Pat & Cats Heartland Tour 2010

Some of you who’ve been riding along with us since 2002 may remember Masharubu? We met him in Tanzania, Africa. He helped us and became a life long friend. He has stayed in touch via e-mail and when he saw that we were headed toward Joplin he sent a note suggesting we look up his Aunt and Cousin. He said, “If Aunt Gladdy is still living she must be 100 years old.”

This is just a remembrance of our time with Masharubu. (Masharubu is the Swahili word for Mustache.) Check these pictures and watch Masharubu Play the Blues. 

Mashurubu

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Several urged us to be sure to see “The Fantastic Caverns” on the way back to Joplin. I’ve seen Carlsbad Caverns and smaller caverns in Arizona. Cat hasn’t been inside one so it became a must. And, this one is unique in that it’s the only Cavern trip in the USA that you ride in a jeep.

Fantastic

Caverns

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Maybe we spent too much time with G. W. Carver? Then too, those dang Ozarks Mountains are steep and the road is long and winding. Scenic, yes but mostly trees and hills. When we finally reached Branson it was too late to see any of the shows. We aren’t exactly “Go To Show” types. There are no BIG name shows during the summer. Cat wanted to see Andy Williams but he won’t show up until his Christmas Show. Our time in Branson became an overnight-er.

                                                         

Andy's Moon River

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George Washington Carver

Tired but not drained from the 65 mile ride we opted to rent a car the next morning and keep moving. This is grass country but you won’t find any growing under our feet. The sign said, “George Washington Carver National Monument”. All we could remember about him was that he invented peanut butter.

We spent a very interesting and informative couple of hours there. Born into slavery and taught to read and write by a black woman because blacks weren’t allowed to go to school. At age 11 he moved to a town where he could go to school, an all black school. He attended University at an integrated school in Iowa. Then went on to a Professorship at Tuskegee in Alabama. Yes he did invent peanut butter but it was in the process of teaching farmers about rotating crops. Cotton had completely depleted the soils. He became a wold renowned Botanist. He even appeared before the US Congress.

His Mother’s master, Moses Carver, wasn’t a wealthy farmer? He paid $700 for her. We assume he bought her for breeding? He expected to fetch a good price for G. W. but that damned Civil War thing runied the slaves trade.

Carver on Virtue

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Riding in to Joplin we were greeted by one of those Storm Cells that they talk about so much on the weather reports here. Our second downpour of the day, we ducked into a service station and under their canopy.Unlike the earlier deluge in Afton, this one was accompanied by bright flashes of lightening and ear splitting thunder claps.

Old Route 66 took a left turn, we went straight on 7th street. It was afternoon rush hour. Traffic was thick and in a hurry to get home. We asked a guy how far it was to Range Line Road and didn’t believe him when he said, “Range Line’s bout 5 miles that’a way.” We rode off in the direction he’d pointed. He was close, it was about 3 1/2 then on Range Line another 3 1/2 in tough traffic. We were really happy to finally see the Comfort Inn sign.

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A sign alerted us to the change but little else changed. It remained hot and humid but felt good to have entered our 3rd state of this journey.

In To Missiouri

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At that same point in old Route 66 a battle raged way back in 1863. The band of Bushwackers known as Quantrill’s Raders dressed as Union Soldiers and drew the troops of General James Blunt into an ambush. A dirty trick? Depends on which side you were taking we suppose.

We Won't Come

 

Ambush

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We left Oklahoma on Route 66 and cut a 13 mile corner of Kansas. (For the sake of expediency it shall remain in the Bicycling Oklahoma section of this journal)

Historic

Classic

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Riding along in almost sauna conditions we came upon a car that must have been dropped from heaven? Buried nose down, it was a pretty affective ad for an Auto Body Shop. Then a graveyard of old cars with a front line of late 40s early 50s balloon fender pickup trucks.

Nose Dive

Balloon Fenders

At the High School in Commerce, OK, there stands a statue, a memorial to “The Mick”, Mickey Mantle. It says, A Great Classmate under his full name. Just out of high school, he was signed by the Yankee’s farm league. He was 19 when advanced to the BIGS. After a slow start he went on to become the HOME RUN KING. A hero from middle America back when I was just a kid!

"The Mick"

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We pulled in to Afton, OK for a cold drink. As we stood sipping a guy in a pickup truck pulled up. He jumped out and said, “You must be the Pedaling Patterson’s?” We thought he’d heard of us? NO, he  saw our name on the bags and just added “The Pedalin'”. We are sometimes called that. As we laughed about that he asked where we were from. WOW, another of those strange moments, Mike used to live on Pierpont Beach near our home there. We were just getting acquainted as the clouds burst. The skys parted and buckets of rain began to fall. We stood under the awning in awe, thinking we were either stuck there or we’d be riding wet. Mike laughed and said, “One thing about the weather here, if you don’t like it stick around, it’ll soon change.” And, he was right, within 20 minutes it had stopped. He drove away waving, we waited until the street dried a bit and we were on the road, again.

Mike from Ventura

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