No internet access out in toolies.

Yesterday drove from Salem, Ar thru Salem, Mo to Council Bluff Lake rec area. A 12 mile ST loop around lake. Muddy ride, didn’t feel weel for unknown reasons. Met a younger man part way thru and then back @ TH. Wages aren’t good here he said which affects what bike stuff he can afford.

Washed trail  mud off in lake and then smelled of lake water.

Drove into Potosi for groceries and then out to TH for Berryman 16 miles out.

Camped in primitive no fee usfs xg site of former CCC camp. Small water impoundment about 150 feet from my van. Frogs were really going at it talking saying what they knew. What a loud noise. i captured it on recorder. No internet access.

Slept long on Sunday AM as I would be riding from van. Made scratch pancakes. Frogs are quiet.

Left on ride just after 10:00AM under low overcast skies. Took tourist map along incase I had to bail. Suspect rain. Chilly morning. Trail was not well marked; @ first intersection that should ahve been w/ the Ozark Trail, labeled “OT” went both ways, no mark for Berryman Trail. Doubled back to just make sure, yes, I was correct. Saw 2 horse riders approaching from where I came and decided that i needed to put some distance between us. Horses on soft ground will tear up trail. trail crosses numerous old roads and 1 major gravel road. Quads have been riding on trail in several spots, later I followed a dirt bike track. Trail is plainly marked no motorized vehicles.

Trail was an old hiking trail made back when. Many places a stream flowed down trail as builders invited it on and thne never gpt it off. Places it was sunk below grade from old horse traffic. Numerous wet areas. Can’t believe that this was an IMBA epic! This trail is a class act for how to run h2o down trail & route trail thru as many low spots as could be found.

23 miles. I had 28 miles stuck in my mind. At 23 plus I saw a car and then a sign for Berryman XG. I was done already. I had stored reserves for 28 miles.

rear brake is not working effectively, maybe new pads. Tomorrow’s forcast is for rain & Tshowers So I am planning on driving maybe to ST Louis for pads.

Drove into Potosi and stopped @ gas station & asked for shower location. Guy was perplexed, dumbfounded something. I finally said YMCA of the Ozarks out of town. I drove out there into a big resident camp replete w/ fancy lodge. I asked @ the desk for a shower. I was afraid they would say w/ a room you can. The clerk returned w/ good news to help myself @ another building. i am now free of 2 days of Missouri mud & sweat.

Drove back into Potosi looking for a quiet palce for internet access work. Picked usfs rs. Slow speed.

Almost hit my first animal today. A cat was looking to cross road and was part way across in the other lane and was seriously thinking about moving into my lane. Fortunately cat saved 1 of its 9 lives.

Dateline: Salem, AR

T-storm activity quit around 10:00PM last night. Slept quietly. In AM wind came up and sprinkles. weather forecast was for clearing and favorable for ride. Counting on rocky sandy soil to dry quickly.

Drove back down green mtn rd to TH. There were 2 rigs there. Rode White River Bluff. Lots of ice damage but trail cleared. Rocks were slippery and i rode cautiously and avoided overly technical moves. Back to TH picked up orange trail Bald Scrappy loop and merged onto blue trail Scrappy Mtn Loop. Saw fresh bike tracks, must have been riders whose rigs were in parking lot. Continued until hit uncleared trail. What a mess: not a simple walk around a tree trunk. Heard voices ahead, I had caught up w/ other riders. Trail is impassable. Their solution is to hike up the mtn to pick up trail on other side. A bit lost. Bashed thru poison ivy. Luckily so far i wore long tights, several of the other guys were only wearing shorts. Oh, big poison ivy coming for them. Found trail, continued around and came out @Scrappy mtn TH and rode road back to first TH. The other guys were from Conway & had to get back. I rode the orange trail the other way. Bit of rocks but several muddy h2o sections. Trail is on rock, not deep mud but spewed up h2o that had stuff in it. My drive train made grating sounds. My front brake squealed: I wore out the pads and the metal spring was grinding on the rotor when I squeezed the brake lever. No front brake! Luckily the trail never got steep enough to really miss it. Made it back to van OK.

CXT outhouses @ each TH.

Concern over condition of components. I had 1 new pair of brake pads. My Chris King bottom bracket I just knew needs grease and finding the grease tool would be a problem. I needed a shower and clean up bike, and then go buy parts.

Called Competitive Cyclist to buy King tool. They didn’t have. failure. I would have driven 125 miles backwards direction to score tool. Plan B is if bottom bracket is grit affected is to buy another bottom bracket and use until I would score the King tool.

Called usfs rs and asked about a shower in any of their nearby XGs. Said yes @ Blanchard rec area on rt 14. If I drove into town of 56 I went to far. I found the sign to Blanchard caverns but it didn’t say XG. Called back to RS and was assured that it is the same place, just drive further down road. trusted her and she was the one yesterday who said that trails were cleared. Free shower in a bigger CXT building. Washed bike off. replaced worn front pads, cleaned off rear pads seeing that there is a little meat still left, cleaned chain, & spun crank. Bottom bracket appears to spin freely. Maybe safe for more rides, tomorrow will tell.

About 6 motorcycle riders pulled in right across from where I was working. they set up camp looking much like back packers w/ their Shelter selection. 2 guys chose the covered hammock trick.

Back in the woods during my ride I saw many pieces of styrofoam and several pieces of sheet metal like siding or patio roof material. Deduced that it was debris the tornado sucked up and they finally fell from the sky long ways away from touchdown.

Drove hwy 9 again, still a windy twisty climbing dropping 2 lane no shoulder road N to Missouri. Managed to make Salem. Saw sign for airport on outskirts of whatever kind of town Salem is. Small airport, several single engine airplanes under roofs & cars. Decided if I got internet connection I would spend the night. No people around. No lights on runway so likelihood of airplanes returning to the cars was slim. Adding airports to sleeping locations.

Saw news story of CNN about tornadoes in SE USA killing people. One just struck Mena, AR where I was just several days ago. Staying ahead of bad weather.

Dateline: Mountain View, AR

Slept OK in motel parking lot. Drove away to less populated parking lot for bfast, Hit Home Depot for growler. Found propane. Headed out on rt 9 back road to Mountain View for the Syllamo trail, however it started to rain on way. Forecast is for possible strong t-storms. Stopped @ RS for beta, reiterated 2 of trail loops are closed because of January ice storm tree fall. Loops comprise almost 1/2 of system making it a 1 day ride if it doesn’t rain tomorrow.

AR is hilly. Saw several tornado shelters dug into an earth bank. I bet that tornados are such a crap shoot in that actual path is narrow. Imagine hearing a warning and then hunkering in your shelter or basement if you have 1. Imagine living in a mobile home w/ no basement and no underground shelter. What is your view on a warning?

Believe I found source of wiring problem in upper cabinet when I slide stuff towards the back a wire is forced loose.

Off to find primitive camp spot near TH.

PBS is airing a show on Appalachia tonight. If you can, see it. Cities of America have taken the land from the people by making fun of them, calling them Hill Billies and minimizing their existence. This makes it better for some of us to rartionalize mountain top removal to get @ the dirty coal underneath to fuel power plants that spue CO2 & heavy metals into the air so some of us can crank on the air conditioning and otherwise excessively consume, nay waste, the energy. Celebrate the lifestyle of these folks. Some day somebody might make fun of us citified people.

UNC won the NCAA Bball dance. Zags lost to them @ sweet 16.