eLIFELIST.com Bike Trip

July 22nd Day 23

Ellington, MO to Houston, MO

Well after a seriously lacking night of sleep for me, Brent could sleep through World War III, I was not really looking forward to what is supposed to be the most difficult section of riding in Missouri through the Ozarks.  We had read people's accounts of the ride between "Ellington and Houston" and they struck fear into our hearts.  Turns out it was all a big facade.  There were definitely some hills and some challenging climbs but nothing like what we faced in North Carolina and Tennessee.  We lucked out big time on the weather while riding through Missouri, we had temps only reaching 88 or so with about 50-60% humidity.  Apparently the humidity and heat in the Ozarks is vicious and the most difficult thing about the ride.  Riding through the mountains was great, the scenery was great, the breeze felt good and it was nice to see some charming mountain towns, like Eminence, especially after our bleak impression of Ellington.  

We stopped for lunch in Eminence at Whitleys which had an old soda fountain feel to it.  Also, something that is really big in the Ozarks is people drinking and tubing down rivers.  We saw countless people going into convenience stores to stock up on beer for their trips down the rivers.

We found a great spot in the Jacks Fork River to take a swim, the water felt great but after such a relaxing break like that it's tough to get on the bike and finish out 35 miles.  There was a fire tower at the top of the Ozarks, so of course we had to climb it.  The view was great, you can see it in the video.  We ran into Tim a little bit down the road, he was biking West to East alone.  Tim lives in Monterey California and has his own accounting business, he has flown back twice on his journey for business, he was a really nice guy and tough too, he was biking in wool hiking socks and sandals!

We hauled it in to Houston to the Houston Motel, which had been changed to the Horse Creek Inn.  We had heard all sorts of great things about this Inn from several different people coming the opposite direction, so we were excited to get there.  We had heard about the "Swimming Hole" we went there with the owner of the motel.  He was a really cool guy, he is full blood native american from Bryson City, North Carolina and is one of the biggest horse whisperers in the world.  It was pretty amazing to hear him talk about some of his experiences.  The truck he drove was an old diesel Ford that had been converted to run on Vegetable Oil.  He said the modifications only cost $3,000 dollars and that he goes to a couple of the local fast food type establishments and collects their used vegetable oil for his fuel.  He told us that diesel trucks were originally developed to run on Peanut Oil for farmers.  These type modifications aren't possible on newer model diesel trucks because apparently the auto/oil industry caught on.  He said that their is a diesel take in the truck that is only used to briefly heat the engine to a certain temperature and then the vegetable oil takes over as the source of fuel.  

The owner of the motel then took us to the swimming hole about 3 miles away and it had the best cliff jump imaginable.  The highest one we jumped off was probably 40 feet.  It was a great thing to end the day with, somehow, some way I have to get something like that in or near my backyard.  See the video here.  

That night the cool owners of the motel made a pasta dinner for us, Art and Ben, a father and son riding east from San Francisco.  The pasta hit the spot as did the $35 dollar room.  We had a great stay at the Horse Creek Inn and want to thank the owners for making the trip through Houston so enjoyable. 

Day 22 – July 21

A very unique day…

The actual ride from Farmington to Ellington was not too memorable. But our night spent in Ellington was one that Lee and I will remember for a long time.

After a full day of riding, we rolled into Ellington looking for the park to set up shop for the night. We found out where it was and took a mile and a half detour to the back of town and found our Brawley Park. We thought that being towards the back of the town and tucked away, we would not have much company, but we were not alone. There was a family celebrating a couple of their kids’ birthdays together. We had plopped ourselves down by some benches away from their party, which was at some picnic tables under a covering, which we decided we were going to sleep on after they left.

They very graciously offered us some of the food that they had cooked up, which included hamburgers on sliced bread, pork, and crunchy cooked potatoes. A few things that struck both of us right off the bat were the 1) quantity of kids that this family had 2) how dirty the kids were and 3) how little control they had over their kids. The kids greeted us with cake smeared all over their faces and arms, which is cute for a little while when they are eating, but most parents usually clean it up after they are done eating. Not them…they just let the kids be kids along with their dirty feet and diapers. I would say there were at least seven kids between two mothers of 20 and 23. During the two hours we spent with them, I don’t think either one of them ever really sat down because they were busy chasing the kids down and trying to wrangle them in the picnic area, especially TJ, who had one heck of a mullet going for only being a couple of years old. Pretty much from the minute we got there to the minute the family left there was non-stop chaos, yelling, and baby-wrangling.

This family also just found four puppies that were abandoned in some nearby bushes, dehydrated and underfed. So they ended up taking these dogs home with them in addition to the two dogs they already had.  

It is tough to describe the entire situation because it was just so bizarre and I am sure that the description doesn’t really sound that strange, but it was an experience that Lee and I had never encountered.

Once the family left, we set up our beds on the picnic tables and held our fingers crossed that not too many animals would visit during the night due to the large amounts of food that all the kids had thrown and left around the area. Once it got dark, we quickly realized that through this secluded park was a very busy throughway (gravel road) going to some park land behind us which had traffic throughout the night. This was according to Lee since I basically go into a coma at night. Lee tells me the next morning that he had a horrible night sleep due to all the locals driving by to check out the bikers, his fear of a re-enactment of ‘Deliverance’, and the critters visiting to scavenge the food.

We did a 90 mile ride today from Arlington, VA to Purcellville, VA today on the W&OD trail.  The W&OD used to be a railroad line that ran from 1859 to 1968. Now the trail is a popular biking, running, dog walking, and skipping trail in the Northern Virginia area. It runs 45 miles to Purcellville, so it makes perfect sense to see the end of the trail, right?
We ride the trail often, but never really even close to the end so wanted to ride it in its entirety before we head out on the trip and thought it would be a great training and preview of a typical day. It turned out to be a scorcher AND humid. Fun stuff. But we cramped our way, toughed it out, drank gallons of fluids, and limped our way there and back. One of us did not limp and there is speculation that he may be on steroids, but we won't mention names but think it will be pretty obvious from the pictures.

-Brent

Brent recently checked Skydive off his list.  Check out his face right before he jumps. 

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have started their newest adventure, "The Long Way Down."  They are riding BMW GS1200 Motorcycles from the Northern Tip of Scotland, through Western Europe and south through Africa ending up in Cape Town South Africa.  Check out "The Long Way Round" where in 2004 they rode motorcycles around the world.  Long Way Round was 20,000 miles from London through Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Siberia, through to Alaska, Canada and the states ending up in New York City.  The Long Way Round has some great photography and tons of drama.  They ran into some pretty wild situations; one guy they stay with in the Ukraine that is clearly Mafia plays his guitar for them and then shows them his assault rifles, their support crew has a huge car accident and they eat horse testicles in Mongolia to name a few.  The Long Way Down will no doubt have some great stories and adventures.  In their Treks Ewan and Charley raise awareness and funds for Unicef.

If you haven't seen this show on the Discovery channel yet, check it out.  The host Bear Grylls is an ex British Special Forces soldier, climbed Everest when he was 23 (youngest Briton ever to do it and live) and is a well regarded motivational leader, adventurer and a master survivalist.  On Man vs. Wild he puts himself in extreme outdoor situations and environments with usually just a canteen, knife and a flint, sometimes less and has to work his way out to safety or civlization. 

A few of the more intense moments from this season were when he ate a fish while it was still alive, ate meat from a dead zebra, drank the liquid from elephant feces because his body needed fluids, and ate a live snake, the list goes on.  It's not that he does these things to be "crazy" either, he has a matter of fact, "I need to eat, I need to sleep and I need water" mentality and that's what makes him and the show so great.  He loads every episode with tips and advice.  The show is one of the best things on TV, as is just about everything on the Discovery Channel, don't even get me started on how ridiculous Planet Earth is or the fact that I'm kind of obsessed with it.  There are new episodes of Man vs. Wild starting in June.  Hopefully we won't face any situations on the bike trip near as intense as the ones he puts himself in on the show. I like my meat cooked thank you.  

However, two of the episodes from this first season were based in places we are going, the Sierra Nevada mountain range and Moab, Utah.  I'm honestly looking forward to the unknowns and challenges of the locations we will travel through. 

Brent has "Mountain bike Moab" on his Life-List so we will be doing that among other things.  

Carry on  Mr. Grylls, keep doing what you're doing. 

Yes, slightly, but that's how we roll.  We've bumped up our departure one month for the Bike Trip,  now planning to leave from North Carolina the beginning of July, finishing up in San Francisco the first of September.  Preparing the trip by then is going to be quite intense.

Nailing down the mileage and route is proving to be difficult but exciting to see where we'll be riding.  There are a million things that need to fall into place, ok maybe 1,000 is a more accurate number.

More exciting eLIFELIST.com news to be announced soon.