Sunday, August 7, 2011

Clarksville, MO

47.13mi
5.9avs

Hot, thirsty, hilly day. The missouri side of the river road has a ton of scenic rest stops, but few with water. By the time I was running low, I couldn't even get down to the river anymore. Really, the day can best be exaplined via pictures, so here ya go:


Morning view of Hannibal, MO.


Back on the Great River Road...


Special attention to 'two inches thick'. I'd hate to ride through that mess...


Some hills today?




Oh shit, that looks kinda nasty...


This went on for quite a long way.


But it wasn't really all that bad....


...untill the pavement ended.



At this point I was on my last water bottle, it was baking hot out, and the road kept getting worse. The hard packed dirt turned into gravel, crossed a washed out section of pavement, then spat me out into the construction area of a new road. It got a bit dicey, there, where the gravel turned into fist-sized rock chunks. The new road cut through a bluff, and it if hasn't been a Sunday, I'd have likely found myself amongst a busy construction zone full of equipment and possibly explosives. Finally, the roadworks led up to the old, paved road, where my final obstacle was a locked gate. I managed to negotiate the bike and trailer around the gate without toppling down a steep drop off. As I pushed a large rock aside to allow the trailer to pass, I found a key hidden beneath it... figures.


It looked like a few too many of these finally convinced the state to re-route this section of road.


Sweet, sweet pavement.



I finally reached water and a place to rest in Louisiana, MO. I bought some jerky and ice cream, filled up with water by the riverfront, recharged batteries, called home, and waited around for a bit. I really had no idea where I'd end up for the night, but didn't feel too concerned about it. The ride out of Lousiana was nice, with a rare marked bike lane. It was dark when I passed by Clarksville, but the lights of Lock & Dam 24 drew me in, and I asked a fellow out walking if there was a place to camp. The riverfront park is where the boats go at night, he told me, and it should be fine to camp in. So, it's another night on the Mississippi. As I was putting up my tent, a massive tugboat shepherded its barges towards the lock, barely 50 feet from me.


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