Day 30 - Rest day in St. Joseph, MO

Rest Day! What did I do? Slept until sometime past 7:00. Felt very decadent! Had some breakfast and then took my bike out and cleaned it. When I took it back to my motel room I felt so tired that I decided I'd just close my eyes for a few minutes. :) Ahhh. Fiona had gone to the bike store and when she came back we discussed lunch plans. We were trying to hook up with Ann but no luck. We found Patty though and we set off towards Panera which I'd noticed the previous day only about a half mile from our motel. As we got closer, I noticed another sign - Gyro Paradise. Mmmmm. Panera can wait! We all ordered the same thing - traditional gyro with a side of baba ganoush which is kind of like hummus but made from eggplant. It was sooo tasty!

It left me so full! We then crossed the street to the mall to go to the T-Mobile store. Fiona's phone is broken and we were crossing our fingers that they could help since she has a T-Mobile account. Uh, not so much. T-Mobile USA and T-Mobile Europe are two separate companies. So she's out of luck unless we can get to an Apple store. From there we headed to Starbucks to fuel someone's caramel frappaccino addiction. Ahem. :) Then to CVS to buy postcards and sundry items by which point I was thinking a nap in my cool motel room was again sounding like a good idea. So that's what we did! After our nap, we went down for the motel happy hour which includes not only drinks but a lot of free food. We just had a few nachos since we did have dinner plans. We went with Patty and Dick over to Bandana's which is a BBQ restaurant. Had a good pork sandwich and tried the hot boiled peanuts as an appetizer. The peanuts are really squishy and I didn't like them so much. They reminded me of garbanzo beans. I don't need to try them again but I can say I've eaten them! Once again, ended a meal feeling really full. Too full for ice cream, believe it or not! And then off to bed. Biking in the morning!

Day 28 - Abilene to Topeka - 109 miles

This day was one of the most beautiful, joyful days on the bike of the whole trip. :) At least the one that I remember the best at this point.

Had to stop and snap this photo since I know a lot of students and graduates of Smoky Hill High School!

The temperatures were moderate, the wind not too bad, things were green green green, beatiful sky - it just made for a great riding day!

This was one day that I didn't bother about riding with anyone in particular. I just rode how I felt like riding. Sometimes I'd catch up to someone and talk with them for a while. Then if we hit some rolling hills and I just felt good, I'd take off. Once I had the intention of waiting for someone after the next hill but it was just so much fun and such a beautiful day and I just forgot all about waiting for anyone in the joy of the ride.

First sag stop in White City. It's about as big as you might think from the photo. 

Katy Park - which as we all know is nothing like Kettie but still...

Schoolhouse across the road from the park and yes, that is a working bell. Not very melodious but it makes noise!

Dave pictured here. I rode with him a fair bit today. Isn't it pretty? You can see a couple of turkey vultures soaring around. Shortly after this we passed a small reservoir that had about 20 gathered around.

I think it was just up here on the left for the turkey vultures. Sorry I failed to get a shot of them.

Happy cows! Well, I guess they were happy. I was happy so maybe I was projecting my happiness on to others. This was just before I came to a very pretty descent to Lake Wabaunsee not far from our second sag stop for the day. After sag, I stopped with Dave, Ann, and Andy for a burger in Eskridge, KS. There weren't a ton of options and we still had over 30 miles into the motel in Topeka. Luckily it was pretty tasty. As I was waiting in line to pay, a guy started talking with me about our trip. He was a cyclist and extremely envious of our adventure. He said he's done some state tours but would love to do the whole thing. Fun to chat with him.

Nice use of an old wagon

Rolling hills are becoming a bigger feature.

Bike art. There were also bikes hanging from trees. I wasn't sure whether the artist used bikes because he liked bikes or to warn cyclists to stay away! Despite the length of the ride, I felt pretty strong and enjoyed the day. Some of the other century days I've been good up until the last 20 or 30 miles and then it's been tough to finish it off. Today I think I made it to about the last 3 before I just really wanted to finish it off. The last mile was on a rotten road that about shook me off my bike. I had grabbed a drink from my water bottle just as I started onto the road and it was poor timing on my part. I was trying to steer with one hand and not fall off but it eventually ended, I stayed on, and I made it into the motel. Hurray! Another day in the books. It was a great ride and a great day. I'm really grateful to a God who made such a beautiful world and gave me a body that is capable of cycling through it and savoring it!

Day 27 - McPherson to Abilene - 65 miles

It looked like rain when we went into breakfast and it was raining when we came back out. Still fairly warm so the question is do you use a rain jacket or not? It stopped raining before we left so I just put the jacket in my little carrier and we took off. The rain kept things a bit cooler so other than a little splash back, it was a pleasant start to the ride.

After cycling east out of town for a while, we actually turned north which hasn't been a common direction for us. Things started looking greener, less flat, and there were more trees. We were out on nice back country roads, away from the busier routes we've been on for a few days and it was quite a pleasant change.

We also found some buffalo in Canton!

We passed through Maxwell Wildlife Refuge without seeing any wildlife at all. That was a little disappointing. Then we saw the vans up ahead and I thought maybe someone had a flat. But there were a lot of people kind of milling around and standing out in the road and we started wondering if there had been an accident. We were a bit concerned until we remembered it was the halfway point of the ride! People were just taking photos. :)

Al and Gnorman celebrating.

Konny, Kettie, Dick, Fiona, (Cincinnati) Barry with Shane on top of the van

About six miles after the halfway point we had our first sag stop in Gypsum at the town park. A reporter showed up to do an interview for the local paper and they opened up the town center so we could use the restrooms. We might have been the highlight of their day. Or week. Or month??

Main street in Gypsum, KS

We worked our way north and east throughout the day. The wind was mostly from the north so I enjoyed heading east more than north. It wasn't horrible - I've cycled through worse! - but I could have tolerated less. We'd had clouds most of the day but then the sun popped out on us and it started heating up. 

Fiona and I hadn't put on any sunscreen (yes, I know you can get sunburned on a cloudy day) so we pulled over to put some on and Ann cycled ahead.

We came into the small town of Solomon and it looked like a nice place to live. Only about 10 miles from Abilene, nice houses, good park, and a lovely little convenience store that sold diet Pepsi and popsicles. :) We stopped to cool off a bit and Texas Barry joined up with us for the ride into Abilene. We passed the Greyhound Hall of Fame on the way in. 

Yes, Fiona has some sort of thing about riding statues.

When we got into Abilene, we were so excited about taking the picture of the water tower that we went past our turn and had to do some creative navigating to get back on course. Saw this cool mansion in the meanwhile.

Famous and owned by some banker or other and now for sale.

And I had to take this one for family! (Nancy married an Etherington)

Abilene is home to the Eisenhower Library. We stopped in but then decided to go for food before getting serious about it. I didn't feel hungry but I'm pretty sure my blood sugar was low. Not thinking clearly, difficulty making decisions, generally irritable... (I know, that never happens does it?) And it was past two without lunch and cycling 65 miles so it's just possible that food was needed. So we asked the museum guy for a recommendation and rode our bikes to Joe Snuffy's where I enjoyed a grilled ham and cheese with a side salad. Then we rode back, visited the chapel where Ike is buried, saw some displays at the library, walked the grounds. It would have been possible to spend quite a while there but we were ready for showers and non-cycling clothes.

Day 26 - Great Bend to McPherson - 65 miles

Fun fun time today. :) We started off about 7:00, still a bit of coolness in the air and a little bit of cloud cover. We took an easy pace getting out of town, several riders hanging together as everyone started settling into their pace. Some of the faster riders decided to stop for breakfast at an actual restaurant instead of the usual hotel breakfast so we had a different set of front runners for the day. Scenery continued much as in the past couple of days although there did seem to be more trees and a little less of the uninterrupted endless views. Still lots of agricultural land though and wheat harvest continues. We had a lot of wind again today although it wasn't a true tailwind. It came at us at an angle but still from behind so we did get some pushing along which was very welcome. We came into the first sag stop before 9:00 and decided to stop in at the DQ in Lyons for what you might call a second breakfast milkshake. They also had restrooms which were a welcome addition to the day.

After we left Lyons, there honestly wasn't all that much between us and McPherson except about 30 miles of road. Some of this had a nice wide shoulder and we could ride two abreast, other areas not so much. Fiona and I did spend some time really pushing the tempo and egging each other on a bit. Ann is discovering why a road bike might be a better choice for this type of event than a tri bike. It was a great day to just let loose a bit and see what we could do.

We came into McPherson before noon and decided to find a lunch spot before going to the motel so we stopped in the small downtown area and found a cafe. The menu was refreshingly different from the fast food and burger places we've hit a lot recently. We then took a tour of downtown and had some fun, then headed out to the motel. Guess what is across the road from the motel? Braums. :) Double ice cream day!

Dinner was at Perkins and we were each given a $15 gift card to use there. I ended up at a table with just the ladies - Ann, Fiona, Patty, and myself. I saw fried pickles on the menu and decided Fiona needed to try them. They were a hit! I somehow was on a roll tonight and had the waiter laughing and playing along with us. He was very cute and accomodating. We laughed a lot during dinner and after dinner we purchased some cookies and shared them around so we could sample the different flavors. I was explaining my "cookies as personality types" theory to the table and the waiter was listening in and laughing. The girls were trying to classify me as a gingersnap but I was assuring them I was definitely chocolate chip. The waiter came up and ended it all by saying I was absolutely a brownie.

We were the last riders to leave the restaurant and one of the other riders had left some sunglasses there so the waiter turned them over to us to bring back to the motel. I've decided to hold them ransom for a milkshake. I cleaned them up and plan on wearing them to breakfast. I'll try to remember to let you know how that goes.

Gene (staff member) has already told me that I'm not invited back for any alumni tours and I'm not even an alumni yet! Life is good. :)

Bonus - in my continuing poll about favorite reasons for living in Kansas...

Random woman emerging from the same cafe - nothing, I'm from South Dakota and it's better there. But then she said she really did like the people. From a landscaper / police officer who took our picture in front of the courthouse - definitely the people. He said the scenery was pretty boring but the people were great! The front desk clerk said Wal-Mart is open 24/7. I thought about pointing out that it isn't unique to Kansas but didn't. She asked what other people had been saying and she agreed that the people here are great.

Abilene tomorrow!

See! Trees! And maybe a bit more undulation in the landscape than there has previously been.

Wheat harvest continues on.

A bit more class than most of my food pictures recently - a beet hummus sandwich on a croissant.

Outside the eating establishment. Notice that I am not wearing a white short sleeved shirt. I'm displaying my amazingly distinct tan line and my astonishingly white shoulders. I'm told that in person it doesn't look quite as ridiculous as it does in the picture but they might just be trying to save my feelings. I'm not sure on that.

George McPherson and Fiona. I think they make a cute couple.

Ann and I exiting the colonnade on our bikes. Fiona and Ann were unfamiliar with the word, I backed up my claims with Wikipedia. I'm totally right. As usual.

In front of the courthouse

The McPherson Opera House

Oh, did I mention it was hot today?

I could never live in Kansas. The wind and the humidity and my hair don't get along.

Day 25 - Dodge City to Great Bend - 85 miles

Just gotta say those were the easiest 85 miles I've ever had on a bike!! We've been battling crosswinds and headwinds but today we really enjoyed a pure tailwind for most of the day. They are a rare and wonderful occurence! We started riding about 7:00 and it was still relatively cool. We had a little bit of cloud cover which helped us out a bit as well. We cycled away from town and out into more agricultural land. We passed a lot of huge wind mills which were interesting. And BIG. You can tell exactly why they have them here! The cycling was easy with the wind at my back. I could just put it in a big gear, keep a steady pace, and fly along. When I had it well and truly behind me, I was cruising along at 25+ mph on the flats, no downhill required. My maximum speed for the day was 33 mph. I could have easily gone faster if I'd had more gears but I maxed them out. It was crazy to be going that fast with such minimal effort. Fun too! 

Our first sag stop was in Kinsley at the Midway USA location. They had a small pioneer museum complete with a sod house. I've read about them but never seen one so that was pretty cool. They have a sign showing the mileage to New York and the mileage to San Francisco and it's the same for both. It's not actually the midpoint of our trip but we are getting close!

Out of that sag stop I actually left before the front runner pace line and I was booking along pretty good. When they eventually caught up with me, I tagged along on the back of the Norwegian couple riding with us and went along with them to the next sag stop hitting speeds from 28 - 30 mph. It's fun but requires more focus than riding by yourself. Fast way to put some miles behind you though!

We stopped in the town of Larned for our second break and heading out of town, I stopped one more time to put some faces with names at Ag Systems. I'd met Don Schoonover but not Kent or Deb so it was really fun to walk in and ask if they sold any bike tires. :) Meant to get a photo with them but then forgot. Had a fun time visiting with them though. I'm getting in so much work related time, maybe I can write this trip off...

It was still early in the day and we had only 24 miles left. At the rate we were going it would be just an hour ride as long as the wind held. It felt like it might be shifting a bit and as strong as it was, I did NOT want to be headed into it so we just headed straight on in to Great Bend, getting here not long after noon. After a shower we headed out for some food and I had my first malt in Kansas at Braum's. Tasty and highly recommended. I hear there are more of those along the way and I will continue to sample for quality control. I was also informed that my company (WISH) has sold a LOT of sprinklers to the Braums family and I do remember running a lot of sprinkler charts with that name on them. Maybe I can get some freebies. ;)

We had time to go to Walgreens, write some postcards, get caught up on blogs, etc. It could have been a much longer day had the wind been blowing from a different direction. Definitely feeling lucky today! We'll see what the wind hands us tomorrow.

Windmills outside of Wright

Mural in Offerle

Sod house!

Another view - they did have a wooden roof on this which would not have been authentic.

Some guy rode this bike to Kinsley from New York. Cyclists are a crazy lot!

Midway!

Stopping off in Larned

The corn is looking good!

So is the wheat! Even if the picture is slightly off kilter.

Wheat harvest is under way.

Proof of my 20.8 mph average for the day! As a frame of reference, most of my training rides I averaged 14-15 mph. Today was exceptional!

Mmmm. Cold creamy goodness. :)

And when I returned this was on my motel room door! What?? The Jones family in Great Bend, KS? And I missed them??? They are awesome. I moved the posters INSIDE my room where they are now bringing a smile to my face.

As is the fact that I am currently caught up on blogging!!!