Bicycle Touring The World: Maryville to Bethany, Missouri, USA
My latest bicycle touring around the world update, cycling across the USA through Missouri. Maryville to Bethany. 57 miles. Short day today after being mistaken for a tramp! I’d just stopped by the road to check my map when a car pulled up alongside.
A woman in the car leaned out and handed me a foil parcel. “Here you go, sir, enjoy,” said the woman, “and if you need any more food, I’ve put my card on top! God be with you.” And before I could ask what or why, she drove off! The card that she had left had a phone number and an address of some homeless shelter.
Personally, I didn’t think I looked that bad. Okay, I hadn’t shaved for a few days, but I’d showered every day. And my clothes are washed every day. It must be my missing tooth, which I got back this morning!! I don’t tend to wear it when cycling, but maybe I should! That’s when I decided to stop early before getting arrested for vagrancy.
I was a little silly to stop early, as there’s hardly been any wind today, which I noticed right at the start of the day. When I saw all the locals lying down!?!
I saw a family of raccoons today, the first ones I’ve seen, alive, that is! I also had another herd of cattle follow me! I’ve also seen some Amish people in their horse-drawn carts. There’s a big Amish community around here.
Tour Information
It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:
- Photos: See my photos on Flickr
- The route: View my journey around the world
- Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
- Tour page: Ride overview
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Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.
If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.