Will I ever get out of Kansas?
I guess this really didn't hit me until I was actually in the state, but if you look at a map, all the states from Kansas west are wider than those to the east. Some of the east-bound cyclists I've seen and talked to are on their 45th or so day, which means I'm still probably not half way done, even though June 11th seems like so long ago!
Today seemed like almost a clone of yesterday - 100+ degrees, flat, prairies, no trees for shade, just gotta crank out the miles. While the people here are awesome, I can see why a good portion of cyclists just try to get through Kansas as quickly as possible.
In the early afternoon I cycled past Larned and stopped at the Fort Larned historical site. It was a frontier fort that has been fully restored with a couple guides hanging out in some of the houses to talk to you. I was pretty cool and I spent about an hour looking around. As I left I got talking to an older couple and the guy was telling me about how when he grew up in poor, rural Nebraska, he pretty much grew up under similar conditions as the soldiers living at the fort in the 1800's: no electricity or indoor plumbing and only a wood stove to cook and keep warm... how the world has changed!
I made it to Rush Center a little tired, low on water, and hoping for some refreshments, but everything was either closed or out of business (sometimes it's hard to tell which) so I had to make due with a couple cans of lemonade from a random vending machine.
I then pressed on to get to Bazine and Elaine's Bicycle Oasis, a small B&B that catered to cyclists. For $15 I got a shower, dinner, laundry done, some floor space inside to sleep, and breakfast the next morning. The owners, Elaine and Dan, weren't cyclists, but saw so many pass through over the years they decided to open their doors.
A east bounder cyclist was also there spending the night so we swapped some stories and gave advice to each other. He originally started with 2 retired guys but one dropped out early on due to the difficulty and the other fell and hurt himself but might meet up with him in Kentucy. He told me of 45 mph headwinds in Montana, a freezing rain storm on one of the passes, and camping up above 5,000ft. On the plus side, he was able to send all his cold weather gear home once he made it out of Colorado and was now only using his two rear panniers instead of all four.
By about 9pm everyone was tired and I fell asleep on the floor in A/C glory!
Start:
Hudson, KSEnd:
Bazine, KS
Distance:
85.49 miles
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