Day 21 – Springfield to Springfield

Today we rode from Springfield to… Springfield! Along the way we hit Ash Grove, Walnut Grove, and the Frisco Highline Trail. Things are starting to flatten out, even when you don’t include the rail trail we rode.

JP and I went on a self supported ride today out and back from Springfield. Rather than get up early, drag everyone to the ACA TA route, and basically just ride past the north side of town, we picked a route that ran out to the TA trail, spent a few miles on it, then kicked back in to town. That way Heidi, Art, and the boys got one last day of rest before they restart SAG duties.

Riding SAG may sound easy, but it’s actually a lot of effort. Keeping track of where we are, keeping us fed and watered, dealing with a car load of kids, and generally having to be ready to deal with whatever comes up can be draining… both mentally and physically. Our support staff have been fantastic on this ride and we figured since we had the opportunity to get them one more day off, we should. And thankfully, we succeeded 🙂

The ride out the rail trail was fast and easy. There wasn’t much of a crowd and the wind was at our backs. The first 8 miles of the trail are paved, and we bailed right before the pavement ended. Once we got to Ash Grove, we stopped for some liquids at the local gas station. We found this whiteboard that listed a bunch of cyclists that had stopped along the way.

At the gas station, we talked to a local. “Where are you going?” “San Francisco.” And then we started heading east on the TA route (that was our path back to Springfield). I’m sure he was confused… or thought we were confused. Either way.

While we were gone, Heidi and the boys hit up a massive farmers market right next to the hotel. They had crepes and bought some more fruit for the MCC. Then they hung out in front of the hotel in the shade to do some reading, chatting, and playing with Dax. Terran spent some time throwing a small football with Dax. While Dax may not have the coordination to catch the ball yet, he definitely has the enthusiasm.

Once I got back from the ride, we took the MCC on a little sight seeing trip. There’s an app called Roadside America that lists all kinds of odd attractions in towns and cities across the country. After checking the list for Springfield, we decided to check out the world’s largest Solo cup:

As well as the largest bridge observation platform (yeah, that’s a thing). Here’s a picture from the bridge. Rail yards are exactly as exciting as you’d expect, especially on a weekend.

Finally, today was Heidi’s and my 17th wedding anniversary. Crazy. So we celebrated by leaving the kids in the room with Lunchables and fruit while we had dinner downstairs at the hotel. Burgers and hummus. But we didn’t cook it and we didn’t have a 2 year old climbing all over us. And we had each other. So it was a good meal. 🙂

Tomorrow we’re back on the route for serious. 100 miles is what we’ve got planned, but the temps are supposed to skyrocket as we start our days in Kansas. We’ll see what that does to our mileage.