Day 43: Eminence, MO to Houston, MO

Distance: 42.3 mi, 2,920 ft
Completed: 1,605.0 mi, 87,131 ft

I scheduled my rest day in Eminence because a friend from graduate school said that the Jack’s Fork River was special. She grew up in the St. Louis area and used to vacation on the river with her family. She speaks fondly of the river, so I needed to experience it myself.  

The local river outfitters offer a number of float trips. I chose a kayak from Alley Spring to Eminence. The name “float trip” makes the river sound very calm.  And for the most part, it was.  However, the river has some very easy white-water sections between long sections. The sections were not hard, but I did need to pay attention. I would later find out the river is classified as Class 1 rapids.

I got on the river early to avoid the possible rain in the afternoon.  I thought there would be a crowd, but there were only two other people at the rental place, and they both were doing different trips. For three hours, I had the river all to myself. 

The river lived up to the hype. It is one of the prettiest rivers I have been on. The slow sections were perfectly calm allowing for beautiful reflections of the surrounding trees.  The river is fed from a spring, and the minerals from the spring often give the water a blueish color. I saw a few blue herons and turtles along the way. I also had fun navigating the gentle whitewater sections. Well, mostly…

I bought a waterproof phone holder with a strap for my trip. Since the water was so calm, I took my phone out and put it on the floor of the kayak most of the trip. After going through a small rapid, I started thinking that if the boat goes over, I would never see my phone again. I put the phone back in the bag. About a minute later, I realize I am in a fast rapid and am heading for a tree with no chance to avoid it. I hit the tree, the boat tips, and I gently slide out and land feet first in the river. My first thought was that if I had not just put my phone away it would be gone. My first thought should have been – grab the boat. My kayak went down the rapid without me and started floating down the river. I panicked. I am three miles from the end, there is nobody else on the river, the river banks are not suitable for walking, and there is no cell service.

Fortunately, the boat seemed to stop in an eddy a couple hundred feet down the river. I started walking towards the boat. It was holding steady. But when I got about two-thirds of the way there, it was off again. More, panic. It went a few more hundred feet before getting caught on some rocks by the shore line. Fortunately this time, the boat was stable and was still there when I arrived. Crisis averted.

I then realized I had another problem. I had taken a rain jacket with me in a dry bag, and it was gone. I totally forgot to look for it when I went over.  I put the boat on the shore and walked back to where I flipped, but I could not find it. I returned to the boat and restarted my journey, sans jacket. Luckily, about ten minutes later, I saw my red dry bag caught in a tree. What a day.

I was supposed to leave Eminence on Sunday. The forecast for Sunday was not good — thunderstorms likely and a chance for “Excessive Rainfall”. They were predicting as much as 5” to 7” of rainfall if the thunderstorms hit as expected. It would not be safe to ride. The storms were predicted to continue until early afternoon Monday so I extended my Airbnb to stay through Tuesday.  I was not happy taking such a long break, but I had to stay safe. At least I got to do a good puzzle.

Weather forecasts are so difficult. The thunderstorms did not materialize until late Sunday, making Sunday an otherwise perfect day to ride. The challenge is that I really do not want to get caught in a bad thunderstorm. I am riding in the middle of nowhere, often with twenty or thirty miles to the next gas station or town. There is nowhere for me to get off the road if a bad storm hits, so I need to be risk averse. If there is a chance of a really bad storm, I cannot ride. Sigh…

I went out food shopping on Sunday. When I returned, two dogs were waiting for me on the way back to my Airbnb. They blocked the road. I charged through the middle with the dogs barking away.  One of them decided to follow me down the road a few hundred feet, repeatedly getting in front of the bike.  A little disconcerting, but in the end I was able to ride away without incident.

The good news is the forecast for today is no thunderstorms.  The bad news is the forecast is for a heat index of 100 to 105. That is hot. The heat does not hit until early afternoon. I decided to get out by 6:00am to beat much of the heat. My luck, a thunderstorm the forecasters missed rolled in about 6:00am so I could not get out until about 7:00am. 

The scenery today was in many ways similar to the ride to Eminence, a quiet rural highway surrounded mostly by trees. As expected, the morning temperature was comfortable, but it started to warm up as I reached the halfway point in Summersville, Missouri. I stopped at a convenience store, enjoyed the A/C, ate some food, and got extra liquids for the afternoon. I also wore my arm coolers which are designed to be used as evaporative coolers. Just add water, and they cool you down as it evaporates.  I bought Gatorade to fill my water bottles and an extra bottle of both Gatorade and water to put in my panniers. I was set for the heat.

The scenery changed a bit in the second half – more houses, small farms, and grazing lands in addition to stretches of just trees. I continued to feel great for the next ten miles despite the 100 degree heat index. But after 10 miles in the heat, I started to feel it. I found some shade, took a 20-minute break, drank some more and re-wet my arm coolers. I had to stop again after just five more miles.  At this point, I had just five miles left and was hoping to finish it in one go and get to my hotel for the night.

The last five miles dragged on. I had just two miles left, but I was debating whether I needed another stop. Then Wes appeared at the end of a hidden driveway and asked me if I was Rich and did I want to stay the night. Wait, I know Wes. I had met Karen in Eminence the other day, and she had told me about Wes Murray’s Bicycle Hostel in Houston. She had written to Wes to tell him to expect me. But, I decided to get a hotel instead as there is no food in walking distance from Wes’ place. I asked Wes about dinner, he said no problem – we could go to dinner together. Perfect. I was very happy to get in from the heat.

Wes and I went to dinner at the barbecue place in town. I got to know Wes a little bit. He used to be CEO of a local hospital. He used to work for a for-profit hospital where the primary focus was making money, not patient care. The short version of the story is one day he got tired of the emphasis on profit and walked away. He thought he was done with healthcare. But then a friend recruited him to work at the local hospital in Houston where he would be judged not on profits but the quality of the care he provided to residents. He never looked back. Wes has been a great host. Highly recommended.

And to top things off, today I completed my third Everesting. I have now climbed enough hills to reach the top of Mount Everest three times.