Another great night sleep, interrupted only by a brief but particularly heavy downpour at about 2 am, which was amplified by the tin roof of the camping trailer we were sleeping in.
By the time we were fully mobilized, Cindy had unfortunately already headed to work and James was dressed in full Roman Catholic Deacon uniform, dog collar included, ready to take morning communion at a nearby church. We quickly packed, said our thanks and goodbyes and headed off in the general direction of Lebanon just after 9 am.
To get to our Warmshowers host’s home in Springfield required a sixty-mile day, which would have been a stretch if the day was littered with Route 66 attractions, but as even our guidebook had nothing of note between the two towns, sorry cities, so nothing to worry about. The road out of Lebanon was as busy as we are finding most towns to be at that time of the day, but the drivers continue to give us plenty of space.
Miles on we came across Scott, another chap on a cycle tour, starting in Portland two months ago, cycling through Montana and the Rockies, with this being his first day on Route 66 as he heads the way we just came back to his home in Chicago. As he had about 25 years on me, a bike that weighed about half that if mine, not to mention him looking a little more cycle fit than either of us, I would guess he’ll be there in less than a week. I was going to add that as we have had a headwind all the way he will likely have the benefit of a tailwind, but I’m pretty sure that all tour cyclists have a headwind all of the time, regardless of the direction of travel or the direction of the wind.
As there weren’t any Route 66 attractions, today’s photoshoot subjects ranged from old cars, big bird mailboxes, ‘The World’s Largest Gift Shop’, politically motivated signs, and Deborah eating an ice-cream without getting brain freeze.
The most noteworthy event of the day, which I could have done without, was being hit by a mini-bus as I cycled up a steep bank in the shadow of trees. I was on the narrow hard shoulder, off the main road, but the bus had such big wing mirrors, I was still hit. The driver stops, an old guy, who appeared more shaken than I did, but as it was only a graze and I wasn’t in any pain, we left it at an apology and a handshake rather than risking him losing his job over it. I AM ABSOLUTELY OKAY… HONEST!!
We weren’t in a particular hurry to get to Springfield, guessing our host likely had a job and wouldn’t be finished work before 5 pm, so had a relaxing cycle along quiet roads until we hit the city limits. The route that Google Maps plotted for us to get to our overnight stop was an easy one from the side of the city we entered from, with a strip of fast food outlets just a mile from the house. I wasn’t particularly hungry so went for Deborah’s choice of loaded veggie nachos from a Mexican restaurant going by the name Gomida. We had previously sent as a text to Miles, our Warmshowers host asking when would be a convenient time to call by and received as reply just as the final jalapeno had been munched on.
We arrived at our overnight stop, just as Miles was finishing mowing the lawn. We chatted a while before putting the tent up in the front garden, overshadowed by an enormous oak tree. As we chatted I saw another fully loaded tour cyclists heading along the road. Bearing in mind Springfield is a relatively large city and we were a random suburban street, I was a little surprised to see it was Alan White, the Kiwi we had met outside of Abraham Lincon’s house in the other Springfield a week ago. I shouted, but he didn’t turn around and was up the street and out of sight before I even considered setting after him on my bike. A small world indeed!
After housing the bikes in the garage we had a long overdue shower and were back chatting to Miles and his step kids when Lexi, his lovely bubbly wife returned from a long day in the office. Another great late-night chatting to our newfound friends in their lounge, then off to bed.
While in the main it was a peaceful night’s sleep Miles had warned us the resident squirrels have a tendency to periodically throw acorns at any tents pitched in the garden, which they did throughout the night… or maybe they just fell out of the tree. I guess we will never really know!
Good day and happy to hear you are ok. Advil in the am if needed I suppose as scotch at dawn seems a bit risky.
I am so thrilled that you are encountering such good and kind people! That is my favorite part of your posts, we’ll, other than Deborah’s repeated brain freezes from the Slurpees (or whichever brand you’re getting). Ah, the joys of burning endless calories – doesn’t matter what you put in your bodies because you burn it all up right away!
Keep posting – it’s so much fun to follow along on your journey!
Yup, just the one brain freeze today, but zero interesting characters. Quite a boring day actually.. writing the blog will not take long tonight
Hey Bob, It’s so fun to follow your & Deborah’s path here…pls keep posting. If you are coming to the Oakland/San Francisco Area, depending on the timing, we could put you guys up for a night or two.
Enjoy
Kelly
Hey Bob, It’s so fun to follow your & Deborah’s path here…pls keep posting. If you are coming to the Oakland/San Francisco Area, depending on the timing, we could put you guys up for a night or two.
Enjoy
Kelly
Thanks Kelly. Yes, we will be in the Bay Area for a few days. Thanks fir the offer of accommodation. We may be sorted on that front (still need to confirm dates, etc.), but it could be great to catch up while we are in town. I’m going to try to pull something together when we get closer and have dates confirmed. At this time the only confirmed date is flying out of SFO on December 7th… which seems a long way off!