Kansas!! Day 2: Ottawa to Cottonwood Falls

An 81 mile journey to Cottonwood Falls with a 6:45am departure and a 4:15 arrival at The Mill Creek Inn. 

I wanted to leave early to maximize my miles before the heat and/or the wind kicked in and my goal was to get to Cottonwood Falls, probably the nicest little town in the area. I had a very light breakfast before I left so my plan was to have a good breakfast after the first hour or so. My first opportunistic town was Williamsburg after about 15 miles but not a cafe/diner in sight. 

My Plan B town of Waverly, about a mile off of my route and 25 miles from Ottawa had showed this little cafe on the internet but alas they were closed on Sunday.  The next town was Emporia about 35 miles away!!  No good!

I stopped and asked a guy in shorts, flip flops and no shirt walking his dog and he said the gas station a little further away might have something. That’s where I found chocolate milk (yea!!) and a microwave breakfast burrito (☹️).  The people there were very nice and talkative to me and the quick stop did the trick for my energy level, just not so much for my tastebuds

. 

Bad news for the wind farms is good news to me. The winds were light and variable and were a non-factor today. The heat and humidity were another thing. 

The longest stretches of my route were on “Old US Hwy 50” which was great riding for the most part but about 10 miles east of Emporia and 15 miles west the road is crumbling or it’s been covered in gravel. 


My plan was to see how I felt in Emporia, 60 miles into my day, and decide to push on another 21 miles to Cottonwood Falls or not.  I was pretty tired and hot, now about 2 o’clock, and was seriously thinking about calling it a day. I stopped in this McDonalds to get on the WiFi and grabbed myself a giant Dr. Pepper and Double Cheeseburger and began looking for a place to sleep in Emporia.  But the food and drink, and the air conditioning gave me another pick-me-up so I started making calls to find a spot in Cottonwood Falls and got lucky and found a room.  I just had to get there before 5. Time for me to ride!

 

Noooooo!  Where’s my paved road?!

+10 miles later and I’m still looking for a paved road. 

Turning south towards Cottonwood Falls and getting off of “Old US 50” I find more gravel and dirt roads.  And there’s some big thunder clouds brewing as well.  Luckily I’m up for the challenge. 

Finally into my room, decorated in a Western Bordello theme, I soak in the tub and head out for dinner.  I haven’t eaten much today and I’m pretty hungry after 81 miles. 

For some strange reason the restaurants in Cottonwood Falls are closed tonight so I have to cross the Cottonwood River and ride about 2 miles north to the only open restaurant around, The Ad-Aster in Strong City, where everybody works out? 💪

I met this lovely couple, David and Lydia, at the bar. We clicked almost instantly because they are from San Anselmo, CA and they know well the Panama Hotel and Restaurant that Angela and I stayed at in San Rafael when the rain slowed us down north of San Francisco about a month ago. They came all the way from the Bay Area for a big, famous, KC Orchestra outdoor event nearby. It draws thousands of people to this rural area and lodging is booked up for miles and miles around. A few days before the big event a Kansas Style storm came through and wiped out the tents that were set up for the big show and they had to cancel, leaving thousands of travelers with non-cancelable rooms lots of time to eat and drink!!