PowerCycle

04/22 I’m so happy to be back on the road again! The hardest part was remembering to slow down so I wouldn’t aggravate my foot. The problem I’m going to run into are the hills. There are a lot of them and it puts a lot more stress on my tendon. Unclipping and positioning my foot so there’s less flexing seems to help but I can already tell it’s going to take a while before I get back to 100%. Hopefully once things flatten out in a few days things will be better. I’m trying to remember to stretch my legs a lot more which is supposed to help prevent further injuries.

In the meantime the scenery in this part of Missouri is a refreshing change from just seeing farmland all day. There are lots of trees and even though they are killing my foot, the hills are fun to climb up and coast back down. Although its not really a lake the Smithville Reservoir is the probably the largest body of water I’ve seen since Florida (other than rivers). I don’t think it’s that old either because there are a lot of partially submerged trees sticking up out of it.

Took a little detour over to the Jesse James farm. Cool place. I love seeing places I’ve heard/read about growing up. I’m still kicking myself for missing the Daniel Boone farm. I passed on the guided tour and just walked around the site (for no charge although I ended up leaving a $5 donation anyway). I had the place to myself so I wandered around for half an hour before continuing on.

Grabbed a roast beef and mushroom sub (don’t ask) at the only store in Paradise for lunch. Lunch is about the only meal I buy if I have the opportunity otherwise I just snack until dinner.

Staying at the Camp Branch Campground tonight. It’s a massive, very manufactured-looking place that’s probably teeming with people during the summer. Right now I’m the only one here and that’s saying a lot because there are at least a couple hundred campsites. The primitive sites (no water/electric) are $14 a night which seems really high. I could have stayed down by the water a little more but those are the “gold star” sites and they cost $18. Yes, I’m cheap.

The AM/FM/Shortwave radio I’d brought along decided to break a few minutes ago. The volume button won’t adjust. I’d take it apart but I don’t have a screwdriver that will fit and it probably wouldn’t help anyway. On the bright side it’ll free up some space in my pannier. Having a radio was kind of nice so I’ll do some shopping if I see a suitable electronics store. I wouldn’t mind having something with a weather alert function so if a tornado is coming maybe I’ll have time to take some pictures before it blows me away.

GPX Track