Sleeping in Bird City, Kansas was a lose-lose. You could either sleep zipped up in the sleeping bag and boil alive, (literally sweating - it was a hot night) or sleep outside the bag and get eaten alive by the skeeters. I chose to do about half and half to maximize my sweaty mosquito-bitten situation. Actually besides the skeeters the park was really sweet, and all the people really nice. People in Kansas have to be nice though because you don't want to be mean AND from Kansas do you? That is also a lose-lose. People in Wyoming however are not concerned about this.
I think we had a slight headwind today, but great sunny riding weather again! Tons of perspective going on out here in the sunflower state. There is a rule in Kansas that roads can only have 1 curve in them per 50 miles of straight stretch, so it makes for a lot of long vanishing points. Also, although Kansas is on average flat, we have been doing our fair share of climbs and falls over a rolling landscape, not quite the stereotypical flat pancake, at least where we've ridden so far.
We ate a delicious delicious lunch at Subway thanks to a gift card from mom (thanks mom!!) After lunch we encountered a rattlesnake (one that finally wasn't roadkill) on the side of the road. We figured Joel had given us enough advice on distracting deadly snakes so James went ahead and gave it the kiss of death. In Norton we saw the same 2 guys from yesterday who are biking from San Francisco to New York City and talked to them for a while. They've had much better luck with flat tires than us, maybe we need to get some of the nice fatty tires they have!
We've also come to the conclusion that every town has a park, no matter how small, which has been crucial for our hobo experience. Even ol' Prairie View, Kansas where we are tonight. So far there are no skeeters here (keeping our fingers crossed!) and we have express permish from the county policeman to use the facilities and get our slumber on. So unfortunately we aren't technically hobos tonight. We're trying as hard as possible to look the part though with our 3 and 1/2 week "beards".
Also, thanks so much dad and diane for sending the t-shirts we had made to Otis! We are now officially a protest tour because we can roll into diners wearing our matching RLPT uniforms.
Today we hit the 2,000 mile mark! That's 4 hours of flying in a plane, 33 hours of straight driving in a car, 25 days of pedaling on a bike, or several years of rolling if you are the rolling Baba. Put THAT in your brains protestors!
-posted by Aaron
So, your blog content and adventure has been topic of water cooler talk. Word gets around the real world, and we're rooting for you! Today someone asked which state you guys are in as I filled up my cup. (I relayed the raven/cheese thief story last week). Keep up the great attitudes, stay healthy, and good luck on the back stretch!! I'll stay tuned.
ReplyDelete- Annie, another Corcoran
ps. That's so cool of you guys to grow play-off beards for 3.5 weeks. All your hard work and scruffiness paid off on Saturday in Detroit. Pittsburgh thanks you, from the bottom of our black (and gold!) hearts.
I love reading this when i should be paying attention in my summer classes!
ReplyDeleteSweet snake!
5 guys from JMU are currently riding E to W and will be in Dexter Missouri this weekend -- keep yours eyes for them if your around there!
you guys have me paranoid over getting flats now since i still cant change my own successfully.
Also Sam and crew - if you guys head through Harrisonburg youre more than welcome to crash at my place and enjoy luxurious showers!