Day 27: Branson, MO to West Plains, MO – October 10, 2008

Hollywood 2008 10 10_2031, originally uploaded by rhanke.

Miles: 103 Miles
Ride Time: 6 hours 38 minutes
Avg. Speed: 15.6 Mph
Total Climbing: 9265 feet
Work: 3904 kJ

Pulled out of Branson and right away we had a 1 mile climb with lots of commuters going to work. It makes one glad that I don’t have to drive. We had some morning fog also to contend with and we would pull off to let cars pass us when required. I’m not sure why Missouri roads do not normally have a shoulder or with all these hills at least a passing lane. Luckily the roads have been smooth unlike Oklahoma. I guess one can not have everything.

Today was Hollywood’s first day to ride after five days off. He is back to his normal joking self. When Big Wink flatted he had the jokes coming right and left. It was good to have him back to help on the pace line.

Dave our guide now has several nick names. His original name was Big Wave, not from his surfing skill but from his hair. We gave him a new name, Big Wink, after the other day when he had Tara pick him up to help with logistics. This was on one of the toughest days of riding due to the Oklahoma wind. She had already told us this before she picked him up since she had to go back to get him; wink, wink. In Branson Big Wink got a haircut so we can now also call him “Little Wave”. Later in the day we able to give him another name; “Half Day”. This was because he only rode half a day while letting Tara ride in the afternoon. We like kidding him and he takes it well. Big Wink also likes to ham it up for the camera and I was able to get him doing different poses.

Most of the time the roads seamed to go along the top of the ridges but every now and then it would drop down to a river or lake and then we would have to climb our way back to the ridge top. Today was one of our biggest climbing days with over 9000 feet of climbing. In the afternoon I dropped the Colorado boys going up one of the long hills and they were never able to catch back up. They got close but Dave broke a chain and had to wait for repairs.

All these hills always provide something to look at which makes the day go by fast. I really enjoyed the scenery. I even stopped and helped a tortoise across the road so a car would not hit him. It was another beautiful ride across America.

I hope you get a chance to check out the other photos from today on Flickr.