In October, 2004 I took a long weekend to tour the hilly (and I mean hilly) Ozark region near Springfield, Mo. It was my second Missouri tour in the past few years, and I relished the challenge of this hilly region. I met my match. Not only did I walk up a couple of hills, but I even hitched a ride to cut off about 10 of the hilliest miles - it was late in the day and beginning to get dark, but I was glad to not have to finish Saturday with those ups and downs! Click here to read an email I sent to friends about this trip.
I camped at this quiet conservation area Friday night. I really enjoyed sitting in my tent eating my soup and reading while the light rain tapped on the tent. |
This doesn't really show how steep this hill was. Note that I'm looking up the hill - it was already going up where I was standing. But I did pedal up and over this one. |
Part of the infamous gravel road "short cut" that made Saturday such a long day. But really, when you see a road like this you just have to pedal down it, don't you? |
The
scenery on this "short cut" made up for all the pain that
the detour caused. No it didn't! |
| Sunday morning was
bright and clear. I rode about 25 miles back over the hilly area that
I had done on Saturday, then into more gentle rolling hills.
|
| Hiway 14 west. I feel like I could ride roads like this all day long, just keep going up and over and around the bend. |
| The road into camp Sunday night. After another long day riding I was greeted with hundreds of motorbikes screaming through the woods - this park hosted a big dirtbike gathering that weekend. Luckily, all the riders left camp by Sunday evening, and I had the place just about to myself for a very quiet night of deluxe camping - a picnic table and real restrooms! |
| At the finish. I parked in the back lot of a bike shop in Springfield. They were kind enough to let me use their restroom to clean up before my 5 hour drive back to Wichita. |
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