Another late start day, I don't think I left the camping area of Chanute before 10am, but I checked the weather and surprisingly enough there was a tailwind out of the north-east. This was very strange because from what I read, Kansas was the state to loath if you were going westward, as it consistently has strong headwinds out of the west. I was mentally preparing myself for the last few days on how much Kansas was going to suck and that I would just have to struggle through it, so this was an unexpected gift!
Most of the ride was through large prairie fields on gentle rolling hills called the "Flint Hills" of Kansas. Saw lots of livestock, which gets brought to the area to fatten up on the wide grassy plains before getting sent to slaughter. I saw a group of 3 eastbound cyclists on the road and said hello as we passed each other.
I stopped at Toronto hoping for some lunch but it was a ghost town, main street filled with closed shops. I've seen this many times already this trip, small towns where all the local businesses are gone and only houses remain.
Pushing ahead I made my way to Eureka where I wanted to get a shower at the city pool and hit up the library before they both closed. I made my way to the library first and met a cycling couple from the Netherlands who were going eastward. The library was closing too soon for me to do a blog update so I left and went to the city pool.
As I pulled into the park I found that the park bathroom also contained showers (I was told by the city clerk that they may or may not be finished), and not wanting to mess around with the pool full of children, I opted to just shower there instead. The showers were brand new, but they were only hooked up to cold water and had a handle you needed to hold down for them to work. I didn't mind the cold water on a day like today, but wondered how fun they would be for people cycling in the spring or fall?
After my shower, I hung out in a little pavilion in the park and looked some stuff up on my phone, as it was still too early and hot to start setting up the tent. A lady came by and offered me some pie and ice cream from the birthday party being held in the next pavilion, score! After I ate that and the pool closed, one of the lifeguards came over to me and we chatted for a bit about cycling and she offered to let me crash on her couch (in glorious A/C) if I wanted to, and I learned that I had met the famous Becky of Eureka.
Becky had helped some cyclists out several years ago when she was a stay at home mom, and she had such a good experience that she offered her house to other cyclists, and soon she became a popular stop in Eureka for cyclists looking for a shower and a place to sleep. She was on warmshowers at one time but now just hosted cyclists by either seeing them at the city pool or by word of mouth, as one cyclist left they would tell those they met going the other way to hit up Becky in Eureka. Even her daughters would see cyclists in town and stop and tell them they're welcome at their house.
Becky welcomed me into her house and told me to make myself at home and introduced me to her family. We had some dinner and I talked to Becky for a while longer, updated a couple backlogged days on my blog, and fell asleep on the couch.
Start: Chanute, KS
End: Eureka, KS
Distance: 66.70 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment