Day 12: El Dorado Springs

So ended up getting to my destination fine but tired last night - in Sedalia, MO rounding out my first century ride of the trip. I was feeling really under-fed at that point though, so I set up my tent at the state fairgrounds with a bunch of RV's then headed out to find a BBQ place. Sedalia is a rather large town for the area - @ 20,000 people - and it's not too far from Kansas City, which I've heard has really great BBQ, and I was not disappointed with the place I found - Partner's. Got my usual Famous Dave's order of a full rack of ribs, and got fries and BBQ beans to go with it. The sauces they gave me were excellent - the Spicy in particular - the ribs had more than enough meat on them - always a problem elsewhere - and I was surprised at how good their beans were. Anyway it was a great gluttonfest to end the night.


Started out in the morning with just 35 miles left on the Katy trail. They went by too quickly as I arrived in Clinton just after 10, and found my way over to the local Wal Mart. Felt right at home in it too - had everything I needed: state maps, sunscreen, sunglasses, toothpaste, and food - and the food prices felt ridiculously low to what I had been seeing - 1.00/lb of grapes! 1.50 for a pound of stawberries! So I got food for the rest of the day and gorged myself on a Wal-Mart bench outside, 1/2 gallon of 2% milk in hand. Yes I did get a couple looks... Not going to lie though - probably will stop off at every Wal-Mart I see from now to the rest of the trip (though it may not be many) they just have what I need.

The first 7 miles off the Katy were absolutely awful. I mean terrible. On a busy highway where the speed limit is 65, and the shoulder isn't paved (at least they have a shoulder I guess) but was really rocky, gravely, uneven, and had rumble strips in it at times as well. Oh and there were a couple "Share the Road" signs with bikes along the way, I could only laugh at the thought of going 12 mph next to all these giant trucks and SUVs zooming by. Got off the highway in Deepwater to go another 12 miles along a somewhat unforgiving strech - the wind was blowing right in my face and it felt like I was pedaling really hard and barely moving. Hilly too, and a decent amount of traffic. But after a short break, I was able to turn onto a county road and then the miles just flew by. Must have had the wind at my back, but I was really eating up the miles for the next 20, then the final 7 or 8 into town had quite a bit more hills - not the long steep ones I had in Kentucky, but much more frequent and some were painful. Others have said (and I agree) that riding through Missouri on a bike is like going on one giant self-propelled roller coaster.

So I'm here now in El Dorado Springs, and apparently they have their big summer festival tonight so I'll definitely go check that out soon enough. Hoping to make it to Girard, Kansas tomorrow - the end of map 2 for my trip - and honestly can't wait to get out of Missouri.