Day 4--Parsons to Pittsburg, KS

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Today I sing ♪ Happy Birthday ♪♪  to Betty Bloodgood Secker,
Dean Bloodgood’s sister.

I was on shouldered roads for the entire route today. The beginning of US-400E has a shoulder as wide as a lane with a rumble strip at its edge. Cars and trucks were very polite, pulling over the center line to give me room. Since the center line was rumbled, I quickly learned to distinguish between the sounds of traffic on the center line and that on the shoulder rumble strips. Below is a pic of a new kind of rumble strip that I had not encountered before. Makes riding the shoulder interesting.

Grooved shoulder with deep grooves (rumble strips) extending all the way across the shoulder at 25-foot intervals. They obviously wanted to keep all traffic off the shoulder, but didn't take into consideration cyclists.

I left the Best Western in Parsons about 8:15 a.m. on a sunny but WINDY day. L. Frank Baum did not need a tornado to transport Dorothy to Oz. All he needed was ordinary Kansas wind. The wind was out of the south, which meant that I had a strong crosswind that required both hands on the handlebars until about 25 miles later when I turned north on US-7. For five miles I had a kicking tailwind! First time on the ride. Yahoo!

I did a small wash last night but forgot my gloves, so washed them in the sink this morning and Velcro-ed them to the spider bungee cord on my trailer to dry as I rode along. You guessed it. The left glove is probably already in Oz shaking hands with my flag. What will blow away next?

I stopped only four times for pix. A couple of barns, below, and one of the Neosho River as it flowed swiftly under the road. When I stopped on the bridge, two semis went roaring by and the bridge shook and flexed. You know me. I got off the bridge in a flash.

Neosho River as it flows under US-400 east of Parsons, Kansas 

Before I turned north, I stopped at a gas station/convenience store in Cherokee and enjoyed a couple of slices of pizza left over from last night's dinner, and an Orange Crush. Invigorated I sailed north on US-7, enjoying not having to hold the bike against the wind, and effortlessly pedaling along at over 20 mph. Below, the barn pix:

The drama for the day occurred as I was entering Pittsburg, still on a fast two-lane with shoulders. A pit bull and a dachshund ran out of a yard on my right. The pit bull meant business, and kept at me, slavering and growling even after I activated my screamer--the device on my helmet that emits an ear-splitting noise which usually deters dogs. Cars in both directions tried to get between me and the dogs. During this episode, I am yelling, "Call off your dogs! Call off your dogs!" Their owner was in his front yard. He did nothing. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and reason that he was both blind and deaf.

Some sort of accident must have taken place east of Pittsburg, because as I was entering town an ambulance came screeching toward me. A few minutes later another ambulance screeched by. This is a dangerous time for a cyclist because vehicle drivers are a little panicky and immediately pull off the road . . . onto the shoulder where I am. I was lucky the second time because a semi pulled onto the shoulder ahead of me but the one behind it could not pull over without forcing me off the shoulder, so just stopped in the road.

I'm at a Super 8 and may be here tomorrow too because a storm is expected this evening and early tomorrow morning. If I have to spend another day here, I'll have to sacrifice my rest day in Clinton, MO, to remain on schedule.

Arrived at the Super 8 super early so spent a leisurely afternoon in Home Depot (across the street), other nearby stores, and Dollar Tree--buying a microwave bowl so that I can use motel microwaves to cook some of my "add water" meals.

Thank you Shannon B. Frohock for your donation!