Camping, Light Rain, and Coffee Clubs

I awoke to a Kansas lighting storm early in the morning. I reached for my phone to check the day’s weather, and before I knew it I was waking up again at 6 AM to the sun. I quickly snatched my GoPro and caught a timelapse of the sunrise. At this point the rest of the crew was waking up, so I boiled up some water and prepared oatmeal. We drank our coffee and ate our breakfast in no rush to leave. Old Timer left before Jim and I, but we were soon to leave after another cup o’ joe. We witnessed some dark clouds towards the East, which meant they had already passed. The sun began to shine directly behind us, which we endlessly say we’re grateful to be heading west for the sake of driver’s visibility. With little wind, Jim and I made good time to the next town, making sure to stop for some scenic pictures. We shared personal stories of our upbringings, family, and life in general. Other than figuring out the whole bike touring thing, I’ve sure learned a lot about life from each one of the dudes. Definitely don’t tell them I said that.

We rolled into the small town of Walnut, KS. We noticed Old Timer’s rig leaned up against the only convenience store, so we went in ourselves. We encountered yet another coffee group of locals just talking away. Jim grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and we enjoyed the small town feels over second breakfast. We eventually finished up and rolled out of town. Jim thought of a genius idea of traveling the country, photographing these small town coffee clubs, and writing small blurbs about each person. Thought that was a brilliant idea, and would be an interesting coffee table read.

With flat roads and cool temps we continued our quicker than usual cycling. We encountered many turtles today. Why does the turtle cross the road? To get smashed, of course. Our duty was to save every last one we could, even if it meant stopping on a hill. Unbeknownst to Old Timer, I’ve been stashing every saved turtle in his panniers. His grandma would be so proud.

Along the way we ran into two cyclists heading East! We briefly stopped and chatted about what to expect heading into Kansas. Such a cool feeling when you are so isolated in a state, and then coming towards you are other bikers. We’re all in this together. After cruising for a bit, we decided to take a whiz break. Old Timer chucks an almond joy to Jim and I, and we say how he always knows the right time for a sugary snack.

Thirty some odd miles later, right before our lunch break in town, we noticed a large snapping turtle right smack dab in the opposite lane. We weren’t about to let that prehistoric looking turtle get squashed. We all pulled over, and Old Timer advised to just grab the snapper by the tail. Okay, yeah, I got this. I circled behind the snapper, tried to use three fingers to lift it up, and as fast as Jim drinks a strawberry milkshake the turtle lunged out of his shell and snapped! By no means did I shit my pants and jump three feet in the air. Later, Old Timer would say how his only regret today was not recording the moment. I tried again, but the snapper literally was turning as I circled around it. Old Timer came up, grabbed the sucker by the tail and released it into the brush. This ain’t his first rodeo.

Laughing about the incident, we noticed a Walmart on route and turned in for lunch there. I purchased a whole bag of salad mix and poured in some choco-nut trail mix. I figured other than the M&Ms, the sunflower seeds, peanuts, and raisins fit well with the greens. We all relaxed in the shade while we ate a well deserved lunch. A pleasant woman approached us with questions about my shoes. Somehow, the conversation quickly lead to Jim and this woman (more so the woman) talking about God knows what. Something about how she could have been an Olympic discuss thrower in high school. Old Timer and I cracked up silently listening to this woman talk non-stop and Jim taking the wrath of it. We could sense the annoyance when Jim’s only response was “yup, yeah, ohh, okay”. Anytime I heard him say those phrases I broke out laughing in my elbow. Moving on, we checked back out of reality and into small town USA. Incoming! A dark gloomy cloud was directly in our path. We chose to just ride on because it appeared scattered. Luckily we were only hit with a gentle rain, but south-west of us was hit hard as per the picture. We knew of a convenience store a few miles away, so we decided to stop in. When arriving we noticed another bike, and it turned out to be Alex, the Belgium we met the other day! We stuck around and chatted for a bit. He then decided to tag along for the ride. For another 30 or so miles he rolled with us, and we shared stories and experiences once again. You can learn a lot about a person when on a bike.

About 70 miles into our day, and with a storm heading our way, we chose to camp at Cross Timbers State Park. The clouds were dark and moving in, so we quickly set up our tents and prepared some dinner. I had another instant rice, black beans, and Buffalo chicken meal last night. Freakin’ delicious meal for what it’s worth. At this point the trickle of rain started, so we popped into our tents. Literally every one of us fell asleep. Once you get off the bike and go horizontal, adios muchacho. Lights out. I woke up from what I thought was thunder, but it turned out to be something that came from Jim’s tent. Being that we were within 2 feet of each other’s tents, we were in for a fun night.

For the next 5 hours in the tent before we slept, here’s some nonsense that occurred: farting, snoring, laughing, eating, making fun of each other, recounting memories, and reflecting on our first month on the road. We all can’t believe how wonderful this trip has been, and how each day we take every moment possible. I’m happy to be camping tonight, even with the rain. Tomorrow we have an easy 60 miles ahead. Looking forward to the adventure.

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