It's a small world, after all

I'm currently in Excelsior Springs, MO. I've ridden 2511 miles thus far. This Friday my brother will meet me in Jefferson City to ride with me over the weekend. We will ride a portion of the Katy Trail, a 165 mile rails to trails route along the MO River. I'm looking forward to it.

Two nights ago I was fortunate enough to stay with Matt and Jana in Atchison, KS. They are warm showers hosts. Matt is a professor at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS leading their program for special needs psychology. Jana is a union brick layer. They are an amazing couple. Obviously each new warm showers experience starts with the basics, who are you, why are you riding, what did or do you do. Matt asked me what I specifically did in the navy. He casually mentioned he has two young women in his program whose father is a navy guy too, last name of Hutchens. I asked him if perhaps their dad's first name was Mike, but he prefers Michael. Sure enough, their dad and I served together in Memphis. Matt thinks very highly of these two young women and asked me to make sure I passed it along to Michael. A friend of mine taught me that paying a compliment directly to someone is always nice, but we should always pay compliments about people to a third party as well. The idea is that we should pass how we fill about people beyond just our little circle of people. It was wonderful to hear that two children I've met are doing amazing things as they study how to help developmentally challenged people deal with their needs on a deeper level. Matt was also selected as the educator of the year last year by the students at the college. No surprise.

As great as that was, the best part of the evening was sitting around their dining room table talking about a host of topics, including politics. At the table were liberals, conservatives, and some Bernie support. Unfortunately these different tribes have become so polarized in their conversations that true discussions seem harder to have. We had a great conversation and Matt made a great point. The less Americans involve themselves in the political process, voting, town halls, etc., the more convinced we become of the correctness of our position. Conversely we become less willing to even listen to other's positions. American involvement in the entire political process is lower than at any point in our history. A concern the founding fathers had as well. I did not come away from the conversation a Hillary fan, but I better understand why some people would support her or Sanders.

It was a superb evening discussing far ranging topics and I was sorry it had to end. Another cyclist was there that night riding from St Louis to Astoria, OR. I've seen a few more riders but all heading the opposite way.

Last night I stayed at a historic hotel, The Elms. The first one was built in 1888. The first and second burned down in relatively quick succession. The current edifice was built in 1912 and is on the historic register. It is a beautiful building. Excelsior Springs is named after a natural spring high in manganese. The area has been famous for these being healing waters. Al Capone, Harry S. Truman, and other famous people have stayed here. It is a destination hotel and if you ever find yourself in western MO I highly recommend staying here. The only other place to stay was soundly recommended against by the police officer parked across the road from it. I'm glad I asked him.

This is the lobby. Each little tile was cut and laid by hand. Very impressive. The current owners are investing heavily in the already nice property to make it a true destination resort.

The riding for the last week has been... challenging to say the least. The temperature has been above 100 every day with very strong winds out of the southeast. I am of course heading southeast so I have enjoyed extreme temperatures and wind of at least 20mph gusting to 30mph. I haven't been able to see much of the country as the roads are narrow, lack shoulders, and are heavily trafficked. Drivers have been pretty good. But it still requires hard effort and very tight mental focus as wavering inches from my direction of travel puts me in traffic. I've already lost one pavement contest and care not to try it again. Anecdotally the only vehicle occupants who consistently express anger toward me are old guys in Mercury or Grand Marquis. They will consistently yell at me, loudly honk their horns, or buzz me as they drive by. Even if they are going in the opposite direction the make it known I have no business being on their roads. I fear these guys more than the big trucks, because at least the truck drivers will try to give me some room. I don't know why they are so angry, but they've certainly found the car they prefer so at least I always know.

I was going to include a different picture to capture my riding last week, but the hotel lobby is much nicer than the road kill raccoon the highway workers in Iowa painted the white shoulder stripe directly on top of, months ago, so now the raccoon and the stripe are greatly diminished. Nothing like workers who simply don't care about their work product. A comment I have talked about before.

I am well over half way now and looking forward to being home. My next rest day will be with the parents of one of my Fourth Fleet team in Cape Girardeau around the 28th. It will be my third and I'm looking forward to it.

As always, thank you for your support. It truly means more to me than I can thank you for.

Success or failure is measured in hundredths

I'm currently in Vermillion, SD, and I've ridden 2126.7 miles. Pretty close to half way done I think.

The title for this post came from my stop at Mac's gas station in Stephan, SD. Mac's is owned by Bob. Bob is in his early 80's probably and is the local seed guy for most of the farmers. Where most gas station/convenience stores have useless junk for sale next to the register, Bob has ear tags for calves. In many colors and sizes. As I ate my afternoon snack of a Dr. Pepper and some kind of hostess treats I listened to the other farmers come in and greet Bob. The conversation always started with some variation of "how many hundredths did you get Bob?" The first time Bob replied with "I got 25, you?" To which the other farmer said, "I got 45 hundredths." It took me a bit to figure out they were talking about rainfall amounts. For them, the scarcity of rain and the success or failure of their entire year's worth of crops is measured in hundredths. A little too much our too little can spell disaster for them. So the conversation always starts with the most important question. They don't say "how are you doing," as one's wellness is not self-centered, but harvest-centered. Most of the rest of us speak in terms of hundredths as it relates to sporting events we watch. But, let's face it, any sporting event we watch is really just a leisure time activity. Unless we have a gambling problem our wellness is not contingent on the outcome of some athletic endeavor. Even what I am doing on this ride is just a leisure time activity. I do not have to ride, I choose to do so. It was a good reminder that the food we can buy at any time we wish was contingent on some farmer betting his family's fortune on "hundredths."

I met two business owners whose stories I want to share briefly. The first is a family who owns the South Whitlock camp and RV park near Gettysburg, SD. The family started as farmers, raising cattle but it did not work out for them so they shifted to the RV place. Randy and Pat, along with their grown children Jessica and Derrick have operated the place for decades and it is an awesome place to camp. I paid 12 bucks for a spot with full services and it included the cleanest shower facility I've ever been in. Most federal campgrounds also have showers but they cost extra and are not kept up well. The pride this family took in what they offered was obvious. I arrived the day after a major storm with baseball sized hail had bitten through causing a lot of damage. They were already out there cleaning it up and making repairs. Most government campgrounds just closed of the damaged areas to be cleaned up later by the designated cleanup crew. Personal ownership and the pride therein was obvious to this family. I spent a good time chatting with Jessica and you can tell she is proud that this is her place, and the place her kids will eventually take over.

The second story is about Gallo's Mexican restaurant in Pierre (pronounced peer by the locals, not pee-air). I showed up at normal old person dining time and was the only one there. It had been recommended to me by the woman who works at the dam visitor center just outside of town. She said the food was authentic. The owner was there and he sat down to chat with me. Antonio Garcia is originally from Guadalajara, coming to Pierre by way of Federal Way, WA. He's worked pretty much in the restaurant business since coming to America and ended up in Pierre when a friend asked him to come help out in his Mexican restaurant, called Guadalajara. Go figure. The deal was if he helped his friends it then they would help him open his own place, which didn't happen. Antonio played professional futbol (soccer) in Mexico and his nickname was Gallo, rooster. This the name. He had to petition the Pierre city council to open the restaurant because as they pointed out, Pierre doesn't really need two Mexican restaurants. Antonio told them his goal was to be not just a restaurant, but to be the best one in the Midwest. In his third year he made it to the best 100 restaurants in the Midwest. He said his biggest problem is finding good workers, a comment I hear from a lot of people on my ride. I can say his Mole was superb, and he makes it fresh daily.

America is the best only when good people are willing to bet their well-being on hundredths, or being the best, and then pouring everything they have into achieving the best. The three encounters I shared above all have that common theme.

I can also tell you the doctor in Burke, SD is awesome at stitching people up. I stopped in Burke three days ago for a late breakfast snack - Dr. Pepper and a cruising covered sticky bun, and a banana. On my way out of town I stopped to adjust something, now forgotten and the wind blew me over before I could fully unclip from my pedals. On the way down to the pavement my right ankle ripped across the top of my pedal and carved out a dime sized chunk of skin down to the meaty part, and then lacerated my leg right on top of my achilles tendon. Fortunately there weren't any cars coming because it would have been heads, zero, big truck tires, one. Immediately after it happened a car did stop and ask if I was okay. To which I said yes, not knowing the extent of the damage. Fortunately another car stopped shortly after I assessed the damage and they found the hospital for me. They couldn't fit me into their vehicle so I one-leg pedaled to the clinic (only a couple miles back to town, thankfully). It was Sunday and the town doctor was already there having just finished another patient. She got me stitched up and I spent the night in a motel just outside of town. The wound is healing nicely and I've been able to get back on track with a 97 mile day yesterday.

I figure if this is the worst thing that happens I'm doing okay. Besides it was on my right ankle so it was nice to keep all the scars on the same leg...

Torture will

Closing in on Pierre, SD

Currently in "Whitlock" SD. I say currently because there really isn't a name for this place but I'm staying at the South Whitlock RV park. Which is awesome.

Total miles ridden: 1733. I finally sat down and went through all of my maps and did an exact total. Given some route options I've chosen I will end up riding closer to 4400 miles. So I'm well over a third of the way done and figure given my 60mpd average I'll be home around July 22. Give or take.

The riding has been mostly hot, windy, and hilly. There is something quite beautiful about north and south Dakota. The views are amazing, wildlife is plentiful, and you can see the curvature off of earth a lot as there aren't mountains to obstruct the view.

I am not meeting people as I had planned through warm showers. To be honest that has turned out to be a bust. I had four great hosts, but most people simply don't reply to requests. I suppose it is their way of avoiding saying No. Or they're just rude.

I have met some other awesome people though and one man probably did more to lift my spirits than I can ever thank him for. Kory Scanmon is a fourth generation farmer on his family's land. His grand daughter now lives on the farm so six generations of Scammons have cashed it home. They live in Wibaux, MT, which is just a few miles before I crossed the border into ND a week ago. I stopped for lunch in one of those brutally windy days when I just wanted to quit. Kory struck up a conversation with me and then joined me at my table. We talked about a lot of things, including his son who is a Chief Petty Officer stationed in HI.  Sometimes a simple hello makes a huge difference and his time saved my day. A couple hours later as I was riding along the highway a truck honked and stopped. I figured just another curious person. It has happened before. Nope, it was Kory, stopping to see if I wanted a ride to Dickinson, ND, which was about 50 miles away. I hated to say no but I would always know I didn't rude the full 100%. I would have enjoyed the additional time talking to a good man who made a huge difference in my day. There have been a few like Kory, who made a huge difference with a small gesture.

Funny enough, immediately after that the wind shifted and I had a tail wind for two days. The next day I rode 135 miles. My daily distance record. With a tail wind in excess of 25mph it was easy.

I have answered one of my questions on the road, I definitely want to work with other people, on a team. I like time to myself, but being a hermit is only for crabs.

Oh, and the Brookes saddle has finally become somewhat tolerable. Turns out it takes 500 miles per seating position and I have three: on the brake hoods, on the drops, and on the aero bars, so it took 500 for each of those as they are just different enough. My point is, if you choose to do something like this, buy one of those ergonomic saddles. There's a reason why Brookes haven't changed their design in over 100 years!!