Day 27, Saturday, May 17

Franklin, MO to Brunswick, MO

After our third night on the Katy Trail we departed it to head northwest. Our planned route goes to Blanchard, Iowa, and the beginning of the Wabash Trace trail.

After a difficult 70-miles the day before, into the wind, we picked Brunswick, Missouri as our destination. It was about 50 miles away, which has become a routine distance for us. Our so we thought.

The first indication the day would not be routine was when John attempted to top up his front tire. He borrowed a battery powered pump from a scout master, with which he promptly released all the air in the tire. (Using the mini pumps we carry is a pain, so we borrow better pumps whenever we have a chance. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes not.)

So he rolled his bike over to the troops and borrowed another pump, this time a proper floor pump, and we were underway. 

Franklin's Casey's convenience store was more or less on our route, so of course that was our first stop. As I rolled to a stop I realized John was not behind me. A minute or two later he came up, walking his bike, and announced he had a flat. 

This time I was the one enjoying coffee and breakfast while he changed his tube. 

Once John changed the tube he needed coffee and a sandwich, too. We finally were able to pedal out of Franklin at 8:20, 90 minutes after our typical start time, but we had only 50 miles to our campsite. We would certainly be there in the early afternoon, in plenty of time to enjoy the beauty of Brunswick, Missouri.

Unfortunately, we did not check the wind forecast. It was similar to the day before, 15 to 20 mph by midday, almost directly from the west.

The first hour, 10 or 11 miles to Fayette and another Casey's, went pretty well. We were headed north, and the wind had not picked up yet. The hills were rolling, but there was nothing too long or steep.

Leaving Fayette it started to get tough. We turned west, directly into the wind, and climbed onto a plateau. There we were exposed to the full force of the westerly wind as it picked up with the heat of the day. Most of the time we were in rolling hills that seemed to get steeper and longer, into the wind, all afternoon. 

There is little to do on days like this but bear it. I try to remain stoic, accepting that I have no control over the conditions. We can try to pick a route as easy as possible, but in the end we are subject to the whims of geography and weather.

We arrived in Brunswick much later than we expected. Typically our 50-mile days are finished by 2:00 and we sit around wondering if we should have gone farther. Today we rolled into camp a little after four, thankful we were done. 

The campsite was a little odd. I had emailed the owner, Nate, the day before and he told us to pick a site and pitch our tent, on him. Well, we didn't see any tent sites, just RV parking, so I called him. He directed me down a gravel path to the edge of the Missouri where there was a little patch he had mowed. It seemed a little odd, but I'm not questioning a free campsite, and it was pleasant enough.

There was one odd moment in my conversation with Nate. When I asked if there were toilets or showers, he said, "In town? No, I don't think there's anything like that."

We set up camp and washed off with wet wipes, something we had not been forced to do in quite some time. (We have been pleasantly surprised with how often we are able to shower.) Them we went to explore Brunswick. And by explore I mean we went to the local watering hole, in this case, the Madison Bootleggers Club. They had I've craft beer on tap, a dunkel, which I would have enjoyed. However, they delivered the wind keg and that trap was a hefeweizen. I had a Bud.

After dinner we had to check out the the World's Largest Pecan, which also turned out to be the World's Saddest Tourist Attraction. It's not a pecan at all, but a giant replica of one.