Fall Foliage Ride I; 10/31/14

We left our motel at the state line (Mammoth Springs, AR and Thayer, MO) at 9:00.  It was cloudy, 52 degrees and windy.

About nine miles later we were in Grand Gulf State Park.  The park is 6 miles north and west of Thayer on County Road W where the pavement ends.  It features a collapsed cave system.  The collapse occurred about 10,000 years ago and created a vertical walled canyon about three quarters of a mile long and 130 feet deep.  It is surprising to me that the canyon floor and the lower part of the walls are completely devoid of vegetation.  Chris thinks this is possibly due to the fact that a creek drains into the canyon and rushing water may wash away vegetation.  I certainly don’t know.

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Grand Gulf State Park; Chris looking down onto the collapsed cave system

Grand Gulf State Park; the collapsed cave system

Grand Gulf State Park; south end of the canyon

When we first arrived at the park we encountered a lady that we later learned was named Jackie.  She was worried because her husband, Fred, could not be found.  She did not believe he would be out walking around because of hip problems.  Chris and I set out on a search and found Fred on the loop trail.  He was surprised his wife was worried and said he’d been waiting for her to catch up to him.  The search and rescue operation was successful and the loving couple was (were?) reunited.

We walked and hung out at the park for almost three hours.  The sun came out before we left.

We rode through scenic downtown Thayer, MO and then had a late lunch at a restaurant across the highway from our motel.lunchTwenty six hours a day?

We did a little Wal-Mart shopping and returned to our motel to relax the rest of the day.  We rode 24 miles today.  It got warmer today than the weather man said it would.  The predicted high was in the 40’s but the actual high was in the mid 50’s.  It still felt cold with the strong north wind.

For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6076484989755696929?authkey=CMHUzOuE7ue9Jg

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