In Memory of Warmer Summers

Farmington, Missouri

No miles today as the weather was too unstable.

The dedication posted last night for Kiran Rao will be continued tomorrow.

These fellows are cloud spotting outside the shelter at the Farmington City Hall

The weather in Farmington today is a series of fronts and cells moving fast across the state generating tornadoes, hail, and other unpleasant conditions.   Sallie and I find ourselves spending a bit of time in and out of shelters as the tornado sirens were constant.  The weather has been so poor this spring for the folks in this area that tensions run fairly high among the residents.  I do not fault anyone for that.

The city set up a shelter in the basement of city hall, and there are other businesses around town that opened their basement areas as well.

Julie will be joining us as her riding partner has abandoned the route.  He has their tent and some other equipment and is shipping overnight to her at our next town.  The current plan is for Sallie and I to accompany her to Pueblo, Colorado so she will not be alone on the Trans Am.

That is…if we can keep up.  Julie has two things going for her in her riding pace — she is carrying quite a bit less weight than we are.  She is also the beneficiary of considerable youth.  She has been knocking out 80 and 90 mile days in some pretty hilly country, and she’s pushing a pretty aggressive schedule to get to San Francisco thus far.  We will do what we can and see how it works out.

The weather is supposed to stabilize tomorrow and we look forward to getting back on the road and moving on to see the beautiful state of Missouri.

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The dedication posted last night for Kiran Rao will be continued for tomorrow’s ride

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Goreville, IL to Chester, IL

Friendly horn taps: 3

Miles: 71

Total so far: 1,607

The humidity has kicked up.   My shirt is stuck to my chest as I breathe steadily in and out, watching the threatening clouds, and staying low into the unnerving wind.  Illinois is not supposed to be this windy, but the weather has been sketchy ever since we crossed the Ohio River.  Lots of wind.  Gnats and wind.  Not two of my favorite things.

The clouds are darkening.  We were pounded in camp last night with a thunderstorm that rolled over us at midnight.  A tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, killing nearly 100.  I cannot make out cloud formations.  I don’t see any forms.  No wall clouds, but I can’t see them in that sky anyway.  We’ve pulled off for lightning already.  The rain is hitting us now.  It’s not cold, we’ll be fine as long as the lightning stays away.

What am I going to write about?  I cannot think in this wind.  The music in my head stops.  I no longer look around, I just tuck and go.

There’s a guardrail.  A guardrail in the rain.

I remember I once stopped a college student for speeding east of Rock Springs, Wyoming on Interstate 80.  It was a summer afternoon and there were thunderstorms all around us. The lightning was popping off like popcorn.  He began asking a number of technical questions about radar frequencies and modulations.  After some time, I told him that I was happy to answer his questions, but he’d need to ask me these things in court, as the longer we were on the side of the road,the more dangerous it was to both of us, and I mentioned not only the traffic but the lightning.

He got out of his car and sat on the guardrail on the shoulder.  It just happened to be one of those guardrails that runs about a mile long.  I suggested he return to his car with the lightning all around us.  He said this: “I’m a third year electrical engineering student, and I am very happy to be here on this guardrail because I am grounded, and that is the safest place to be during a lightning storm.”

I wrote his ticket out in the comfort and safety of my ungrounded car.

They don’t refund tuition.  Sometimes that seems unfair.

Morning - after the storm

Little Grassy Lake

A port in the storm. The Eagles Club in Chester, IL hosts cyclists in their bunk house - no charge to Trans Am riders. What a perk!

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Tomorrow’s ride is dedicated to Joseph and Christopher Hughes

Joseph and Christoper Hughes killed near Lebanon, Tennessee in 1996.  Joseph and Christopher are shown on the left side of this picture.  Traci Hughes and her son Peter survived the collision.

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