Day 33 - ending near St. Joe, KS - Following the Ponca Trail

August 16, 2024

Day 33 - ending near St. Joe, KS

Day 33 - Wellington, KS to St. Joe, KS

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I had a long day planned for today, so I'd gone to bed earlier last night. Woke up at 5:23am this morning, a little later than I had hoped, but good enough. Packed up and was leaving at 7:23am. I hadn't gone to McDonald's last night, so was ready for a meal. Penny's Diner was on my way west through Wellington, Kansas, so that's where I had breakfast. I went with their Hearty Breakfast, and once again should have told them to leave the hash browns off the order. I was too full to eat them. I sat at the counter and enjoyed watching the interactions between the waitresses and the cook. On my way after a stop at Dollar General for Gatorade.

My destination today is Fish Cove, part of Cheney Reservoir and Wildlife Area, northwest of Cheney, Kansas. Routing was mainly north, with sections going west. I'm not going to try to give details on the routing - I'm not sure I got yesterday's right when I posted that. I did follow my at-home plan today, and will post the track when I'm back home.

I received an email this morning from the KOA campground I was at last night. Apparently I had paid for two people camping in a tent, and there was a $5 refund waiting for me at the office. I'm not going back for that.

This morning's route was all north, which got me to Clearwater at 11:50am. I stopped at Casey's there for a fountain Dr Pepper and some chocolate milk. I ended up pouring the Dr Pepper in my "emergency water" thermos. I hadn't been using that since the water bottle holder that holds that thermos is broken. But it held OK today.

Noon mileage report is 23.1 miles - just over a third of the way I need to go today.

I left Clearwater at 12:29pm. It looked like rain to the north. Weather radar indicated it was moving south-southeast. I was still heading north, but thought the rain would miss me. Well it didn't. But I did stop on a side road soon enough to get the gear covered with plastic, and my rain pants and jacket on just in time. That was at 1:15pm. The rain lasted 15 minutes while I just stood by the bike. I was really surprised by the echoing full-volume thunder. The sky cleared, and it was back to being hot and muggy. I continued on north (I was on 135th Street) until I met up with the Prairie Sunset Trail at 2:35pm. This put me going west for 10 miles, through Goddard and Garden Plains, which is the end of the trail. I refilled my gallon water jug at the trailhead in Goddard, since there's no water supply where I'll be tonight. I was at the end of the trail south of Garden Plains at 4:33pm.

In Garden Planes I stopped at Dollar General for a strawberry milk and an apple pie, figuring that would be my early supper, which I ate sitting outside the store.

All the roads I went on to Fish Cove after I got off the Prairie Sunset Trail are paved. However, there was a strong northeast wind this afternoon, which made going north slow. When I turned west I was really pushed along. Fish Cove is on the east side of Cheney Reservoir. The going north sections and the going west sections were about equal, and I was sort of stair-stepping my way there. So it was slow for a while and then very fast for a while. There were storm clouds to the northeast this evening. They weren't going to be a threat to me, but they were fun to watch when I was moving north.

I arrived at Fish Cove at 7:15pm. Unlike the previous Kansas Wildlife Area I was at, this place has a nice mowed field for camping. No one else is here, probably due to no lake at the dock, just weeds as far as I can see. And I was thinking I would have a spectacular sunset picture over the lake this evening! The better pictures were to the east, where the storm clouds were.

The northeast wind has died down now, but it was here long enough that I was able to dry out my rain jacket and pants. I'm charging the phone using the battery block that was gifted to me in North Dakota. I'm impressed with how many times I've been able to use it without recharging it. I did run the bicycle bottle generators today, and could be getting a phone charge from the bike's accessories battery, but this is easier.

So many bugs are hitting the tent, that it sounds like it's sprinkling. I think I need to turn my light off.

Jeff