Day 31 - June 3 - Atchison, KS to Centralia, KS - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

June 3, 2023

Day 31 - June 3 - Atchison, KS to Centralia, KS

Carry On Wayward Son (we are in Kansas after all)

Ed’s Story

I fell asleep last night to the patter of rain on my tent, and lightning and thunder in the vicinity. Although thunderstorms can be dangerous, I was not concerned and felt very calm.

I woke up about 2:30. The rain stopped and I opened up the doors on my rain fly let the breeze in and went back to sleep.

When we got up in the morning, everything was wet. The rain fly was soaked, and the ground cloth was also wet from water that got underneath it from the grass.

We headed out for the day looking for the coffee shop since we did not have any at breakfast. We found a small diner called Mr. G’s. Although the sign on the door says they do not have indoor seating, Sueann, the woman running the joint, allowed us to drink our coffee inside. Sueann did not want her picture taken. Maybe she’s on the run from the law; I don’t know so I did not take her picture as requested.

Mr. G’s, out coffee spot of the day. It must be a good place as the drive-thru line was full of cars.

We headed out of town and were suddenly on our second GPS climb of the day. I must’ve missed the first so it might’ve been the hill out of the campsite this morning.

Atchison must be the hometown of Amelia Earhart. Not only is there a museum for her downtown, which we failed to go to yesterday because we were tired, there is also another one out near the airport.

Two museums in town for you Amelia but no you. Where are you?

I’m not sure what this is. Is it a smokestack for an underground building? Is it the top of a missile silo? Is it a re-creation of the tower of Babel? We’ll never know.

So we continue our ride in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. I’m not going to talk about the hills because they were there; but when you climbed one you’ve climbed them all. Until you get to the Rockies anyway.

But back to the point. We’ve done many rides, and I've seen my share of road signs. I will never understand how they come up with the road identification.

As you can see, we’re at the intersection of Jewell Road and 286th Road. I wonder where Road Zero is or what they base the road designation on?

Monrovia Kansas consists of three houses and 12 dogs. There’s really not much else there.

Here’s a fixer-upper for you if you want it.

We stopped in Effingham, Kansas for orange juice and a snack. I know this is just a flower but I am stealing John’s thunder today. Here’s my plant of the day. I took a picture of a flower since John didn’t.

Just a bunch of these little white flowers around.

We stopped in Whiting, Kansas, about 12 miles from Effingham. We had to buy our dinner and groceries here because there were no other grocery stores until after Centralia. We also bought lunch items and ate them later on in the long road. I was surprised by one of the items I saw on the shelf.

Frank’s quality Kraut… I’ve had it it’s not very good

But wait, there’s more. I recognize this kraut because I live in Fremont Ohio, where this kraut is made. Imagine my surprise find a Fremont kraut in Kansas.

As we approached Centralia, we saw more and more wind turbines. Possibly because we’re at the top of the hill and it is windy here.

We finally arrived at Centralia Lake campground. When we checked in, we were told that individual tents cost $5 each and an RV site is $20. We told the man at the gate that we wanted an RV site so we could have a table and electricity. He told us the RV sites open are in the middle of the campground area. I gave him a $20 bill and he gave me $10 back and said two tents in an RV site. What a great deal.

Home until tomorrow morning. Sunny and breezy. No chance of rain. Should be a great night of sleeping.

Did I say there was a lake here? After John and I set up our tents, we walked to the swimming area with our clean clothes and shower equipment in a bag; set it down; and jumped in the lake with what we’ve been wearing all day. The water was cold, but it certainly took the heat off.

Swimming area in the distance. I didn’t want to embarrass anybody so I didn’t take the picture too close.

Compared to the bathroom at the campground at last nights campsite, the shower/bathroom here is clean and wonderful.

Tomorrow we have a 65 mile ride to Washington, Kansas. They have a swimming pool that’s open until 8 o’clock that I’m sure we will make use of.

Until tomorrow happy biking!

John’s Story

Kansas feels very different from Missouri. For one thing there are far fewer trees, so the sight lines are endless. The hills tend to be longer and lower grade in Kansas. They come one right after the other. There was a 10 mile stretch or so this afternoon when we were following a river drainage when the terrain was relatively flat, but otherwise it was up-and-down all day long.

Parts of Kansas (and maybe some other states like Nebraska perhaps) are in post-rock country. With little in the way of forest resources to provide material for fence posts, Kansans learned to make fence posts out of rock. A special type of limestone was discovered that could be easily split into sheets and then cut into posts to use for fencing. I say easily having never tried to do this myself. There are areas of Kansas where you can drive for miles and see the rock posts in the fence lines. We actually came across one field with post rock fence posts today, and never saw another one. I’m not sure if we’re just on the edge of post rock country, or, perhaps in a fit of nostalgia the owners of the property imported the rock posts from elsewhere for the vintage feel.

I guarantee these fence posts are heavier than the wooden ones you would buy down at Home Depot.

Fill ‘er up! I think the last time there were gas pumps here gasoline cost just a few cents a gallon

We stopped at a tiny café just to get out of the heat and have a snack. I saw something on the menu that I have rarely seen in a restaurant anywhere: gooseberry pie. I tried making gooseberry pie once 40 years ago when we lived in Norway. Some friends had a gooseberry bush in their backyard and didn’t want to mess with them. I went out and in almost total darkness plucked all of the gooseberries off the bush. I put my bucket of gooseberries in the kitchen sink that evening and went to bed. The next morning we found several snails crawling around the kitchen, each of them about the size and shape of a gooseberry. Apparently I couldn’t tell in the dark whether I was plucking snails or gooseberries off the bush. Once the snails were hustled outside I set about making the pie. Once it was baked, it was inedible. It gave new meaning to the word tart. You could have stuck two wires into it and jumpstarted a car. It was so acidic. I’ve never tried making a gooseberry pie since.

We stopped in the small town of Wetmore to find a shady spot to eat our lunch. We saw a small community swimming pool a block or so away and thought it would be a good opportunity to use the facilities and top off our water bottles. We found in the small pavilion next door to the pool a group of people eating lunch. It turns out they were on a field trip to hunt agates. During one of the last Ice Ages the glaciers extended as far south as Topeka, Kansas. The sediment load carried by the glaciers included a lot of agate-bearing rock from the Lake Superior area. The fellow in the orange shirt in the picture below is their guide. He takes people on field trips like this to look for agates in return for a gratuity. They showed me some of the agates that they found today already. I’m a geologist. I was fascinated.

Kirby the Agate-Whisperer in the orange shirt and his group of agate lemmings.

Our last stop before we reached the end of our day was in the small town of Corning under an awning in front of a building. Directly across from us was this old building built from native stone.

I didn’t really intend to take Hill pictures today. You’re probably sick of seeing them. I just like the look of this one because it looks like ribbon candy laid out on the surface of the Earth and extending into the distance.

When I reached the turn onto the gravel road leading to Centralia Lake campground, I waited for Ed for a few moments. I planned to suggest that we continue to ride two miles farther north to the town of Centralia to visit the tavern and have a beer before we rode to the lake. Ed did not stop, but turned onto the gravel road and rode on. So much for the beer idea.

After taking a dunk in the lake and then a shower, I was walking back to our campsite when I fell into conversation with a family sitting in the shade of their RV. One thing led to another and they offered me a beer or two. I don’t normally drink Coors light, but I gratefully accepted after a long hard day on the bike. I told him I would be back later to take their picture to put in our journal. I took the two beers to our campsite and shared with Ed.

Sometime later I returned to the same RV with Ed to take the picture. By this time more of their family had gathered. There were three generations including three brothers of my generation and some kids and grandkids. We fell into conversation again and were once again offered beer. Just another example of the universe being on our side in this bike tour.

Jeff is hereby granted today’s Road Angel Award for supplying us with beer just when all seemed lost.

I thought it might be interesting to some of the bike tourers out there to see one of my field fixes for a mechanical problem.

The gray horseshoe shaped insert in this picture matches the diameter of the pannier clip to the diameter of the rack tubing.

I discovered several days ago that one of the clips had fallen out and was missing, and the pin here was rattling on the rack.

I took a thin strip of gorilla tape and wound it around the rack where the clip attaches to it until I had achieved the diameter of the clip where the insert should’ve gone. The pannier now mounts quite handily to the rack and it doesn’t rattle any more. I don’t know how long this will last, so I have ordered replacement inserts to be delivered to my son’s house in Colorado Springs. He will bring them up to Fort Collins when he drives up to see us there.

Finally a couple of a goodnight photos.

Today's ride: 72 miles (116 km)
Total: 2,512 miles (4,043 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	0