Day 27 - ending at Elkhart, KS - Tri-points on the Tri-speed

June 9, 2013

Day 27 - ending at Elkhart, KS

Posted via email Mon Jun 10 07:03:01 2013 PDT

Woke up a few times during the night thinking it was dawn, due to being right under two street lights. It was finally time to get up at 5:03am. Packed and worked on report waiting for some sunlight to dry out the tent. Checked restaurant locations in Hugoton using the BlackBerry's Poynt app. If I went up to Fourth Street and then down Main, I would pass most of the places to eat, and maybe find one open on Sunday morning. I left at 8:37am following that plan and found the Jet Drive-In open. They had a sign stating absolutely no breakfast orders accepted after 9:45am. I was on time for breakfast, so ordered what I usually get on Sunday mornings, except I added orange juice. Left there at 9:32am, but stopped at a Dollar General Store I passed for snack items. Finally cleared the edge of town at 10:05am.

Thirty-one miles to Elkhart on US-56/KS-51 - that's where I was going. It was a nice morning with a reasonable breeze. Came to the Morton County Line at 11:50am. Arrived in Rolla at 12:30pm. There is a great park there, and I stopped for a break. Ate the bag of peanuts and drank the VitaminWater I'd bought in Hugoton. Then took a nap while listening to all sorts of birds in the trees.

Left at 1:41pm. A little later the wind picked up and it was a headwind battle again. The sun was bright in my eyes, then I remembered I had clip-on sunglasses in my front bag. What a pleasant difference!

Finally arrived in Elkhart at 4:49pm. Stopped at the Cimarron Ranger Station to pick up a Motor Vehicle Use map and a few other brochures. I was thinking of camping tonight. Passed one RV park and saw they had no restrooms. Was getting ready to check the other one when I saw a U-Pump-It gas station/convenience store. I stopped for an ice cream sandwich and a large root beer. A fellow there got to talking to me about the time he earned his Bicycling Merit Badge in Boy Scouts using a single-speed bike. He also told me that the other RV park in town didn't have restrooms either. So I changed my plan to a motel, settling on the Elkhart Motel downtown. Got there at 5:35pm and was assigned room #22.

Walked over at 6:00pm to nearby Moore's Food Pride grocery store to find another replacement water jug in the style I like. No luck. Did buy some cinnamon apple chips and a quart of chocolate milk, which I enjoyed as the evening passed.

Decided to eat one of the MRE meals I received yesterday. They were taking up a lot of room in my bag, especially the Veggie Burger with BBQ Sauce one. Lots of interesting stuff in the bag, including a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce. Figured out how the heater works and did get the meat warmed up. The meal filled me up. There was a pack of instant coffee that I wanted to use, but the heater had cooled down. So I microwaved it in my water bottle (probably not recommended due to chemicals that come out of the plastic, but it tasted good).

After supper I changed out one broken spoke. I recognize now the sound when they break. They're easy to replace on this bike, since I don't need to remove the wheel. After that, I took the bike outside in the sunlight to check the tires. Found lots of thorns. I chose these tires (Continental Country Plus) for just this reason, and so far it's paying off.

Worked some on the report after that. Taped up the hole in my one water jug. Then got rid of the beard and took a shower. In bed just before midnight.

Looking forward to seeing Tri-point #16 tomorrow.

Jeff

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Spent: $9.99 plus $2 (breakfast) + $4.58 (snacks) + $2.98 (ice cream sandwich, root beer) + $48.28 plus $5 (motel) + $5.13 (apple chips, chocolate milk) = $77.96.

Day 27 - Hugoton, KS to Elkhart, KS

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