NATIONAL DONUT DAY!

I didn’t sleep very well last night, only cause I felt sticky and sweaty. The plus side though was I had the sunrise directly through my tent’s mesh wall, and I laid there watching the sun peak up. We knew the country store didn’t open until 7 AM, so we took our time packing up. We arrived 10 minutes early, and I immediately filled up my thermos. Today we had a stretch ahead that offered zero services for 38 miles. Not bad at all with what we’re able to carry. After bumping into a very nice couple who were completely blown away by the logistics of the trip, we rolled on into our day. The weather was again cool and sunny, with a slight tail/crosswind.

The road we biked on was awesome. Very little traffic, vast fields of wheat, corn, or dirt with frequent oil rigs. Every moment was picture worthy. Already within miles of biking, we started singing variations of “Sweet Caroline” with funny moments of the trip. Once again, the deep laughs were coming out from the gut of my stomach.

After a few snack breaks, we were making great time. I felt a sudden energy rush, likely from the Oreo’s Old Timer shared, and I took off until town. Sometimes when you feel it, you ride it until you can’t ride no mo. We ran into a hitchhiker in the most random place in Kansas. I almost thought he was a mirage, but he was just doing his thang. Patrick offered him some water, and we were back off into the wind.

We reached our destination of Newton, Kansas. Unbeknownst to many people, June 2nd happens to be National Donut Day. I happily lead the team to the town’s donut shop. As I pulled up with my tongue basically falling out…CLOSED. 18 MINUTES AGO. But why?! My head fell back in disbelief, but to my rescue was an employee of the shop! He let me in like a prohibition speakeasy, and informed me that they sold out, BUT still had day old donuts in the freezer. I bought two bags, one being 6 chocolate cake donuts and the other 3 cinnamon rolls. Thank the donut lord. Even though they had to thaw, I had no problem because one of the most popular bike shops on the trail happened to be one block away.

Newton Bike Shop was certainly a highlight of the trip I was looking forward to visiting. The inside is a piece of TransAm history, with signatures and jerseys from past years winners of the Trans Am Race. They even have the late Mike Hall’s jersey, who was a large inspiration to the endurance racing bikepacking world. The documentary on Netflix called Inspired To Ride is one of my favorite documentaries to watch, and I highly recommend it. The bike shop owners were some interesting people who must see all walks of life come through those doors. They allow riders to sign the wall to, which I thought was a neat memorabilia piece.

After our little tour, we had visitors driving all the way from Houston, Texas to see Jim! Oliver and Mike left Houston at 3 AM this morning and arrived 9 hours later just to have lunch with Jim and us. That gives you an idea about how likable of a guy Jim is. After sitting around and chatting for a while, we moved to a deeeeelicious pizza place. I got the taco pizza, which had crushed Doritos on top. I ate every last crumb of that pie, and we all agreed the pizza was pretty badass.

After a couple hours of refueling and sitting, we were feeling real good to bang out the rest of the 30 miles. The first 10 miles absolutely flew by because of conversations held amongst the group. We reached another town at this point, but to our misfortune could not find the strawberry milkshake we have been endlessly seeking. These dairy bars are terribly hard to come by these days. We continued on into the blue skies and open fields, where corn and wheat can be seen for miles ahead. It really puts the ‘amber waves of grain’ into reality.

We eventually rolled into the town of Buhler, and thank the lawd we did. We knew their city park was open to camp, but what we didn’t know was a baseball tournament, public pool, wellness center, huge pavilion, and beautiful pond was also there! The smile on my face pulling in was huge, mainly because I knew there was a shower in my future. After dropping our belongings in the pavilion, Jim and I headed over to the wellness center, while Old Timer and Patrick went to town for groceries. We spoke with a lovely woman working at the center who generously showed us where the locker rooms were. The shower felt heavenly. Turns out the whole brand new facility had only just opened yesterday! So crazy. We promised to help Sherri with some tasks as a huge thank you for helping us bikers. We moved around some furniture and such, but mostly just spoke with the locals. We were also fortunate enough to meet Jenni, who graciously and almost immediately offered her house for us to stay. We kindly declined, but endlessly thanked her for the gesture. There are so many amazing people out here, you just have to avoid watching stupid news saying the world is bad.

After our conversations, I walked over to the baseball game and talked with Liz, who now has two little baby kittens she gets to care for without me! As the lights shut off one by one on the field, we ourselves laid to rest. I reminisced on such a wonderful day, and look forward to what’s to come. What’s to come tomorrow morning is another donut, I know that much is true.

HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!
Donut Eaten Today: 5

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