| after about 14 miles of hills, the terrain flattened out. but by then we were in the grip of ferociously strong southerly winds that plagued us the entire day. 2 riders didn't bike at all today, 3-4 others sagged in from different points on the route. patty stopped the van to pick up a couple of riders 15 miles out; she quipped that if our route had been heading north we'd be in canada by now. after we got to pittsburg late afternoon i called the local airport; they said that winds today had gusted up to 40-45 mph. i think those winds back in missouri were stronger. that's where we were most of today. |
| several riders got pushed by the wind gusts onto the side of the road. sari just barely was able to get her foot unclipped & into the grass to keep herself from toppling over after a gust moved her off the road. when big trucks went by you had to hold onto your handlebars & keep your wits about you, because a vacuum was created beside the truck that tended to pull you into it. thinking back, hills are easier than heavy winds; with hills you get a chance to coast once in a while, but never with high winds like today's. this evening everyone's knees ache from constant pedalling, & our arms, wrists, & hands hurt, too, from gripping the handlebars so tight all the time. once today when sari & i stopped, i looked back at her & noticed that her sunglasses were riding down on the tip of her nose. she pointed out that she couldn't take either hand off the handlebars to push them back because she had to maintain a constant tight grip on her handlebars. the winds were just plain scary most of the day; now i know how dorothy & toto felt. |
| there was a four-mile bright spot in today's ride. at about 22 mi we turned north to the little town of golden city. we only had to sit on our bike seats & rest our feet on the pedals & we got pushed along at 20 mph. golden city provided another bright spot...cooky's cafe, with a lineup of fresh, homebaked pies like you've never seen...over a dozen. sari & i both picked gooseberry. it reminded us each of our childhood & pies our grandmothers or mothers used to bake. cooky's gooseberry pie was warm & scrumptious. |
| golden city was the only town on today's route. after leaving there it was over 35 miles of no towns or services....but lots of wind. linda came by in the subaru every once in a while to offer snacks, water, gatorade, & moral support. |
| there were a few things i noticed today besides the wind. one was turtles. i picked up 5 more of them, making the total now 21. |
| something else i noticed was fields of corn; reminded me of home (iowa). the little corn stalkettes i saw today were about ankle-high. a turkey vulture also caught my eye; he had come down to clean up some roadkill & didn't want to lift off without it. |
| today's scary dog was a huge dalmatian. he had to be a cross between a dalmatian & a draft horse; i'm sure he eats regular-sized dalmatians for breakfast. when sari & i were spinning up that 4-mi stretch with tailwinds behind us, i heard the always-alarming sound of an animal running up beside me. i also heard sari shouting 'no, no' so i knew it was a dog. i looked to the side & saw that huge spotted animal & shouted a few 'NO's' of my own. fortunately he veered off our trail shortly thereafter. |
| FINALLY we approached kansas. just at the state line we came across a little gas station/convenience store. we thot it was a mirage. we fell off our bike seats & hobbled inside to use the restroom & get something to drink. i polished off a pint of chocolate milk in no time......whole chocolate milk, fat calories & all. |
| just around the bend we stopped to get pictures verifying our passage into our 5th state--kansas. |
