Day 11--Moberly to Palmyra, MO

Thursday, April 26th

Thank you Ted & Candice Moore for your generous donation to the Judith Karman Hospice! Those of you who have been following the blog will remember Ted & Candice from the dinner party Frank & Vickie Briscoe threw back in Nevada, MO. Hello to all my new friends in Nevada, and thank you again Ted & Candice! Enjoy your Katy Trail vacation.

I had a long day today and wanted to beat the heat, so left the Moberly Super 8 a little after 7 a.m., shortly after a breakfast of peanut-butter toast. Super manager Kim jumped to hold the door for me. Good-bye Kim, and thank you for your hospitality. I'm writing the Wyndham Group about your stellar service.

I was on US-24E all day, or at least the first 55 miles. Shouldn't have left so early because the sun was low in my eyes and probably in the eyes of eastbound drivers also. But, nothing eventful happened on the first portion of 24-E, a gentle up-and-down, shoulderless, two-lane with a 60-mph speed limit. Most  of the traffic seemed to be going west. Some miles in, there was road work, workers stopping traffic in alternate directions. For  awhile thereafter traffic passed me in small groups and I enjoyed long intervals with no traffic.

I took few pix today for two reasons: 1) there was little to take a photo of, and 2) once again I was carrying my camera in a  plastic bag because rain was predicted. There was no rain. Only belatedly did I remember to take the camera out. Palmyra is only a few miles from Hannibal, but I started seeing Mark Twain this and Mark Twain that long before I reached Palmyra.

That looks like a shoulder coming up but only the bridge and its approaches were paved shoulders



Mark Twain Lake all but dried up.The driftwood on the shoulder rubble tells you how high it's been in the past.

There was a brief shoulder out of Palmyra and then none for the next 32 miles. Then a useless shoulder with a deep rumble strip on the white line and shallow rumble strip across most of the shoulder. At mile 35, a semi laid on the horn and literally ran me off the road onto the gravel shoulder. I was so  mad I shook my fist at him. A truck coming in the other direction saw the incident and I think must have gotten on his CB (do they even use them these days?) and called his fellow truckers because all moved to the oncoming lane after that. He probably radioed: "Crazy, irate, cyclist on the road. Give her wide berth1"

R.A.K. # 5: I stopped at mile 20 and rested for about 15 minutes in the shade at a pretty roadside park. For the next 35 miles, however, there was not a drop of shade or a convenience store. I contemplated knocking on a farm door because I was suffering from the heat and was out of water. Just before I did, I came upon a CS shortly after I got on US-24E/US-36E toward Hannibal. At the CS I met Donna, and here my day's cycling ended.

I was hoping to see a buggy today but the Amish area seemed very small and then I was out in the vast open again



Donna was driving a blue pickup into which B.O.B eagerly jumped. She was from Blue Springs, MO (in western Missouri southeast of Independence) making a seven-hour drive to Peoria, IL, and was glad for my company. We chatted over the 10 miles she drove me to my motel, and I learned that she was on her way to Peoria to visit her godson, had a 21-year old son who was a physics major at Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla, that she was an artist, and her husband sold medical software and travelled a lot. She was a very pretty and pleasant woman with a long French braid. Really wish I'd the presence of  mind to get a  photo of Donna and her blue pickup.

R.A.K. #6: When Donna left me at the motel, she gave me a big hug and a $100 bill! Told me to do with it as I wished. Valerie counseled me to hold on to it for the time being, which I will do, but if I  do not need it before ride's end, it will become part of  the funds I'm raising for Stillwater's Judith Karman Hospice.

I've decided that solo is the only way to travel. People are wonderfully helpful and kind. They do not want to intrude if you are with another or others.

Palmyra sign taken from in front of the motel and furniture store; that's Hwy 24 out there, the route I will take into IL tomorrow

This motel, a Budget Inn, is a good example of "Don't judge a book by its cover." I looks like a shabby 60s roadside motel, but my room is large, tastefully decorated, the towels fluffy and the bed comfy--yes I tried it out with a nap shortly after arrival.

Budget Motel Palmyra, MO



Oops. forgot to add an interesting tidbit. When I got to the motel, I decided to have the four slices of pizza left over from last night's dinner. I'd placed them in a plastic bag in my lunchbox atop B.O.B. The pizza was hot, not just warm, but HOT, the cheese melted and gooey. Maybe I have discovered a traveling oven.

Speaking of food, I've just gotten back from Hardees where I had a swiss & mushroom burger and a large lemonade for dinner. I've never been in a Hardees before, but will probably go back for a breakfast wrap as the Budget Inn does not serve breakfast. The motel sits facing highway 24 next to a furniture store, a retail tire store, and Hardees. That's it, folks. When I went into the hotel lobby to ask about eating options I could smell the owners' delicious curry supper cooking. What a tease.