Day 6 -Pratt, KS - A Real Rest Day

Sorry folks, no photos today. We are on vacation, well kind of. After getting David and Katie off to their football game in Norman, OK and Ellen, Roger and Kathi off on their drive to Colorado. Martha and Kit get to drive up once again to Hutchinson to pick up our bikes. We take our bike shoes so that we can ride them and see if everything is in fact working well. We certainly don't want to drive back there again. On the drive home we are both thinking about a nap! The afternoon is resting, re-organizing, blogging, hot tubing, just catching up in general. We should be well ready to hop on our bikes for the ride due east tomorrow. Keep hoping for wind at our backs.

Day 5 Layover Day, Pratt, KS or Down Memory Lane

We start our layover day spending 2 1/2 hours driving to(and back from) the closest bicycle shop in Hutchinson, KS. It turns out to be quite a nice shop, Harley's Bicycle Shop, that sees about 150 cross country riders a year. He, Bob, is confident he can make the ugly noises in our bikes go away. Upon our return to Pratt we gather up Aunt Ellen who was born here 95 years ago, Cousin Roger and Kathi who drove her from Colorado to here yesterday, and Bill for a tour of Pratt and listening to all of Ellen's memories.


First we visit the house that Ellen lived in from 6 to 18 until going off to college. She remember the little boy across the street who her father, an ENT doctor, had to remove his eye due to cancer. Then we drove towards town by her old school, since torn down and rebuilt. Once in town we did a walking tour by the old bank where her father had an office above it. Across the street is a People's Bank, we bank at the Taos branch of People's but it's home office is in KS. Then down the street to gaze at the unusual architecture of the theater which was there when Ellen lived here. Notice the brick street in front. All the old part of town has brick streets, the original ones too. This here is main street and gets a lots of heavy truck traffic as it is the major N/S route. We are amazed at the excellent condition of the bricks.
Our last stop before lunch is the Pratt Tribune where Ellen marched right in telling them her age and that she was born here and did they want to hear her story. They took her in the back for about 20 minutes for an "interview" and photo while we were out in front hearing more stories of Pratt from the editor. After lunch we hit the historical museum and spent about another 1 1/2 hours there before returning to the hotel for a needed rest before dinner.

Dinner was another adventure. We left Pratt at 4:45 and drove 75 minutes to a tiny town in Oklahoma boasting only a few streets and luckily for us a gas station plus a lovely Victorian House that is a restaurant 3 nights a week. They specialize in home raised beef and home made desserts. We enjoyed it all plus our good friends
from Tulsa, OK who arranged for all this. People
do drive great distances here for almost anything. Thank you David and Katie! After being completely stuffed with a great dinner we all drove back to Pratt in a 3 car caravan accompanied by the most unusual light show any of us had seen. Two large thunder clouds were being lit up constantly by lightning on the "inside" of the cloud. It was the most amazing and beautiful sight and stay going for most of the drive home. What a full "rest" day, not a rest day at all. Martha and I are so glad we have another day off to maybe rest a little. But what fun and, after all, this is what the ride is all about.

Day 4 Dodge City to Pratt, KS and BARELY A BREEZE

81.60 miles, 5:47 riding time, 8.5 total time on road.

Yippee, barely a breeze today, and what a difference. We awoke to dampness and very cloudy skies so we put on our rain jackets and headed out. Out of Dodge City on a less-traveled road (at least in the early morning), we enjoyed smooth pavement, and a good shoulder, mostly. AND NO WIND! WHAT A RELIEF! But we are definitely weary.
Maybe next time we should actually train for a ride.

























Mullinsville, KS, a tiny one-grain-elevator-town, had an interesting metal artist-political expressionist amongst its citizens.













































A much better pace today kept our spirits higher, and by 11:30 we had ridden the 46 miles into Greensburg. What an amazing place. In May 2007, two tornadoes forming a "wedge" devastated the town, destroying or damaging 95% of the homes and businesses. 1400 people lived there, 900 now. So many homes and businesses have been re-built with the help of Habitat for Humanity, a Mennonite foundation, some grants. Many businesses are LEED certified, with others, and homes of "green" construction. Here and there for blocks and blocks there were empty lots, leafless dead trees, old building foundations and chimneys, and new houses scattered about.


























We had a great lunch in a coffehouse next to a sweet gift shop. Owners of both shops had other careers before the tornado, but when devastation hit they used it in a positive way to do something they each had always wanted to do. The gift shop owner had done fused glass work as a hobby previously, but was now selling in her shop, and her husband, a mechanic-turned-stained glass artist created the most beautiful window in the newly-built Methodist church. We saw scrapbooks with powerful images of the destruction, and were impressed by the strength and spirit of the locals we talked to. A very interesting place. Even before the tornado they boasted the world's largest hand dug well, and a huge meteorite on display. It is an area where many meteors happen to fall. Bill is thinking about buying land to "collect" much-sought-after meteors fallen meteors. Anyone want to buy stock?



After a two hour break we were back on the road. The sun had chased all the clouds away and the temperature was definitely back fairly hot. We had to stop a couple more times in the last 30 miles into Pratt for a bit of shade and stretching.



But, it is still Kansas with flat fields. Kit is amongst the milo
On to the Comfort Suites, and happily anticipating a rest day tomorrow.

Day 3 Lakin to Dodge City, Guess What? More Wind

Windy Heights B & B in Lakin in the early morning light.

82.53 miles, 6.26 hours riding time, and lots of rest stops today.




Up at 6 as usual for breakfast at the B & B, and off with cool temps and clouds. We had a pleasant hour before the Kansas wind joined us...head to side wind again. Really foggy for the first few hours so we could not see far, but knew we weren't missing any great views. Just fields, grain elevators and feed lots. About 27 miles to Garden City where we stopped at a convenience store for a quick break. More traffic, lots of trucks, but a decent shoulder. Lost a bit of time with our first flat tire, but a quick change put us back on the road soon.

Really agonizing not being quite ready for the long days and wind. Our quads ached, or back were stiff, our butts sore. We were happy for the road construction at several points along the way so we could get off our bikes to wait for the pilot car. Of course the pilot car always made several passes back and forth while we were still making our way through. One flag man was too busy texting to bother with us. We asked if we should go and he said "sure, just don't get run over!" Gee, Kansas folks are so nice, mostly.

Lunch was sitting at a grain elevator for snacks of cheese and crackers, grapes and cookies.

On to Cimarron at mile 62 for a stop at an old-time soda fountain. Bill met us there for chocolate shakes, always looking for the good things in life. See....we do have a little fun on the trip.



Then back on the road for another agonizing 25 miles into Dodge City. There is a wonderful view of Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts before entering Dodge. OK, trust me, even if you can't see.



It was 5 pm before we got to the campground, after 9 1/2 hours since starting out. Our speed was not too bad considering the day-long wind, we just have to stop often. After setting up the tents, we decided Applebee's would be a great choice for supper.





Life in camp includes laundry and at least a bit of down time.

Day 2 Lamar to Lakin 77.7 Miles of Wind

77.72 miles, 6:10 hours riding time, total time was 9.5 hours, a very long day.

We awoke at 6:00, seems to be the time that works well to be off early. The usual breakfast. Stayed at a motel last night as no camping options. The swimming pool and beds were quite nice for weary cyclists. And the Thai restaurant was a very pleasant surprise.

A quick stop for a photo of the wind turbine blade at the Lamar Depot, then off into the wind.




































Lovely morning, and in Holly, CO by 9:30. We had stopped here 5 years ago on our first bike tour "The Santa Fe Trail Trek" from Santa Fe to Dodge City, following the old trade route. Then, a family who lives near the Holly train station fed 50 folks a great brunch as we enjoyed a view of the station, and a Santa Fe Trail marker in their yard. Holly was the original area that Holly Sugar Company grew sugar beets. Nearby there was a Japanese American Relocation Camp and a community started by the Salvation Army also for relocation of "landless men to menless land."



Once back on the road, the wind began as heavy as the day before and head to side wind. We were told by a local that it always blows in Kansas from the south, except today (and following days). We have tropical storm Hermine to thank. Grrr. Exhausting for us at the beginning of the trip.



On to Syracuse, past the junkyard at mile 50 where we met Bill for lunch at a local cafe, the Ramble In Restaurant, to fuel up for the 30 more miles of wind.



At mile 63, the top of a hill where the time zone changes we took a rest. A very talkative woman, Sass, came by to see if we were ok, offered to run to the nearby store for some COLD water, which we took her up on. She had met some European gentlemen walking at the same place last year, and fetched them water too. As we were talking another car pulls up and out jump Bambi and Lou, Taos friends, on their way to Levenworth to pick up an Airstream! They thought they would run into us. Wonderful to see them. Then they were off, with 200 more miles to go today. We thought they would probably reach their destination before ours, only 14 miles into the wind.




Not lots to see in this part of Colorado and Kansas.


Wearily we made our way into Lakin. Choices for overnights were the Beymer Recreation Water Park for camping. We nixed that as it was 4 miles south of town....the Ken-Ark Motel, as exciting as it sounds, or the Windy Heights Bed and Breakfast...a lovely suburban home and yard run by a very nice couple. She does the B&B work, and he raises organic livestock.

Day One - La Junta, CO to Lamar, CO

Distance: 59 and some miles

Terrain: Flat

Wind: Gentle to Building to Fierce

We went to sleep in fairly warm weather but in the middle of the night temperatures cooled and by morning it was quite nice. We found we quickly got back into our morning "take down camp" routine pretty easily. We had our quick breakfast of yogurt, granola bar, banana, and juice and we were off by 7:40 before the Labor Day traffic had awakened. The first hour or so was very pleasant through farming county and by Bents Fort which we visited the last year when we were here. We stopped however to get in another photo. The other two photos above are of the eastern Colorado country side which gets more flat and boring as we head east. This is all made more enjoyable by the building wind which slowed us from our 15 to 16mph pace to about 9 to 11mph. The last 20 miles were just a matter of putting our heads down and peddling as best we could. We arrived in Lamar about 1:30 totally exhausted. Oh my, we have 70+ miles to go tomorrow. We plan to start early!

Day 0, Sunday 9/5, Timpas to La Junta

DAY ZERO: starting where we left off last year!

Remember last year mid-October when an unseasonably cold front came down from the north? On Sunday 10/11/2010 we awoke to 22 degrees in Trinidad, CO, but braved the cold and headed west towards La Junta. We were rescued by Chris in the RV 18 miles west of La Junta seconds before the big black cloud brought heavy wind and freezing rain. Since the weather for the next several days was the same, we decided to not ride the four days to our end point in Pratt, KS. So we headed home and this year started where we left off, exactly the same spot.

Interestingly, a major temperature difference, this time it was 97 degrees as we unloaded the bikes off the car to head into La Junta, having driven up from Taos. It seemed one of the longest 18 mile rides we have ever done. The heat was intense and we realized how exhausted we were after days and weeks of non-stop work preparing for the trip and other things life threw at us. But we made it and were on the road again.








Does Timpas in Spanish mean the "middle of nowhere?" No, I think we found that the next day. So it was a very hot ride into La Junta to the tenting area at the KOA, yes, where we stayed last year. Bill unloaded all the gear and we sent him to the Koshare Indian Museum, a gem of a museum with an incredible collection of old Taos Artists and many other Indian and Western artifacts. Kit and Martha set up tents, showered and we all enjoyed a great boxed pinot grigio and a good meal of steak, local corn on the cob and salad, and a great night's sleep.

We have lots of kinks to work out, in the camping and car-packing department as well as in our bodies. We are happy to be back on the road and have a great adventure to look forward to. While we may make changes to the route, as it is now we plan on heading straight east across Kansas and Missouri. We'll cross the mighty Missouri at Cape Girardeau, have a day in southern IL, cross the Ohio and drop just a bit south to Columbia, KY. Then we'll head east and south across TN going through Hardin, Dover, Dickson, and Winchester. After a day and a half in northern AL, we'll follow a paved rail-trail to eastern Atlanta, and ride across the northern suburbs then make our way ending the trip in Savannah

Whew, and it is just the beginning!