Today’s Date: June 27, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Alexander, Kansas

Today’s End Point: Great Bend, Kansas

Today’s Miles: 45.8 Miles

Cumulative Miles: 2,424.76 Miles

As I noted in yesterday’s post, it was supposed to start raining at 4:00 am (80% chance) and continue raining throughout the day. I made yesterday longer so my ride today would not be as long, especially if I had to pack up the camping gear in the rain.

The weather prognosticators, however, were wrong. I awoke to cloudy skies and dry ground, no rain during the night nor for the rest of the day. I left my campground/rest stop at 7:00 am.

The route today was going to be relatively short, approximately 45 miles east, southeast to Great Bend, Kansas. I could tell when I left I was still feeling the effects from yesterday, my legs were sluggish.

I had another strong headwind/crosswind but the start of the day was in the 70s-oh, and did I mention, no rain.

Since Alexander was in a supply free zone, I had to ride about 13 miles to find some food (I still had some Kind bars at camp to get me started). I stopped at a convenience/gas station in Rush Center, Kansas and oh my god what did they have? Pop Tarts, one of the major food groups when I was growing up. I sat at a table and talked with a few of the resident retirees who make the convenience store their morning spot. Two of them were pilots (recreational) so they told me all about the topography of the region. I wish I could have stuck around because the woman behind the counter was making meat loaf that they were going to cook on the smoker, but it wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours. It’s amazing that this humble convenience store is the social center for this small town.

As I was leaving town, I saw two women up ahead walking what looked like two large dogs on leashes (I was thankful for the leashes-did I mention my developing fear of dogs?). As I got closer, I realize they were not two dogs but two sheep walking calmly with the ladies. Their name were Sally and Rachel (the women, not the sheep) and I asked for a picture since I am not accustomed to seeing such a sight in the suburbs of Chicago. They were delighted.

I rode on and really struggled. For a ten mile stretch the road was a series of rollers, but because of the wind, I could not use any downward momentum on the uphill. Yesterday’s effort was still dragging me down and even though I was only going 45 miles, I had to stop multiple times to get a breather. It wasn’t the heat (it was only in the 80s), but the wind. Wind speed was between 20 and 25 mph. As I have said, nothing plays with your head like the wind (ok, and maybe dogs).

When I was about five miles from Great Bend, I came across the first bike rider that I have seen for a few days. As with everyone I have talked to, he was doing the reverse of my route, having started in Virginia. We compared notes and he mentioned a series of churches to stay at in Virginia. Of course I asked about dogs, and he said his experience was not that bad (this will stop me from worrying for about 10 minutes). I had five miles to go and he had 35 miles, so we parted ways with me enviously looking at the tailwind he would be luxuriating in.

Great Bend, Kansas is actually bigger than I thought, having a population of 14,000. What I can see of the city, it is a strip of lower end chain hotels and every fast food joint known to man. It reminds me of a college town but when I checked with Google, the only college seems to be a community college. Although not the most quaint or scenic, after the past few days a couple of fast food meals seem perfect.

I was starting to get hot when I pulled into the Day’s Inn. I gave the name to the proprietor, but he could not find my reservation. I checked the confirmation and realized I was at the Quality Inn down the street (heat does funny things to the brain).

I checked in, ate at McDs, and did laundry (all my cycling gear was caked in salt). I am now kicking back and gearing up for a nap. I have 300 more miles of Kansas and with this heat and wind, I might need to downward adjust my daily mileage, no matter how badly I want to go. I see why Dorothy wanted to leave, but for the life of me, I can’t figure why she would say “There’s no place like home” when she is talking about Kansas.