Day 26 - Prairie View to Beloit

Distance - 101.2 miles

Prairie View offered a nice nights sleep; we stayed dry even though it was pouring. The only casualty that night was Aaron's phone, which was accidentally left out in the rain. Bummer.

We had a sweet Pizza Hut lunch buffet in Smith center, but we soon learned that buffets are not as enjoyable when you have to get back on the bike afterwards. Grumblings were had but not enjoyed by all.

Right about Lebanon, KS, we stopped at the Center of the Contiguous United States. It's essentially where the US would balance if it were a cardboard cutout. And by 'stopped at' I mean we went to the sign off the road that was 4 miles from the actual center. I'm not biking an extra 8 miles, but you're more than welcome to.

This was not our only amazing sight this day. For later in the afternoon we passed through Cawker City, home of the worlds largest ball of twine. It's housed beneath a shelter and looks more like a dome now than a ball, but it'll do. Every year they hold a twine-a-thon and add more to the ball. They really don't want to lose that title, or there really wouldn't be anything left in the town. The only other business around was the Ball Of Twine Inn, and that would go under with the twine.

The land continued to be rolling and un-Kansas like until we hit Downs. The last 20 or so miles (including the stop at the twine) were fairly flat, and a nice end to a long day. We finally hit Beloit and looked around for a place to stay. There was a park off the road, but we decided we could find something better (with bathrooms), so we continued down the road until we found the Beloit Sports Complex next to the high school. Beloit must be pretty good at sports, because this was an impressively large place. A little later, (but before we had unpacked, thankfully) a cop came by and told us we could stay in the basement of the municipal building because it was going to be stormy. We told him we would rather spend the night in jail, but he wouldn't let us, so we settled for basement/tornado shelter that conveniently had workout mats on the floor for extra padding while we slept. It's always nice to have an indoor space to sleep in, especially when there is a microwave for my oatmeal the next morning. I have to say that this was probably the 2nd nicest gesture of hospitality we have had (it would be pretty hard to beat Helena).