Kansas: I Promised

I promised Ivan that I wouldn't use a title referring to the Wizard of Oz. He said it would be too cliche, but what can be said about Kansas that isn't a cliche? So we didn't come across Toto, there was no twister, and Dorothy didn't sing a song about a yellow brick road. But everything was so flat; if that isn't a cliche, I do not know what is. Isn't that why Dorothy ran away in the first place: lack of changeable scenery? Okay maybe her aunt had something to do with it, but I am sure the flatness didn't help. So here is how Kansas broke down (and as with every other post like this I will blog about the people we stayed with separately--everyone has been so wonderful they deserve their own blog post!).

July 29th: Sedelia, Mo to Kansas City, Ks. 91.05 miles. 90 miles. It felt good to do a significant distance. It was still depressing to think that a car could do what we did in a day in under an hour and a half. But I try not to think like that-I would never get anywhere. It was beautiful country, with long rolling hills. The state line was unmarked. It was a bit of a let down to not have a sign welcoming us to our fifth state, but four states down none the less. Across the border, Ivan's cousin Carla picked us up and took us to her house. It was already pretty late, but we were greeted with dinner none the less.

July 30th: Kansas City, Ks to Overbrook, Ks. 56 miles. Carla rode with us for the firs 12 miles and then she had to head for home. I like it when other people join us, no matter how long or short. The day was filled with rolling hills--no flat Kansas yet. I love hills. I am rather slow, but give me a hill over a flat any day. The sign welcoming us into Overbrook said "Don't Overlook Overbrook." It took a little fumbling around to try and find a place to stay. We rode around town, first to the police station, which was closed, and then we wondered aimlessly for a bit. Turns out our best bet was to just to go to the local gas station and ask. The lady behind the counter called the sheriff, who directed us to the local fairgrounds for camping. It was a nice night, briefly interrupted by some rambunctious men, but they left us alone.

July 31st: Overbrook, Ks to Council Grove, Ks. 52.55 miles. This was another day of beautiful rolling hills as we entered the Flint Hills of Kansas. True to form, Kansas was hot. This day more than most. I fell asleep on the side of the road under the only tree for miles around. I think I only slept for about 30 minutes, but it was enough time that Ivan managed to get significantly ahead of me. I had just started biking again when a car stopped ahead of me. The driver slowly got out of the car and moved towards me as I crested the hill and shouted to me, "WarmShowers?" This was my first introduction to Gregg who turned out to be our host in Council Grove, Ks.

August 1st: Council Grove, Ks to Hillsboro, Ks. 59 miles. Another hot day without much shade. Even just driving through Kansas has to be eye opening to how much space there is in this country. Granted a good chunk of it is not really habitable. Anyway to escape the heat we stopped at a small convenience store about half way through the day. We were deciding whether or not we should push on or just stay put, when I happened to glance at the front page of the local news paper. The very first ariticle was information on how to keep your cattle from dieing in the heat. One of the biggest tips was that if you were having a hard time keeping your cattle from over heating then you could call the local fire department to have them come out and hose down your herd. We decided to stay put, but after about an hour the air conditioning broke. We spent about 20 minutes helping the owners pack up all the chocolate merchindice and put it into the coolers. Even without the air, we stayed until about 5 or 6. Then we biked the rest of the way to Hillsboro where we stayed with another Warmshowers couple: Charles and Ellie.

August 2nd: Rest day in Hillsboro. We stayed another day with Charles and Ellie as the high for the day was 112 degrees. It hit 100 by ten in the morning!

August 3rd: Hillsboro, Ks to Nickerson, Ks. 59.34 miles. This day felt pretty short. The heat wasn't as bad, though we were up and moving around 4 in the morning. I love biking at night/early morning. Everything is so still and the sky turns a dark purple. In front of us, about 30 miles, there was a lightening storm. the whole sky would turn white every minute or so and then it would fade back to that dark purple. We were supposed to stay at the Nickerson Senior Center, but their airconditioning broke. So a local couple took us in. Jim and June Gladden run have hosted something like 50 foreign exchange students over the years.

August 4th: Nickerson, Ks to Great Bend, Ks. 51.24 miles. What can I say about Great Bend?? It was a cute town, lots of brick buildings, and they had a wonderful Methodist Church that took us in and let us sleep in their basement. Yay for the Methodists! It was also the first night that I got to cook in a long time. I fried a potato and a green bell pepper along with some cheep beef. It was wonderful.

August 5th: Great Bend, Ks to Bazine, Ks. 51.67 miles. More flat Kansas--not much changes. We stayed at the Bike Oasis in Bazine. There is not much to Bazine besides 6 churches. We didn't even have to leave the highway as the Bike Oasis was right on the side of it.

August 6th: Bazine, Ks to Scott City, Ks. 65.13 miles. And more Flat. That's right--Flat, with a capitol F. You cannot get any flatter than that. We stayed at the local athletic club where we got to shower and swim and watch TV. I got to watch fried green tomatos before falling asleep reading on the cot that they gave me. Ivan had to get up in the middle of the night and turn of the light. I felt a little bad.

August 7th: Scott City, Ks to Sheridan Lake, Co. 74.46 miles. Our last day in Kansas, and our of sheer boredom I figured out how to read a book while riding. BEFORE you all freak out let me just say again that Kansas is flat. You can see any car coming for about 10 miles and you can hear it from about a mile away. There are also no turns. Seriously, once we were out of Kansas City we turned maybe all of five times, which includes any curving of the road. So it was completely safe. Well as safe as reading a book while riding a bike can be. Do not ask me what the book was. It is too embarrasing. Let's just say that if I had died while riding and reading that book it would not have been worth it. Moby Dick? Sure, kill me now. The Moonstone? Well worth dieing for. What I was reading was trash, but that's how bored I was in Kansas. I did put the book away when we got the state line. I felt that it would be wrong to not look around for the beginning of Colorado. Let me tell you, eastern Colorado looks a lot like western Kansas. Who knew?