Day Eleven: Ottawa, Kansas to Council Grove, Kansas

September 22, 2022

I woke up to find that the temperature had dropped drastically, as predicted. I looked at the weather radar on my phone and saw that the entire area was surrounded by a big green glob. Rain.

I eventually forced myself to get up and get ready, even though I was not enthusiastic. I thought that I looked a little gaunt as I shaved, which must have been the case, because when I walked downstairs to make sure my bike was still locked to the back porch, the innkeeper looked at me and asked if I wanted anything to eat. This, despite the fact that during my lowkey negotiations about the room yesterday, I'd told her that in exchange for a lower rate, I would skip breakfast.

She made me a bowl of peaches, yogurt, and granola, which was far healthier fare than my usual gas station breakfasts while bike touring.

I rode a half mile back to the Flint Hills Nature Trail, and felt approximately three raindrops. And that was the only rain that would fall on me the entire, overcast, day.

It wasn't long before I reached a trail closure, and followed a gravel road detour for several miles. It was actually an enjoyable diversion. The wet gravel roads were actually in better shape than the trail.

Back on the trail. For some reason I was determined to ride the entire length of the thing.

I rode into Pomona, population 1,190. I had received some emailed error messages from one of the software applications that I sell, and the errors were unusual enough that I felt I needed to investigate them immediately. I hoped that the town was big enough to support a library, and that it was open.

There was a tiny library, it *was* open, and the friendly young woman working there was happy to let me sit at a table and work for a while.

I was there a while, but finally reached a reasonable resolution with my problem. I was way behind my schedule, such as it was, but I decided it wouldn't hurt to waste more time and go to the Casey's across the street. They didn't have any pizza without meat already made (which is almost always the case), and when I asked the cook about it, he told me that "They told me not to make it anymore, because it doesn't sell."

However, he immediately ignored this directive from management, and offered to make me one anyway.

I waited while he made it, then ate a couple of pieces, then rode away from my favorite Kansas town so far, pausing briefly to take a picture of this mailbox:

I startled the homeowner, who was in his front yard when I quickly pulled off the road to take the photo, but he seemed happy that someone was actually interested in his mailbox.

There were several blow-downs on the trail. Clearly this section of the trail is neither widely used, nor well-maintained. I had to carry my bike across several trees and branches.

Despite my complaints about the trail's soft surface, fallen trees, and general lack of interesting things to see, there was still a subtle, spare beauty to the landscape.

Miles where the only sounds were birds and the swishing sound of my tires on the crushed limestone would occasionally be interrupted by the sound of a nearby highway, like this one, which I rode underneath.

I pulled off into Vassar, population 584. It was practically a ghost town, and I was surprised the listed population was that high.

Back to the trail for a while. I rode through an infuriatingly muddy section. It must have flooded at some point, and hadn't been repaired yet. It was almost impossible to ride.

Conditions improved as I neared Osage City, population 2,861, but then the trail ended abruptly behind a supermarket just as I entered town. I spent a frustrating several minutes riding on city streets attempting to find the trail again. I wasn't in the mood to photograph anything, but I did take this picture one of the backstreets of the city as I wandered around aimlessly looking for the trail:

I finally found the trail again, and soon saw the only person using the trail the entire day, and the entire 75 mile length: A woman carrying her dog. I stopped and talked to her for a minute; like everyone else I've met in Kansas, she was friendly.

The tunnel of trees ended, and the scenery opened up. Nice. And today was starting to actually feel like the West, for the first time on this trip.

The trail goes through the town of Admire, population 169. It was a sad little ghost town. I looked around for several minutes, then biked to the nearby trailhead, sat on the concrete (there was no picnic table), and opened up one of my jars of Nutella, into which I dipped some granola bars I was carrying.

I was kinda glad to get out of Admire, which had a depressing vibe.

Later down the trail, another little town, Allen, population 160, was much more appealing - perhaps because of the lack of junk cars sitting around, or the presence of a little library, or a small farmers market that was in progress.

Once again on the trail, and it was my favorite part of the day. Cows had gotten loose, but I was able to get around them with no trouble.

The last miles of trail to my destination for the day, Council Grove, were my favorite. I love riding through grasslands like this.

I arrived in Council Grove, population 2,140, and immediately got lost trying to find my motel. I was befuddled, and couldn't figure out which direction to ride in. I mistook the name of a mobile home park for the name of my motel, and stupidly rode an extra mile there before realizing my mistake.

Finally, for the first time in a long while, I called my wife and had her direct me to my destination. Obviously, I was bonking. But the thing about bonking is that it's usually not obvious (to the bonkee) that's what the problem is.

I arrived at the Prairie Lodge Motel, which is a group of old, not-especially-well-maintained cottages a mile or so from town up a steep hill. Fortunately for me, there was a Pizza Hut in town who delivered a large, pan cheese pizza and 2-liter of Diet Pepsi to my room relatively quickly. After eating 3/4 of the pizza, and saving the rest of it for breakfast, I went to bed on a mattress that was surprisingly nice considering how decrepit my cabin was.

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Today's ride: 79 miles (127 km)
Total: 774 miles (1,246 km)

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