 11 - Ripley, TN to Union City, TN

The link to the route and ride statistics is here.

The day started out with a bunch of worried riders.  It had rained overnight, and was still raining when I got up.  By the time we loaded, the rain had stopped, but I still figured the bike would be a mess from all the water on the road.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it reasonably clean when I got in.  I did my duty and cleaned it up before taking it to the room anyway.
As it turned out, it was a lovely day for a ride.  The sky stayed overcast, and the temperatures stayed moderate.  I would be delighted to ride in today's conditions the rest of the way.  Even the headwind which has plagued us the last several days was, while still a headwind, less than it has been.
Once again, we made our way on lovely rural roads.  We were in a lot of farmland, with some wheat fields and a fair amount of corn.  Here is a field to give you an idea of what it was like out there.

We went through a couple of small towns along the way, the largest of which was Dyersburg.  It had a lovely courthouse building, as you can see here.



At the left edge of the picture is a statue, seen in full below.  It was erected to honor the Confederate soldiers of Dyer county.

While the courthouse looks pretty good, directly across the street is the following scene, which is more typical of these small towns.

As you can see, prosperity has long since gone.
The last little town before Union City was Troy.  As you may note, either the nice people they were trying to feature, or the idiots such as modified the sign, live in Troy.  I suspect they have both.

I will close with a picture my roommate Ken took of me on the road.

GMRR Day 10 - Memphis, TN to Ripley, TN

The link to the route and statistics for today can be found here.

Well, after a wonderful day off the bike in Memphis, we were back on the road today for a beautiful ride to Ripley.  The route was very nice.  This whole area is so fresh and green (in contrast to the browns at home in Tucson) that is makes for very pleasant riding, even when, as today, you are riding in to headwinds for virtually the entire day.
I am happy to report I have a roommate after skating with a double occupancy rate for the first eight days and rooming alone.  Ken Mercurio joined me on the off day, and we will be together for the rest of the way.  He is a wonderful cyclist, but had a bad accident which he details in a book you can find on Amazon called "Head Over Wheels."  I haven't read it yet, but plan to.  Here is a photo of the two of us second SAG.

Ken also provided a couple of on the road pictures which will give you an idea of what the route was like for much of the way.  As I said, lots of trees and gently rolling terrain.



I only took one picture myself.  Nothing seemed too different from the last couple of days.  Lots of very pleasant homes, and also a good number of single wide trailers.  The one home I photographed seemed a little different to me.

Riding in to the motel into the wind, I remembered from our route briefing that there was supposed to be a McDonalds about a mile and a half past the motel.  I really needed some nourishment, so I pressed on.  Lo and behold, at about a mile and a quarter, there was a DQ (much, much better that a Mickey Ds).  I stopped in a had the large banana shake.  That should put me in good shape for tomorrow.

GMRR Day 9 - Off Day in Memphis, TN

Had a wonderful day today in Memphis.  My cousin Nancy Lange and her husband Roger picked me up an gave me a great time.  We started at the National Civil Rights Museum, which is located at the old Lorraine Motel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was killed in 1968.  It is jam packed with information, and brought back a lot of memories from the turbulent 1960s.  The photo is of the assassination spot in front of room 306.

We followed this with a nice lunch at the BB King restaurant on Beale St.  Here is a view from the  head of this most interesting street.


We capped off the day with a ride on a riverboat a way up the Mississippi and back.  The guy narrating had a lot of most interesting trivia about the area.  Here is a picture of a picture of the three of us boarding the boat.

I will cap it off with a photo of the Mississippi (after all, this is a Mississippi bike ride).  It is not real clear, but this is a tug pushing a line of empty barges up the river.

GMRR Day 8 - Senatobia, MS to Memphis, TN

The link to today's route and statistics is here.

Today was a great day to be on a bike.  We had rain yesterday afternoon (while in the motel) and had fears for today, but it turned out to be a beautiful day, with a beautiful route to go with it.  Everything is very, very green here.  We were on back roads for the first three quarters of the ride, with trees and rural scenery to enjoy.  Nothing outstanding for photos, but very pleasant to ride through.  The small rollers continued from the last part of yesterday's ride.
About 15 miles in, we turned on to Arkabutla Road (great name, for sure).  It runs along Arkabutla Lake, which is formed by an earthen dam.  Everyone stopped for the photo op, including yours truly.  I had someone take a photo of me with the dam and lake as backdrop.

Things got a little more hectic when we got in to the Memphis area.  I had one guy honk at me as I was going past the I-240(?) interchange, and yell it wasn't a good time to be riding.  Oh well, I made it to the hotel safely.
Of course, on the way to the hotel, I had to take a small detour to at least get a glimpse of Graceland.  They really don't have good safe bike parking so I could take the tour, but I was impressed with the grounds.

The other notable Memphis landmark I noted on my way in was Sun Records, so I recorded that moment as well.

For my bike friends, we have covered 590 miles in the first 8 days on the road.  I know I am ready for the day off tomorrow.  My cousin Nancy Lange promises to show me the sights.  I will report back.