Day 7--Clinton, MO, Rest Day

Sunday, April 22, 2012

It is very nice to have a rest day, particularly one on a quiet Sunday. Hard to believe that I've been on the road for a week.

I ate a leisurely breakfast and talked to the group who are here with their restored 1930s/40s cars. We talked about car models and I told them of my family's penchant for owning cars that became as extinct as dinosaurs: My grandmother owned a Studebaker and my father a Kaiser. No we did not own an Edsel. When I told them of my morning's plans, one of them told me I should try to stop in Peculiar, MO, too. I'll have to look at my route sheet to see if Peculiar is on or near it.

After breakfast I donned bike clothes for my 15-mile ride to Tightwad, MO. Yep. That is the name of the mystery city I alluded to in my last blog post. I just had to say I'd been in Tightwad. Though it was Karen Duggins' day off, she was in and I got to meet her and thank her in person for my two nights at the Parkfield. Karen told me that the bank in Tightwad was a thriving business. People from all over the world held accounts there so that their checks would read "Tightwad Bank." In 2012 the bank reported deposits of well over $20 million.

According to Wikipedia, Tightwad's "unusual name is said to stem from an episode in which a store owner cheated a customer, who was a postman, by charging him an extra fifty cents for a better watermelon. Some claim it was a rooster instead of a watermelon." The postman got his due by naming the town Tightwad.

I left B.O.B. in the room to mope and stepped outside into black clouds, a strong north wind, and cold. Stepped back inside and grabbed my jacket, which I wore over my riding vest. Tightwad is southeast on MO-7. While one would think this direction a comfortable one, I was uncomfortable with the shoulder, a narrow piece of pavement between a rumble strip and a gravel shoulder (see below). Eventually I got tired of tensing up every time a vehicle passed, so I moved over into the road and felt more comfortable.

Uncomfortable shoulder

Before reaching Tightwad, I stopped at a flea market and took the pic below of my bicycle next to one that was literally melting into the pavement (see below). I also stopped at a small antiques store and browsed a bit to get out of the cold wind.

Old girl's bike with pink handlebar tape and white saddle, the rubber disintegrating into the gravel

I was being passed by a lot of vehicles pulling boats. I learned why when I reached the Tightwad Convenience and Tightwad Bait and Tackle store. The Truman Reservoir is only a few miles farther down the road and the fishing was good.

Threatening sky on the way to Tightwad

I bought a cold drink at the Tightwad CS and sat inside in the warmth to eat a banana and a Ritz "Crackerful" (something Bill Upton and I discovered on the 2009 cross-country ride). I was talking to the CS owner, a Tightwad firefighter, and the manager of the bait and tackle place when a guy named David offered me a ride back to Clinton. By now y'all should know my answer. My third R.A.K. out of the blue.  I really was thankful because the ride back would have been difficult with the headwind and narrow shoulder.

Ha ha. The pop. really is only 69 souls.

Tightwad CS and Bait & Tackle Store

David, a young guy and owner of a dump truck service, had business down the road. When he returned, we loaded the bike into his pickup and headed back to Clinton. David offered to buy me lunch at the Golden Corral, but I politely declined. I simply cannot go on eating these big meals! David's girlfriend lives in Calhoun and he told me of a place in Calhoun where a guy had hundreds of bikes. I will stop there tomorrow on my way to Sedalia. I have a choice tomorrow of taking the Katy Trail or riding the road. I will not take the trail if it has rained because the fine limestone gravel (chat) turns to cement on the bike when wet.

Cloudy sky from the porch of the Tightwad CS

Was planning on exploring the historic downtown district on my return, but do not feel to venture out into the wind and cold again, so shall hole up here at the Parkfield for the remainder of my day, do a wash, and organize gear again. The Dorman House, Dogtrot Cabin, and Henry County Museum on the Square in the Historic Downtown Area are all closed today (Sunday) anyway. So you will have to settle for a couple of Internet photos of the downtown area (below).

Stores and businesses in downtown Clinton, MO



Dorman House, built in 1852, the first two-story brick building in Clinton

Henry County Museum

P.S. Many of you whom I've met have asked about my husband. What does he think of your riding off for a month and a half. What does he do? Well, to answer those questions, he loves to follow my rides vicariously, loves to bake and cook, and he is a professor in the English department of Oklahoma State University.