Another cool morning, which is good as we are riding 85 miles. Very humid this morning as we start although no signs of, or talk of rain. Dodge City is noted to have the most consistent wind of any city in America at 13.4 mph. As we are leaving there are new windmill farms to harness the wind energy.
The first SAG is at mile 30 in Offerle. We have been promised that there is a bakery there that makes great cinnamon buns so everyone can hardly wait. Unfortunately when we arrive the bakery has changed to a Taco restaurant that is offering chicken "gizzard" tacos as its breakfast special! None of the riders tried these delights. At mile 38 we stop at the "Midway USA" sign. This is the midway between new York and San Francisco with 1561 miles each way.
We leave there to go to the second SAG of the day in Garfield which does not have anything open but does have a nice park at the edge of town. At mile 62 we are in Larned which is the crossroads for cyclists crossing the USA from East to West or North to South. Just before we got there I had my first flat tire. The girls and I managed to get the rear wheel off the bike and were intent on fixing it when Barry came back and lent a hand. Much better for him to do the dirty work and he can also do it much faster. A nice little piece of wire right through the tire and in to the tube!
Up until now we have been on very good roads with nice shoulders. Immediately we realize we must be in a different county as the shoulder is in poor repair with cracks every 12 feet or so that are rough on the hands and body after a while.
At mile 71 some of the riders go to see the "Pawnee Rock Historic Marker for the Sante Fe Trail". This used to be the highest point around and the Indians sat on this looking for buffalo. Later,the early settlers would climb this to look for other wagon trains and hostile "Pawnee" Indians. Legend goes that the famous plainsman, Kit Carson, shot a mule thinking it was a hostile Indian. The railroad needed fill to level out the track so the marker is now 1/2 the height it was back in the 1800's. We continued on the bad shoulder all the way in to Great Bend.
hi there...have had lots of trouble trying to leave comments!! Have truly enjoyed your blogs and thankful you are doing well...some challenges!! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteMy parents arrived Fri and we are having a good visit...Sarah's grad is Wed. There's a family dinner today at Deb and Karen's that we will pop into to say hi...then going to see Russell's movie...we will be busy here with our own stuff...the bridesmaids are having a meeting here this evening and we will keep Macy...take care!! love, Kathy
This is Jamie. I still can't believe what you guys are doing, it gives me so many mixed emotions, inspiring,amazing,awesome and at the same time insane! But I am very proud of both of you and hope that the experiences and memories are everything you hoped for. We have been watching your progress but have had trouble adding our comments. Keep truckin! Love Jamie
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