Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Day 32

Monday, August 8
Miles today: 87

Terry came over in the morning to bring us a watermelon from his organic farm. It was delicious and a great way to start the morning. We went into town for breakfast and it started to storm again so we waited in there for a while. I also had yet another flat tire when I woke up but I realized that was because I accidentally put in an old tube that had been poorly patched so the air leaked out over the night. I am so sick of changing flat tires! We waited until about 8:30 for the storm to pass and got on the road while it was still cool out. We got into the town of Great Bend for lunch and I was excited to go to the bike shop there for a new tire but I found that they were closed for the day! It was very disappointing.

Thankfully, the heat wave seems to have passed because the high was only in the mid 90s. It's incredible how good that feels compared to 100+ temps.

We have hit a bit of a mental road block in Kansas. It is so monotonous and boring that it is hard to continuously get up everyday and do the same exact thing. We have been on the same road since we left Wichita on Sunday. State route 96 west for almost 400 miles and once into Colorado, it is still the same route all the way to Pueblo but, on the bright side, it will have a new name in Colorado. If you look at this road on a map it is a completely straight line the entire way. No turns, no hills, just flat boring fields of dead crops on the horizon. We are both just hanging on until Friday when we meet up with my Dad and Di in Pueblo and take a few days off. We're looking forward to a break from biking and are ecstatic to get out of Kansas! To keep ourselves (somewhat) sane we stuff our faces with peanuts and take ridiculous pics with oil rigs:







We rode 87 miles to camp out in the "town" of Alexander, which consists solely of a grain silo co-op with a soda vending machine and a rest area with bathrooms. We cooked and were in bed by 8:30- I was so exhausted that I feel asleep immediately. Just a few minutes into my lovely sleep, I was awakened by drops of water, thunder and lightening. Ben and I jumped out of the tent to put the rain flap on but the wind made it impossible for us to get the stakes in the ground. We decided to jump in the tent and just try to wait it out but it was so windy that the tarp was getting whipped around and it seemed like our tent could collapse. We were getting soaked anyways, so we grabbed the tent and ran for cover in the restrooms. We dumped out the puddle from the tent floor and put our sleeping bags and pillows under the hand dryers. After about an hour, the storm passed and we set up the tent again. We got the fly on and passed out for the night. This Kansas weather is really messing with us! Let's get out ASAP

Location:Alexander, KS

2 comments:

  1. Ha-ha! This is a very funny post! Of course you must stuff your faces with peanuts and pose crazily in front of oil rigs. Doesn't everyone? If one silo and a rest area qualifies as a town, then I'm calling my house Steve Town. People will regard it as quaint.

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  2. All towns should be named Louie.

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