Wow- It took us eleven days to get across Kansas. We never shifted out of the large chainring, but all but 20 miles of it was into the wind. Nevertheless, as Dorothy said to Toto, "I think we're not in Kansas any more."
The storm which came through late last night was ferocious: incessant lightning and thunder, strong wind, and heavy rain. But by this morning the radar showed that it had moved past us to the east, so one more time we opted to move on rather than hunker down.
After breakfast our niece Carol drove us to a couple of chores we had been saving for a town as large as Pittsburg, Kan. Then we said goodbye to Carol and headed out of town.
Almost as soon as we left Pittsburg, we crossed into Missouri, and a funny thing happened: we got a tailwind. Not strong, but a welcome tailwind. The first since somewhere in Colorado.
We rode east past newly-green pastures, swollen creeks and overflowing ponds. There were storm clouds to our south, but we never got any rain.
We stopped in Golden City for lunch at Cooky's Cafe, which has been there since 1942. They had at least 20 kinds of pie on display, of which we regrettably could only try two.
About 40 miles into Missouri we ran into the Ozark hills like running into a wall. Small hills, but straight up and down. We discovered that we couldn't shift into the small chainring to get the gears we needed. Some clumsy on-the-road adjustments left us in the small ring, but stuck there. No matter, we pressed on.
The temperature was not extremely high today, but when the sun came out this afternoon it was a steam bath.
At Everton we sought out tonight's accommodation, the Running Spring Farm, a hunting preserve with a beautiful duplex lodge which caters to cyclists in the summer off-season. Getting here was a chore, up 1/2 mile of washed-out gravel road, but a beautiful spot, comfortable digs, and definitely the best choice in the area, since there was no other.
I spent quite a while trying to lube and adjust the derailleur, but I don't think I made it work any better. The bike has earned some professional attention, and I plan to call ahead to a bike shop in Farmington to let them know we're coming, maybe next Monday.
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