Eaton Adventure Cycling 2018: June 19, 2017. Van Buren MO

Springfield MO - Mountain Grove MO

Where are the Eaton's now? We did decide to go off of Route 66, and instead of following the Trans Am Bicycle route, we are heading east across US Route 60. We are actually only about 30 miles or so south of the Trans Am and riding parallel to it. Route 60 is a four lane highway with some traffic but we had a nice eight foot shoulder.

Leaving Springfield MO, we started out on a nice two lane back road, planning to eventually end up on Route 60. As it turned out God had a plan. While we were riding a solo (local) cyclist, Tracy rode up behind us and started chatting with us. His wife and he also have a tandem, and have done some touring in Europe. As we rode along Tracy said I know a better way, follow me! So we did. He took us a much better way to Route 60 than we were planning. How awesome is that? He also took some cool photos of us that we never get. We exchanged info and he left us at Route 60 to finish his ride. Later he texted me the pics, and said he had posted a video to facebook. Several people responded to the Facebook post. One person who was from Springfield MO, said hey my wife and I ate lunch with Diane and Hap in early May in New Mexico. What? Are you kidding me? Yes, we definitely remember that. It was a very hot day and we stopped to have an Indian Taco at an outdoor stand. How small is our world?? Another person commented about seeing us riding across Route 60 earlier in the day. It had to be us. How many loaded, yellow tandems were there riding near Springfield MO today?

After leaving Tracy, we got on Route 60 for the rest of the day. Actually we will be on Route 60 for several days. Our plan now is to ride to Cape Girardeau MO where we will cross the Mississippi River into Illinois. Then angle northeast until we get to Circleville OH. How hard can that be? We are about 800 miles or so from home. 2000 miles done No problem, we got this now. Who knew that five weeks ago or so (actually from the time we started planning this ride in Feb) that we would be able to ride like this? After a not so good doc report about my back needing surgery and the worries along with that, we just decided well what the heck. Might as well see how far we get! #godknowsbetterthanwedoallthetime.

We started seeing some amish buggies around Seymour. I didn't know there were amish in MO. Always fun to see, reminded us of home. We stopped in Seymour for our annual Big Mac (it's a long story) at the McD's. As we were eating, all of the buggies that we passed also stopped at McD's. Well what do you know! Maybe it's there Saturday morning thing to do.

We started to see a few more hills as we got closer to Mountain Grove, where we are staying for the night. Nothing to bad though, just climbing. At one point we got off of US 60 and got on old route 60. All of a sudden two very large dogs ran out chasing us down the road. I wasn't worried about getting bit, what worries us more is that dogs will run in front of your front wheel. I've been knocked off twice by dogs, and Hap once.....well technically he wasn't down...another long story. We got by the dogs, took a breath, and looked in our mirror to see a car bearing down on us. I yelled and waved my arms, Hap was heading for the ditch when the girl looked up (from a phone??) and saw us, moving over to the left at the same time. Whew, that was a close one. Let's get back on the highway!

We got to Mountain Grove and the only lodging was a motel, no camprounds once again. Bummer. We stopped at the grocery store for dinner supplies before going to the motel.

Mountain Grove MO - Mountain View MO

We planned to go to church the next day, which was Sunday and then do a short ride to a campground near Mountain View MO, Ozarks Mountain RV Park. In olden times, when we started
touring, we did what we called "yellow pages church shopping". No all you gotta do is ask Siri! How did we ever survive before?

During the night a storm blew through and it was still sprinkling when we left for church. No matter though, we only had to ride a few blocks. We arrived at First Baptist Church just in time for the service. I went in the front door, and asked the ladies that were the greeters, if we could join them for the service. They laughed and said of course. I said well can we bring our bike? She opened a side door for us to put the bike inside. God made a great choice. We had a good service, good music and met some new friends. It means so much to us, when we can go in any church (well, almost any) and be welcomed in, along with our bike of course.

By the time we stopped for lunch, it was almost 1:30 by the time we left town. We got back on US 60. There were a few more hills, but the temps weren't quite as warm as it has been. Temps have been in the mid 90's for the past week or so. The campground turned out to be a really nice place. The owner asked us so which is more important to you, privacy or bathrooms? I laughed and said what do you think, we're old! There was a laundry and as well as a clubhouse room that had a kitchen, tv and ping pong table. We were cooking our spaghetti for dinner when a group arrived to set up for a gathering. They were a RV group that travels together. We had a lot of fun talking with them. They couldn't get over us riding our bike all the way from California. The talk eventually got around to church and Hap asked them what church they went to. They said they were Baptists. We laughed and said we went to the right church this morning. As we were leaving I asked them what games they were going to play. They said Canasta. I said so which one of you cheats. Two ladies pointed at another lady and said "She DOES!" At the same time. It was so funny!

I was able to get the laundry done, while Hap finished setting up the tent. Then we tried our hand at horseshoes. Hahaha. It's been awhile. I won't tell you who won, because he always gets mad when he loses.......

Mountain View, MO - Van Buren MO

We tried for an early start, but it was still 8:30 before we got away. We ate a banana that hopefully
will be enough food until we got to the first breakfast stop, nine miles away. Also stopped before

our ten mile rule but we made it. The ten mile rule is, no riding more than ten miles before having coffee.

We are definitely in the Ozarks now. The hills are alittle longer and alittle steeper. But it was still a great ride. I would love to come back to this area, when we can explore some of those other hills on my lightweight road bike. Beautiful scenery, not too much traffic, a nice shoulder, sunshine what more could you want? We stopped for lunch in Winona, which was actually the only other stop for the day. For lunch we had some cheese, salami and cucumber (hey don't judge they were left overs). We had these leftovers packed in ice and in a cold bag.

When we arrived in Van Buren, where I found at least three campgrounds, we got a big surprise. Apparently there was a severe flood in this area the end of April 2017. It devastated the town. A lot of buildings were being torn down, and many businesses were closed. This is a first! Haven't had this happen to us before. There was a grocery store and a store/deli still open. I called three campgrounds and got no answer. I saw several motels in town and called the closest one. Yes, he was open and had a room. He showed us where the water came up to, just across the street. Wow! When I was maybe 4 years old, Chillicothe had a flood and our house was flooded. I don't remember much about it except that there was a lot of mud in our house. Terrible for the town and people.

The motel had one of the best, cleanest and biggest swimming pools I've ever seen at a motel. It was awesome. I miss swimming so much. I swim at least four days/week when at home. It is the best activity and the most relaxing for my back. Thank you Lord! We walked across the street and ate at the deli. Awesome baby back ribs. Wow so good. Hap cleaned up the chain and tightened the spokes up a bit, while I wrote this story for ya all!