Seeing small town America from the bicycle seat ___________________________
Wednesday ended up being a 72 mile day into Missouri and the town of Ash Grove. I had enjoyed my stay in Pittsburgh. It was a nice city with an old, brick Rexall drug store on the north end. I hadn’t seen one of those in years. As I’ve said, even though you’re doing this trip at a slow pace on a bicycle, you still don’t have all the time you would like to spend in these towns. [Read more…]
I had woken up extra early in Chanute on Tuesday due to noise in the city park. Earlier the day before I had seen a young cyclist cruising by on her racing bike while at one of the stores along the way. As I was packing up at 5:30 she walked over to me and introduced herself. Her name was Stephanie and she’s going to Yorktown as well, but with the support of her friend who is driving a camper van. Stephanie brought to me a nice bag full of all kinds of snack food for the day’s ride, which was quite nice of her. [Read more…]
As I continued into eastern Kansas on Monday, it turned out to be one of the best rides of the trip. You hear a lot about how Kansas is flat and not very scenic, but this part of the state is fantastic, especially with the weather right now. [Read more…]
On Sunday morning it was still raining in Newton as I left the bike shop at 7:30. Charlie, who had started his trip from his home in Sacramento, was joining me for the day and we decided to head to the town of Eureka, 76 miles away.
We stopped at a truck stop on the edge of town for breakfast, where the waitress called people “hon” quite often. “You still workin’ on that, hon?” Here I contacted a woman named Robyn in Eureka. She lets cyclists stay in one of her rental homes and said it was fine to do that today and to just contact her when I was close to town. [Read more…]
The weather was forecast to turn bad during the day today (Saturday) with possible “severe” thunderstorms, so it was another day off the bike. I was up at 6:30 and was still considering heading out at 8:00 but decided against it (after thinking about the ride in Wyoming weeks ago and trying to outrun crazy storms with virtually no shelter along the way). Today seemed like it could be similar. It ended up being the safe choice as heavy storms did come through along with some lightning which is still going on now.
I’m still at the bike shop in Newton where three other people arrived last night. Marcus and Kirsty are from England and are finishing up a mega two year around the world trip on their tandem bike, and Charlie, who started out from his home in Sacramento. It was good to finally see some other cyclists and talk about what’s been going on.
It looks like things will improve by the morning and I’ll be on the road again.
Through the 50th day on Thursday, I’ve ridden 2,505 miles since August 4th. My average for 43 days on the bike is 58.25 miles. It’s a 49.1 average with all the rest days included, including today, the 51st day. [Read more…]
Wednesday ended the seventh week on the road. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, but when I look back at all the stops along the way it puts it in perspective. [Read more…]
The plan on Tuesday was to leave the motel in Ness City by 7:00. That was a problem as I woke up at 6:57. The day’s weather called for winds out of the south at 18 mph later in the morning. This would normally mean a crosswind for the day since I’m heading east. The issue was that in the second half of the ride I had a 19 mile stretch where the route took you directly south before turning east again towards Larned. This was not good news. [Read more…]
There are only so many things you can write about after some of these days. Monday’s ride more so than any other. I could just stop here but I’ll mention a few things I noticed.
Monday was full of cattle trucks going both directions, along with their distinct odor. I don’t think I saw any at all on Saturday or Sunday as traffic was light, which makes me wonder if the drivers and cattle have the weekends off. Trucks carrying huge loads of hay were also on the road, so you were smelling hay or the waste of a truck full of large animals every few minutes. [Read more…]
My plan for Sunday was to ride 58 miles to the town of Tribune, Kansas, but that changed as the day progressed. As I started out at 9:00 there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the wind was already with me. [Read more…]