Well, I watched the sunrise at 5:30am while on the bicycle. Yesterday hit 98 degrees by afternoon and I was nearly sick with just a 60 mile ride. So, I wanted to gain a little on the sun, and start early today. The early start let me see a couple hawks and a deer in the fields. The big excitement came when I crossed into a new state...Hello, Kansas!! It is the state that I have heard so many talk about, and they say just get through it. It is flat and goes on and on. It is interesting to note that almost instantly as I crossed in to Kansas, there were crops in the field. In Colorado, there is mile and miles of empty plains filled with sage brush. But, the Kansas people have figured out how to farm the barren land. As you are riding in the flatness, you can see the grain elevators for miles in advance of arrival. They act as target beacons as you pedal to the next town. Now, I use the term town very lightly. As a town consists of a grain elevator (sometimes operational, sometimes not), about 6 houses, and a small hotel or restaurant that has closed.
About 5 miles into Kansas, the first Westbounders that I had encountered in a long while were happy to be ending their Kansas trek. Eric and Will (father and son), are from Golden, Colorado and were planning a few days to spend with family as they got into Colorado. They had started in Yorktown, VA on June 5th (the same day we started in Oregon). Did I mention earlier, that Pueblo, CO is the halfway point as far as miles are concerned? Well, Eric and Will had some good info from their journey so I tried to take it all in. They were good guys!
The stop for the night was in Tribune, Kansas. We stayed between the bar and the one stall car wash. There were three stony spots, but to our horror the outlet options were 20 amp or 50 amp. Well, if we want to run the A/C we need 30 or 50 amp. Our electric cord is a 30 amp, but I did not have a converter to plug into the 50 amp plug. Walt happened to have one for his camper. So, we sat in their camper most of the day. We decided to eat at the local truck stop for dinner. Fried chicken in a bucket for everyone. Plus we sat a while longer in the truck stop's A/C to play UNO card game. We visited the local hardware, auto parts, and farm implement store looking for a plug with no success. The owner of the spot even sent over one of his friends with what he felt was the needed adapter, but it was not what we needed. To add insult to injury, we had had multiple opportunities to purchase an adapter in the past couple weeks, but I had said, "No we don't really need one." As evening fell, Walt and Vera offered to let us cool our camper down by using the adapter plug. Plus, they went one step further and let us run the A/C all night. What great people! They said they stayed cool enough once the sun went down. Tomorrow's stay is still a little sketchy! Pray for us!
A few oil wells here and there.
These giants act at beacons to the traveling cyclist.
Yeah, Kansas!
Will and Eric...Great guys on a cross country trek!
The fancy campsite.
Hi,
ReplyDeletethis is so much more than i needed.
thanks!
Steering Rack