July 4, 2010
Day 32: Happy 4th of July!
When it blows it blows.....the wind that is....here in Kansas that is
Yes, I AM in Kansas, Toto, but more on that in a minute.
Last night was fun. Two large cycling groups were in Eads along with 5 or 6 self-supported types like me. It was kind of a weird coincidence. The Adventure Cycling group stayed in a hotel but the MS fundraiser group ride camped. ALL of them were westbound though, except for me, Tim and Mike, who I rode with today.
I almost didn't ride though. We woke up to dark overcast skies with strong winds from the north and I considered staying put for a day, since I am 'waiting' for Doug and his group to catch me anyway. But, in the end I went, and in the end it was just overcast, no rain or storms. At 60 miles it was a relatively short day.
Today was a hard day because of a strong crosswind from the north that became a headwind later in the day, though by then we only had 15 miles or so.
At one point I was riding along, looking at the scenery, lost in whatever nonsense I was thinking about, when I looked up and saw a blue sign .'Welcome To Kansas' it said. This probably sounds strange but I was SO surprised! I guess I wasn't paying attention and was just getting up every morning, facing east and pedaling. I didn't think about where Kansas was or wasn't but there it was. So, another state bites the dust.
We stopped in Tribune and are camping in the city park. While checking in with the police (which is SOP in a lot of towns) they told us about the fireworks display at 9:00 and free ice cream at 8:00. WOOO-HOOO! Happy independence day!
Other than that it doesn't look much like the 4th of July around here. Mostly there is a harvest going on so people are working at getting in the wheat crop-in fact the hotels are all booked because of it, with 'migrant' workers (who drive combines, semi trucks) staying here.
What few stores that are here are mostly closed because of the holiday and we had dinner in the gas station "quicky-mart'." I had two pieces of fried chicken, orange juice, and baby carrots (that I bought yesterday) dipped in peanut butter. THAT is fine dinning!
Oh, and yesterday someone from the MS group ride struck up a conversation with a local ..one thing led to another and the local asked the cyclist if they wanted to drive a combine! He did of course and brought back pictures. Shoot, I want to drive a combine!
So, tomorrow is another day and another adventure. I'll let you know what happens when I know. Until then...
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Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 2,286 miles (3,679 km)
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