Kansas is AWESOME!

Wow, sorry about the negativity of that last post, but you'll be glad to know that I think Kansas rocks. I'm in Newton, KS right now where I'll be staying tonight and tomorrow night at the residence of Heidi and Liz, two women who did the ride last year. We met Heidi at a bead shop right next to the health food store in town. (Yay for health food stores!)

So let me recap the last few days...

From Pueblo, we went to Ordway,CO where we stayed with Gillian. She rocks. She let us sleep in her spare beds, futons, couches, etc. She let us do laundry and use the internet and cook in her kitchen. It was 50 miles from Pueblo to Ordway, so I went for a run as soon as we got in to Gillian's. It was so hot, but I had fun running through the sprinklers at the park. Wow, park sprinklers, I do have to say, are one of my new favorite things, you know, like whiskers on kittens and stuff. Gillian saw me leaving to go for my run and she said, "Wow, you are hardcore." So I smiled and flexed for her.

From Ordway, we went to Eads, CO where we ran into the Adventure Cycling group heading west. They invited us to stay at the fairgrounds with them. They were a very interesting and dynamic group of 15. I bet they have some DRAMA! Anyway, we slept on the floor in the fairgrounds building that night and they fed us dinner (I had some of the salad, but the shrimp and chicken gumbos were out of the question for me!) I also got two cans of HALT! Dog Mace from a couple guys: they said we'll need it in Kentucky. I hope not.

From Eads, Paul and I rode all the way to Scott City, KS which was 105 miles. Cheers to another century and more park sprinklers! Oh, and in Eads, Dave, the guy we met way back at Ochoco Reservoir in Oregon, caught up to us. While we were dallying around on Ken's retired guy schedule, Dave was cruising through Fort Collins, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Colorado Springs, and just happened to rejoin the route and catch us. So, he met up with Paul and I in Scott City. The others (Derek, Linus, Nix, and Kev) stayed behind for a weak 60 miler in Tribune. Well, Kev and Nix did 95 miles that day because they were impatient and left before the rest of us and got themelves lost. Oops! We felt bad for them! Paul and I hope the group catches up to us in Newton in the next couple days, but we are also feeling ready to bust off with Dave and really cruise now. No point sitting around in wheat and corn fields when there's riding to be had!

From Scott City, Dave, Paul, and I jammed out almost 120 miles to Great Bend, where we rested comfortably in a Travelodge and ate Tofutti Cuties! Yes, Paul is going vegan again with me through Kansas. Yay Paul! There was a bike shop in Great Bend that was cool and full of friendly people who gave us a nice confusing and scenic route to take out of Great Bend, but we avoided a lot of traffic, which was good. Oh, and Molly, if you're reading this, I sent you another box from Great Bend (surprise!). I decided to drop some of my winter clothes, extra maps, and the book I had just finished reading.

From Great Bend, we took a short day, about 50 miles, down to Nickerson, KS where I went for another run, and was stopped twice by locals asking directions to the ball fields. You'd think in a 1200 person town that everyone would know where the ball fields are, but apparently not. The best part was that I could actually give them directions because we were camping in the park right there. There was a little league tournament going on, so we got some popcorn and watched the 10-12 years old game. It was so intense! The home team made a serius comeback and tied the game up at 13-13, so they had to play an extra inning and then lost 18-13 or something like that. Bummer...We were cheering for the local kids, calling out their names and all. It was good fun. That was last night actually, and then around 3 am we got hit by a LOUD thunderstorm. I was huddled in my tent in lightning position hoping that the tree right above me didn't come crashing down on me, and praying that a tornado didn'tcome lift me away. Nothing like camping in a storm, yeah!

Today, we rode from Nickerson here to Newton. Rest day tomorrow, so I'll go for a little run. This Newton is a cute little town. We've passed through lots of cute towns in Kansas. Sterling and Hesston stick out for me. The people in Kansas have been sooo nice. They stop and chat, ask if we need anything, etc. The weather has been HOT! The winds were rough for a couple days, but not too bad today. The first couple hundred miles in Kansas consisted of a lot of corn fields, wheat fields, and feedlots. If were weren't smelling pesticideds, we were smelling cow shit. But it's gotten much better since just before Great Bend. And just so y'all know: Kansas ain't so flat. There's some nice rolling hills, and some gradual not very steep climbs. Nothing major, so I like to stay in a hard gear and pretend I'm racing. I stand up for the attack and then ride it out. We make great time in this state! Who wants to race me when I get home?

Oh, yes, and I forgot to mention...It's a good thing I sent those 6 extra pounds to Molly because Heidi directed us to a discount store here in Newton where they had Clif and Luna bars 10 for a dollar, and I went a little crazy. Clif products have become a new food group for me. Yikes!