Transamericaride 2023

What a day.  Met a youngish (40s) guy yesterday who said he was catching a train ahead because he was bored and not really having much fun.  Boy, did I need to hear that.  I’ve ridden across Missouri  twice already and don’t feel the need to do it again.  I had been thinking about jumping ahead to KY but was feeling kinda guilty.  Not anymore.   I made the decision last night to not ride MO and take a train instead.  That was a futile idea.  So I tried the bus.  NOT even an option with a bike.  I was about to give up when Fred mentioned renting a car.  Sure. I can drive.  No biggy.  After at least eight phone calls, I finally found a car rental who would do a one-way rental.  I was getting a little discouraged, and tho’t I was going to have to ride MO anyway.  But I’m all set and should move all the way to Indiana tomorrow.

The best part is I get to see my friend, Deb, for a few days.  The plan is that she will pick me up near Berea, KY, the beginning of the ferocious Appalachian dogs.  Take me to her place, and then I’ll ride from there to go to PA to see another friend. 

I sure hope this all works out as we have planned.

Took Eby to a bike shop today and got a new chain, new front tire, and brakes adjusted.  Also, they cleaned him up from that awful  gravel day.  He looks like new.  And, my new shoes arrived in the mail, so I got cleats put on, and I’m ready to go.  Also, I mailed my tent and cool clothes to my friend in PA and my old shoes home.

Fred is a biker and Kris gardens.  They have eight acres and lots of cool plants.  I’m jealous that they can grow things like the mimosa tree

A very productive day.

Woke up to a thunderstorm and rain so laid in bed til it was over. Didn’t leave til 7:00. Turned out the day turned sunny and hot in a short time. Another 60 miles of nothing. It was boring and frustrating. I was to meet a friend in Chanute about noon but was a little behind my expected ETA due to a late start.

The ride was OK but nothing to write home about. A few hills but mostly flat. Just HOT. When I stopped for my first water break, I realized I hadn’t filled up my main water bottle. How stupid of me. I had two bottles in reserve, but it was hot already. Down the road away, I came upon the first rest area I’ve seen in KS. And they had bathrooms and a drinking fountain. Filled my bottle and was so thankful. The trail angels are taking care of me.

My rendezvous with my friend was kind of hilarious. He was to meet me at a specified time and place, but he got there super early and tried to find me. I screwed up cause I read the map wrong, but we finally found each other. I was so hot I tho”t I ‘d faint.

Took me to his home where I did laundry, showered, and became a real person again. His wife prepared a great dinner, and we drank wine while sitting on their deck overlooking the pond. Fred and I had ridden the BAK (bike across kansas) and the ride across WISC. Can’t remember the name. Known each other for over 20 years.

So glad to meet up with fellow bikers. We had lots of memories to share.

Left in the fog again, and it stayed foggy all morning. So nice. It stayed reasonably cool. Only had the hot sun for about an hour. I rode the 81 miles in about 6 1/2 hours. I just went for it to try to beat that heat. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, and I think tomorrow might be a few more degrees cooler.

The first half of the ride had corn fields on both sides of the road. There was a bird, only in the corn fields, that sang “suit tsi tsi.” Never did see him, but he/she was very talkative. Made my day.

Eight miles before halfway, I came to road construction. There were four miles of fresh ‘rice size’ gravel, thick, some of it in piles on both sides of the road. So unstable. And the stupid cattle trucks never slowed down a bit. I got splattered with dust and grit. And poor Eby is a mess. The last four miles only had gravel in the other lane, and the trucks still sprayed me. I had grit in my mouth, and my whole body was covered. Eby has never been this dirty. Even his spokes are coated.

After that disastrous ride, I turned into the Flint Hills. Nice rolling hills and no crops, just grass. Only a couple of small herds of cattle and very few farm houses. Really pretty area and interesting to ride. Long gentle hills and no stupid gravel.

Long day but a good riding day, weather-wise.

I got up at 5:15 and it was still dark. I really wanted to get on the road early but not ride in the dark. I put my yellow pannier covers on and my little flashing lights as well as my super yellow reflective vest. One reason it was so dark was that it was foggy. But I left at 6:15 and had very little traffic. Fortunately, it stayed foggy til after 9:30, which kept it cooler. Prob only in the upper 80’s rather than the 90s. I still sweated like crazy. There wasn’t a dry stitch on my body when I got here at 10:30. My hair was one big wet blob. I’ve taken to carrying a small rag that I brought to catch the drips off my forehead and nose. I can’t stand sweat dripping off my face, and it was soaked within the first hour. I wear a bandana, but it gets soaked immediately, too. As I was riding from Taco Bell to the motel, maybe two miles through town, the heat off the pavement was unbearable. I can’t imagine trying to ride in this heat for very long.

The forecast is for a few degrees cooler tomorrow. I have 73 miles of nothing tomorrow, and really, really not looking forward to that. There is very little shade along the road. I went thru two bottles of water today. Will carry three tomorrow and hope for the best. I can always stop at a farmhouse if I need more.

I couldn’t believe all the tree limbs and branches in the street this morning. That storm must have been worse than I tho’t. Didn’t see any damage to buildings, but it was hard to gawk when I had to miss everything in the street. If I had been in a tent, my tent would have been shredded, and who knows where we would have ended up. Once I got out of town, the damage didn’t seem to be as bad. There were some really big limbs down.

Today was 52 miles of nothing between towns. However, I had some of the best roads and some shoulders. But it got HOT. Saw my first limestone posts today but their use was only decorative.

Passed the Quivira Nat’l Wildlife Refuge. All I could see from the road was a big lake.

The refuge was 7 miles long on one side and 2 miles long on the other so there weren’t any buildings for cover. I had a few clouds but nothing I was worried about. Right before the refuge, it started to rain, but there was blue sky overhead. I don’t even know where the rain came from. I stopped to put on my pannier covers, and while doing so, little white pellets bombarded me. I jumped back on my bike and pedaled like a mad woman. I didn’t want to get shredded. It soon stopped, but that wasn’t fun.

After the refuge. I came across a beautiful field of sunflowers. Made my day.

Towards the end of the ride, I came across a pathetic field of barely 6 inches tall soy beans. Don’t think they are gonna make it. At least that field is basically weed free.

I’m staying in the Hedrick BNB on the Exotic Animal Farm tonight. Check out my bed. Unreal.

Saw on the weather map, 96 degrees here, feels like 102. Tomorrow’s temp is forecasted to be 104. Wonder what that will feel like.

Below are some of the animals here at the exotic animal farm.

I know these pics were the full shot, but on my phone, sometimes the top gets cut off for whatever reason. When I look at a computer, the full pic is there. Sorry that the full pic might not show up on your phone.

Oh my gosh. The alarms went off at 6:05. A big storm, hail, and power went off. Scary. Happened so fast is what I worry about on the road. Tornado warning, and I’m freaking out. It happened so fast. If I were out on the road, I’d be history. So scared. I was just about ready to walk out for dinner. Mostly pouring down rain. So scary. Hail the size of a small egg. If I got hit by that, I’d be mush. We congregated in the lobby. One guest had to move cause their windows broke with the hail. Like I said, it’s so scary. The motel host said there was a tornado that touched down outside of town. Dang, where am I? I hate this.

I got moved to another room because my fire alarm thingy wouldn’t shut off. What a pain. An hour later and the power had still not come on. Yuk! I don’t worry about no power except I can’t see much. And now I’m on the other side of the building where the clouds have moved to.

At least I don’t have to worry about finding a place to eat. I have emergency rations on me, and all is well. Not what i was planning for tonite, but, oh, well.

7 ;40 and still no power

Guess I’ll try to sleep. That might be a joke.

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.

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.

Woke up to the thickest fog I’ve seen in a while. I couldn’t even see across the street. Wasn’t riding in that, so I laid back down and waited til the sun burnt it off. I wanted to be seen and even in all yellow, I would not have felt safe.

Three snakes and one bungy today. Total bungies now 54. Guess I should have kept track of all the snakes. I didn’t think I’d see that many. Locals say they are rattlers and bull snakes. So far, they’ve all been dead.

Rode 31 miles to the only place to stay before another 60 miles. Clouds were already building up behind me and I wasn’t sure with the daily head winds that I could make it that far. I was feeling pretty frisky but probably not enough to outrun a thunderstorm. This area had egg size hail last night with damage to houses. Not something I want to get caught in.

Last night’s lodging was the best ever. They had a breakfast room with a good spread. Last night, when I was inquiring about places to eat (there was only one and I had been there for lunch), I was informed that the hotel had a small bar where I could get wine and had a limited menu for dinner. Whala! I had a really good pizza and didn’t have to leave the hotel. There really wasn’t much of anything else in that little town of 600 people. Although, before I found the hotel, I was able to get a paperback from the library.

So, call me wussy or whatever, but I made the decision today to try to find a ride to the next lodging site 60 miles down the road. Places to find cover were 15 or more miles apart. I was going to stay here at the local church, but the pastor and his wife were going to go that way and said they’d take me to Leoti. Yeah!. A big thanks to Pastor Jim and Pam. So many nice people in the world.

The only building in a ‘town’ I went through today.

Yesterday, one snake and one bungy. Today, three snakes and one bungy. Total now 53.

Today is what I’d call a pitso day. Started out with the sun for a half hour, and then these low-lying foggy looking clouds moved in from all directions. (Forecast was for hot and sunny). I kept watching to see if it was going to get threatening, but it didn’t. Was cool, which was great until the last 10 miles when the cool turned into a very fine mist, and I got chilly. How weird. Didn’t get wet. Just damp. I felt like a wet rag. There were times I couldn’t see a half mile down the road. There were lots of trucks and a shoulder that came and went. I do not understand the roads and shoulders in CO. It just doesn’t make sense. I had my yellow rain covers on my panniers so I’d be as visible as possible, but it was spooky sometimes. You couldn’t call it overcast. It was just weird. And on top of that, I had headwinds the last 30 miles. Like I said, not a fun day. For some reason, days like this are really hard on my body.

In general, I feel really good. I wake up feeling ready to go. I have a great appetite and not losing weight. Darn! My aches and pains pretty much go away overnight. I’m sorta missing the hills. Flat is boring, and today was a perfect example. The view never changed.