Boy, I needed this short day. My legs were tired as soon as I got on the bike. Just lollygagged and took my time. It got really hot by 10. I was glad I was getting off the road early.

Kansas has a county road almost every mile, and some look like no more than a tractor path. Makes you wonder where they go, but they are on my map with names like 50th Avenue. It’s pretty funny.

In LaCrosse, they have a barbed wire museum. Somewhere in this area are the limestone fence posts they used way back when because there were no trees for fence posts. Barbed wire was strung between them to keep cattle in. That was the beginning of the end of open range cattle.

Today, I finally got into some hills. So much more fun than the flat, straight roads. The first five days out of the mtns were so flat with nothing to look at that it was just plain BORING. Now, there are occasional trees, grain elevators, houses, and side roads to give me something on which to concentrate as well as the five nice hills today. On the flats, I would change gears just to have something to do. Imagine seeing a long straight road go on forever with nothing else to look at, and I felt like I wasn’t even moving.

Three of the next four days are 50-70 miles of no services. And it’s gonna be hot. Just hope there won’t be thunderstorms.