August 9, 2024
Day 26 - ending at Baxter Springs, KS
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I woke up at 4:59am this morning. Sleeping at this wildlife area worked out fine. There was no cell signal where I had the tent, but a short walk up the road provided a signal. According to my weather radio, yesterday's high was 85F. Today will be in the upper 70s with the wind northwest at 10 mph. They're calling today "seasonably cool".
Today's destination is Riverside Park in Baxter Springs, Kansas. I have it as 58 miles. First though, I wanted to backtrack to St. Paul for breakfast at the cafe there. I got packed up and was heading west back into town at 6:56am. I picked up ice for my thermos at the cafe, and two bottles of Powerade from the Conoco station across the street. On my way in the right direction at 8:19pm, going east on KS-47.
My routing today was a mix of paved and gravel roads. The first turn south was on Wallace Road, which was paved for a while. Continued on going east then going south, eventually arriving at McCune at 10:50am. There's one place to eat in town (besides the gas station) - McCune Farm to Market. I decided to stop there to see if they have ice cream. The waitress there talked me into blueberry pie with that, and a lemonade. That was so good!
South of town I got on US-400 going east. Noon arrived: 25.4 miles. I was happy with that. I tuned in KRPS, 89.9 MHz, NPR out of Pittsburg to listen to on my radio. Eventually I turned south toward West Mineral. The electric shovel Big Brutus is near that town about a mile away. I could see the top of the shovel from town. I'd seen Big Brutus on a previous bicycle trip so there was no need for me to go in the wrong direction.
I continued east and south from West Mineral to get to Columbus. I still had the radio on, which distracted me so much that I missed one of the picture locations. I'd bicycled over Cherry Creek without a picture! I discovered this two and a half miles later, and decided I'd go back, but on different roads. A mile later I was passing over Little Cherry Creek, and decided that that would do. I was off-route now, but it didn't matter because all I had to do was get to Columbus, and I did that using NW 10th Street.
I've been to Columbus twice before on bicycle trips. But I'd never paid enough attention then to realize they have a Sonic in town. I was wanting a vanilla shake, and ended up with a hot dog and potato tots also. Shouldn't need anything else the rest of the day.
Baxter Springs is southeast of Columbus. There's a main railroad line at a diagonal between the two towns. I followed that as best I could for about half the way there. Then I headed east so I could see the Route 66 Rainbow Bridge.
After a little sightseeing in town, I made my way east on US-166 to get to the campground. I pulled into the campground at 6:38pm. There was a sign there that read, "Tent camping is prohibited on this side of the river. Please go to the East side of the river for tent camping." So I was back on the highway just long enough to get across Spring River. I could see a couple tent spots, and also a pavilion, which has electricity. There'd been some rain to the west of here, so it didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to set up under the pavilion, which I did.
I was done setting up when a fellow on a electric tricycle showed up to charge his battery. A second fellow who was with him showed up a little later walking. The tricycle is set up with a rear facing seat, so it carries two. CJ and Mike are local residents. They both like to talk, so that kept me occupied for a while. They'd been to Galena in the afternoon. A little after 8:00pm they had enough of a charge to get into town, so we said goodbyes.
The rain I was seeing on the weather radar is gone now, without it raining here. But I'm all set if it rains overnight. The forecast is calling for a lot of rain Sunday afternoon and evening. I may be looking for a motel room that day.
I was pleased with how the bicycle's accessories battery charged using just the bottle generators the last couple of days. I have that battery on the AC charger now. Better see about charging my power block and my radio before I go to bed.
Jeff
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Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 876 miles (1,410 km)
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