2026 Sedalia-Washington
Just Mark & Me
Day 2: Charging Anxiety & Tire Tragedy
Our Longest - 54 Miles
BOONVILLE - JEFF CITY
Today was the day — the longest, most stressful, most “please‑God‑let-there-be-an-outlet” day of the whole trip. Because nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to pedal a 54‑lb e‑bike with no juice. That’s not biking. That’s punishment.
We rolled out with a simple plan:
Make it 14 miles to Rocheport. Pray for a live outlet. The only cafe noted to have plugs was closed only on Wed and of course it's Wednesday.
Five miles in, my front tire goes flat. While Mark is fixing it, he casually discovers the back tire is flat too. Double feature. I joke, “Too bad this didn’t happen during our hour‑and‑a‑half charging stop in Rocheport.” The universe heard me and granted my wish.
We get to Rocheport… Both tires are flat AGAIN. How does that happen?
I basically manifested a pit stop so Mark wouldn’t get bored during charging time. You’re welcome, honey. In reality Mark found the culprit- tiny little thorn responsible for double flatting me. They were not easy to locate.
Now we’re sweating a little. Four spare tubes — gone. All on my bike and in fourteen miles. We still got 40 to go. We have a whole collection of tubes with holes in them, which is adorable but useless.
Mark sends me to the “general store” for patches. I walk all the way there only to discover the “general store” sells exactly two things: lunch and dinner. That’s it. No tubes. No patches. No hope. But hey, I got my steps in.
A passing cyclist finally hands us patches like some sort of trail angel, and that tiny packet of rubber became our emotional support item for the next 40 miles of rural nothingness.
Why E‑Bikes Are the Best Thing Ever Invented
Picture this:
You’re 10 miles from beer, your quads are screaming, and on a regular bike you’re crawling at 10 mph thinking, I really hate the Katy.
But on an e‑bike?
You crank that baby to turbo knowing you got spare battery life and ride 20+ mph, slice the time in half, and suddenly the hot tub is calling your name and you can answer. Flying side‑by‑side at that speed is pure joy.
Rolling Into Jeff City: Nostalgia Hits Hard
Jeff City is basically sacred biker‑chick ground for us. Fourteen years ago, this was our second big ride — 45 riders rolling across the bridge, down Main Street, capital dome glowing like a movie backdrop.
This time?
Same hotel.
Same charm.
But instead of 45 people splashing around the pool, we had the hot tub all to ourselves like the old people we are reliving a honeymoon scenario. It was awesome!
Same place for dinner at Prison Brews — but this time we Ubered because wiser we know better than climbing those blocks to save $5. Would you believe our second bar stop had Tank 7 on draft. What? 2 small towns in rural Missouri both hosting to my favorite beer. What are the chances clearly I am one lucky girl.
Mark saying this trip has “over exceeded and super exceeded” all expectations?
That makes my heart so happy and the fact that he is finding a way to enjoy what I enjoy so we can do this together rolling into this retirement season...and we are only half way through this trip. What will today bring?
