Heat and humidity in Missouri

My two one-week condo rentals in the Texas Hill Country and New Mexico were so much fun that I decided to research other timeshare options in these times of no airplane travel. In general I bitch about RCI timeshare points being very difficult to use, at least for me, since in general it is necessary to make reservations many months in advance to secure a vacation exchange. But if there is one positive spin-off of COVID-19 (and that's really by a very far stretch) then it is empty vacation resorts that are just now starting to fill up again.

With numerous potential condos available in southern Missouri and north-eastern Arkansas I decided to pay my next visit to that region. So, after more or less two weeks at home I once again packed up the Beemer and headed out of town. My first stop was going to be in Oklahoma City, where my old friend Terry lives. Back in the days when we raced bicycles numerous members of the Chaparrals would be welcomed by him and his now-ex wife to their big place where we'd stay for the long OKC Classic weekend. Over the years, Terry and I would run into each other at races, and just last fall he had stopped over at my place on the way to Cloudcroft.

OKC is just the perfect driving distance away for one hot day. After a good shower, a nice evening talking, and a good night's rest I was ready on Sunday morning to put in the second day of driving. East I went through Oklahoma, entered Arkansas near Ft. Smith, swung north to Fayetteville (another place where I used to race, the Joe Martin Memorial), and shortly thereafter crossed into Missouri. It was a beautiful drive through the Ozarks, and I got my first taste of the humidity with which I have been living for the past ten days.

Before long I found myself on small, curvy, semi-deserted byways that eventually took me to Branson West, where my vacation home was located at Stonebridge Village, just a few miles outside of town. I had a spacious and fully equipped two-bedroom condo, with a nice porch looking upon the adjacent forest. That was my home base for the next week. Very, very nice!

My days all were quite similar in that I'd wake up when the body was ready (usually by seven), make coffee and bake a few fresh cookies, read the daily newspapers (on my tablet, of course), go for a bike ride, come back hours later, have a late lunch, pack a few beers into my small cooler, head down to the swimming pool (which required a 2-mile drive up and down the extremely hilly Stonebridge Village terrain), continue to recover from my ride, head back to the condo, and--over Happy Hour--start to prepare my dinner. Easy living!

With the exception of the Wednesday after my arrival, when the remnants of tropical storm Cristobal dropped the temperatures and brought very high winds, I went for daily rides, varying in length from around 35 miles to a little more than 50. About half of my rides I started straight from the condo, and for the others I loaded one of my two bikes on the rack and would drive for a few miles to start. In this way I was able to see a larger variety of the region as Branson West has limited access to safe cycling roads. My first ride took me to the actual Branson, about 10 miles away on a busy and steep road; the cycling really wasn't all that great and I learned to pick better routes.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to come here in "normal" times when the place must be just exploding with tourists. But with the pandemic having done and continuing to do its damage, the volume of traffic was just manageable. Branson was kinda deserted, and billboards for Dolly Parton's Intimate Dinner Experience and a Night With Elvis were just empty promises. Just as Las Vegas attracts those who like to gamble and seek live entertainment, Branson attracts a similar crowd of older folks and families who like to boat and eat and go to some amusement park. I had just come for the cycling.

The riding was not easy. On most rides I would gain around 3,000 feet of elevation, but that really doesn't tell the whole story. That is a respectable figure, but it doesn't tell how steep some of these climbs are and how hot and humid it is. (BTW, the actual elevation of this area ranges from about 1,000 to 2,000 feet.) Just a few minutes after starting my ride I'd be fully soaked, even though I always started relatively early. My kit felt as if I had just taken it out of the washing machine, without having used the spin cycle. The air was stagnant, and the downhill sections didn't give much relief because one never knew what lay beyond the next turn, where a shoulder might suddenly disappear, or whether one of the many bridges had an abrupt lip.

My average speed was pathetically slow, according to my Strava data. But this was not about speed but rather about taking in the natural beauty of this part of the world. Hills, forests, small streams, bucolic valleys, tiny towns. Although I rode the gravel bike on a few occasions there wasn't much off-road action. So, most of the time I rode the road bike, and since most of the roads are well paved (smooth asphalt, no chip-and-seal) that choice worked out well. I used my tailfin rear rack with a small bag in which I carried spare water and a sandwich (or left-over pizza), and with my Locus app I simply followed the route that I had mapped out the night before. Sometimes I made adjustments on the fly--what a great program, as it allows me to do all that offline.

One day I drove the car to the small town of Ozark and parked in front of the local brew-pub. I asked the owners for permission to do so and told them I'd be back in the afternoon for a beer. Like everybody else that I met on this trip they were friendly folks and wished me a nice day. From Ozark I rode north, to Springfield. The terrain here is much less hilly but still gently undulating, and it's just as muggy, of course. Objective of the day's ride (which came to 52 miles) was to visit various micro-breweries and brew-pubs, of which Springfield has quite a few. I ended up with a total of seven, including the one where I was parked.

Springfield really impressed me. It has facilities for cyclists, there are lots of parks and recreational facilities, the downtown area (surrounding the university) appears to be vibrant with small shops and many local restaurants, the housing prices are affordable, and it has commercial jet service with American and Delta. Of course, it's hot and humid in the summer, and the winters, according to the folks I talked to, can be rather grey and icy. Nevertheless, I really liked the vibe that Springfield still exuded even with everything ramped down thanks to the virus.

On the one day that was much too blustery for a bike ride I went for a hike instead. Located just four or five miles down the road from Stonebridge Village, toward Branson, is a large nature conservation area that has various hiking trails. The Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area encompasses an interesting type of terrain that I had never heard about: glades. These hill-top areas are defined by very thin soils that make it impossible for trees to grow, making for a harsh environment for plants and animals alike. Obviously, when you have hills you also have to have valleys in between, and they are forested and have small brooks and streams. The trails are easy and not technical, and at a little over six miles one doesn't have to worry about whether one is going to make it. Thanks to the cooler temperatures (I think we hit only 75 degrees) and the wind that was just a gentle breeze among the trees it turned out to be a delightful day.

The week in Missouri went by fairly quickly, and I enjoyed all aspects of it. For less than $35 a day I had a very nice place to stay and use as a homebase for memorable excursion. I had to use only 6,500 of my annual 20,000 point allotment, leaving plenty of points over for more vacations (the $$$ amount is for the so-called "exchange fee" that RCI charges to use one's points); I still haven't even used all of my saved 2019 points. In other words: More trips are on the horizon. Stay tuned!

Jürgen