Shaun Rides His Bike

First, I am going to talk about last night’s motel a little. I don’t plan more than a day ahead (usually), so at the end of the day I decide how far I want to ride the next day (based on terrain, wind, weather, etc.), then see if there is a place to stay at roughly distance.

On Sunday, I looked at the conditions, and decided to ride about fifty miles. At around 47 miles, there was a single motel on the Adventure Cycling map, in Conway. I checked to see if this motel showed up on Expedia. Nope. Then I checked to see if it showed up on google search. Nope. This is often a bad sign, but there was no other place to stay in the area, so I called the number. It went to voicemail, so I left a message. Nobody called back after an hour or so, so I just started calling again, every half hour or so.

Eventually someone answered, and I asked if I could reserve a room for the next day. Instead of saying yes, he said something like this: “Yeah, we’ll probably have a room available. We’ve been getting rid of the extended stay local guests, because of problems like damage and drugs.” I figured it would be fine as long as the door has a lock, so I reserved a room.

When I got there, the lobby door was locked, and I had to knock on it, which seeme like another red flag.

However, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. The towels and bed were really stained and shabby, but seemed clean. The bathtub was also reasonably clean. The walls were very thin, and something about the bathroom acoustics made it so I could hear people arguing endlessly in another room, and I heard people coming and going all night. So I just kept the curtain closed, and the lights off, kind of huddling in mild fear.

I am not very picky, but I think the hotel clerk probably shouldn’t lead with a scary statement like that. If he’d just said, “Sure, what’s your name and phone number,” I would have barely noticed.

Enough of that. Today’s ride was uneventful. Until I got to Springfield, I didn’t see much that was worth stopping for. I knew I was going to cross the TransAm route in Marshfield, so I stopped to take a picture of the ONLY road on this tour I will have ridden twice!

The rest of the ride was on rural stretches of Route 66 that are largely now frontage roads for I-44. There’s a surprising amount of traffic on them, including lots of concrete and gravel trucks, but I didn’t have any problems with any drivers. The biggest challenge were very common “rumble strips” on the edge of the road, which force cyclists to ride in the middle of the road. I cursed at these today. A lot.

A bunch of dogs chased me again today. I don’t think these dogs pose any risk to cyclists. Some of them seem playful, and none of them seem like they actually want to attack me.

But today, I came across a really sweet dog. I saw him running towards me on the other side of the road, but he wasn’t barking, and he looked kind of “wiggly,” like a puppy. So I rode across the road and he trotted up to meet me. He was so excited! I pet him for a few minutes, and it was hard to say goodbye, but when I told him, sternly, to go home he just turned around and walked slowly away. I made a video here, with an Eek-a-Mouse soundtrack, so you don’t have to listen to any baby talk! https://www.tiktok.com/@a.shaun.ivory/video/7088357136610200875

Springfield has a ton of Route 66 businesses and memorials. I rode with a cyclist, Mike (I think! I forgot to write down his name!) who was on a break from work, for a couple miles, and we parted ways when I got to the Shamrock Court (for sale!).

I chatted with Stan at the Shamrock Court for a while, and he shared some of his history, and the history of his property, with me.

I am staying on the western edge of town tonight, and tomorrow will be a long day – there is no place to stay for 67 miles, and thunderstorms are predicted, along with very heavy winds, but I am going to plow ahead.