2 snakes and no bungy today

Nice ride today, even though I had a big thunderhead off to my right for 20+ miles. Just kept watching it and looking for a place to take shelter. It wasn’t quite so desolate today. A farm house here and there. Several elevators along the route. I felt like I had options if needed. It hasn’t been like that. Still what I would call ghost towns in between the real towns, though.

I started seeing some fields of crops. Before today, I had seen what looked like really short, scrawny corn, but I knew it wasn’t. Looked more like sorghum. I was informed that it was Milo. I’m not sure what that is, but it didn’t look healthy. Supposedly, there is lots of wheat grown here, and most has been harvested. I never saw a wheat field, but I did see horrendous weed fields. The ditches are full of big weeds I can’t identify. The fields have tons of burdock, kochia weed, and amaranth family weeds. Disgusting. Maybe that’s all that really grows here. They don’t usually get much rain and they don’t irrigate. The roadsides and fields are just not pleasant to look at.

However, I did see a few beautiful corn fields today. I was shocked. They were at least four feet tall and a nice dark green. I tho’t of hiding out in one of them from the lightning.

Halfway through my ride before Scott City, there were several feed lots and nearby fields with rows and rows of four foot tall berms of manure. Quite aromatic for a while.

I started seeing oil rigs today also. One here and there. Some work, some not. I was told KS ranks 9th in oil production in the US. I had no idea.

I got to a town after 50 miles where I could have stayed, but it was a dive. So I decided to go to the next town. My map showed three motels there, so I figured it would be better than where I was. Turned out it was further than the signs said. The road signs, my map, and my computer never agree, but this was off quite a bit. When I got to the third town with three motels, they were all defunct. I stopped at the liquor store and asked where I could get a room. “Nothing in this town”. Holy crap. The next available place to stay was 40 miles down the road. My legs were already tired, and Eby was on his last two bars. The cashier and a customer called everyone they knew to find me a place to stay and had no luck. I was ready to thumb a ride. But the nice cashier called her fiancé and asked him if he’d be willing to drive me to the next real town. He was, and he did. Oh, my gosh, these people were so nice. He came with his pick-up and took me to LaCross, four miles off route, but that’s ok. And for the second day in a row, he, like the pastor yesterday, would not let me give him any gas money. I’m telling you, when you travel alone, people take care of you. I was so grateful. I think tomorrow might be a short day cause there is nothing for a long way again.

Adventure Cycling needs to update their maps. In addition to the road map, they list motels, libraries, camp grounds, bike shops, sheriffs, and places to eat. Now I’m afraid to trust this info. Whoever would have thought that all three motels would be out of business.