Kansas!! Day 8: Tribune to Sheridan Lake, CO

A short ride on a cold and blustery day to get me over the Colorado-Kansas border to Sheridan Lake where Angela was waiting for me (with some east bound cyclist; Maybe she has a cyclist thing going on?). 

Yesterday evening I thought I was going to miss all the storm activity but around 11’ish thunder and lightning emanated from the western sky.  A radar check indicated that I was likely to get some wind and rain so I crawled out of my sleeping bag and lashed the rain fly over my tent as best as I could to protect me from the blowing rain.  It hit a little after midnight but I stayed dry. 

When I crawled out of my tent at 6:30 I found Judy(L) and Karen(R) doing their morning swim (Karen has a key) even though it was 55 degrees out and windy.  A hardy breed these west Kansas women are!

After the challenge of breaking camp while keeping my tent from blowing away I headed to the only place in town for breakfast, the Cenex Gas Station. Nothing says breakfast like a breakfast pizza.  It actually wasn’t too bad and it got me into Colorado! 

Low gray skies, and a stiff wind from the north made this short day probably my most challenging. Besides the less than pleasant conditions I think my state of mind that this was my 13th and last day of riding, kind of told my body to relax, it’s over, and it did. 

I see road carnage all day long but this one caught my attention and made me a little sad that this antelope wouldn’t be playing on the range any more. 

16 miles after leaving Tribune I say hello CO and good bye KS!! I enjoyed my solo tour of Kansas just fine and I’m glad I rode. I had better weather than I could have expected, no flats, no mechanical issues, no dropped bikes or fall overs, no wrecks, no saddle sores, no lost articles, and no sunburn. I met some wonderful and interesting people and only a few strange, weird or unpleasant ones. Drivers of both trucks and cars were probably 98 to 99% kind and considerate with only a few bad actors. My bike which I call The Beast, The Cracken or Flica, depending on my mood and if I call it by name at all, ran like a champ. I don’t think I could have asked for more. 

Now reunited with my wonderful wife, who lets me do these strange things every now and then, I’m heading home to see our new 2 week old baby granddaughter Merritt who I’ve only seen once after she was born. And of course our grandsons Graham, Miles, daughter Michelle and husband Adam and son Ryan and his wife Mattie.  I think one of the benefits of traveling like this makes you appreciate even more the important things in life; the ones you love, your friends and the joy of coming home again. 

Song of the Day; Big Weekend by Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pUQSGxsKi4M

Kansas!! Day 7: Dighton to Tribune

I left Dighton at 7:15 and arrived in Tribune at 2:15 in the afternoon for a 74 mile day. Only 16 more miles to the Colorado state line!  

Shortly after leaving Dighton a large, low, fast moving storm was blowing across my path. The radar and the forecast had predicted nothing like this so I stopped, got geared up for a rainstorm and rode on. The skies darkened over me and the wind picked up but not a drop fell on me. 

When I stopped to prep for the storm I picked up this piece of Kansas tall grass on my pannier.   For miles and miles it stuck there and I used it as my apparent wind gauge (for those sailors that may be reading this).  And because of the storm the wind had shifted from the northwest to the northeast and was now pushing me west!  

I saw 3 bikers headed east on the Trans-Am and Will was the first one I spoke with. He too is headed across the country and one of the more modern lite-packers on carbon bikes. 

My first stop of the day was Scott City for breakfast. I saw nothing that looked like a cafe at all so I asked a gentleman on the corner if I could find a real breakfast in town and he recommended me to a little hotel a few blocks north that had a restaurant.  There was no sign of a restaurant at the hotel so I wandered around and finally found a room full of locals having breakfast at 9:15 

Gravy is good, in this case liberally poured over 2 over-easy eggs, fried green peppers and onions, and sausage all sitting on a bed of hash browns.  Mmmmmmm. 

Mitch was on day 47 of a 90 day trip across the country. Originally from South Dakota, he’s been a missionary in the Philippines for the last 30. years.  A very nice guy, he shared that he had just stopped at a cyclist memorial a few miles to the west. He was facing the headwind that I had been enjoying so we wished each other well and went our separate directions. 

John Egbers was rear-ended by a car near here last summer and died from his injuries. He was 64. He apparently had just stopped at another dead cyclist memorial a few miles further west before he was hit.

I have a few links for more information if you like. Warning, it’s pretty tragic and sobering. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sctimes.com/amp/1510647002

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kansas.com/news/local/article214446529.html

Yea!!  I’m still in Kansas but by crossing into Greeley County, the western most county on K96,  I’m now on Mountain Time and just added a whole hour to my day!

  

I believe that this is the other cyclist memorial that John Egbers had stopped at. Later in town a young man, Manuel, that I came to know told me this cyclist’s name was Jeremy and he goes to school with his kids. He said Jeremy was hit by a car and died in 2014. 

 

At 2:15 (1:15 MDT) I pull into Tribune. It was early still, I still had a somewhat favorable wind and I could be in CO in 16 miles and a church I could sleep in in Sheridan Lake in 30 more miles. That would make it a +100 mile day which was kind of cool too.  I decided to check out the town first and decide. There was no motel but Hoss at the place I stayed last night said I could stop by the Diamond Greenhouse Nursery and ask for Trina and she would probably have a place for me at her house. There was also a city park that allowed cyclist to camp. 

Interacting background, Horace Greeley and his work were apparently very popular in “Greeley” County. Beside the county name, this town of Tribune is named after Horace Greeley’s paper, the New York Tribune. And the town of Horace is just a few miles away. His publications and speeches made the phrase “Go West young man” famous and inspiring. Besides news publishing Greeley was also a politician and was supportive of philosophies like socialism. 

I stopped by the city park after asking a friendly man for directions. I was quickly greeted by the staff and told that cyclist swim for free and they leave the bathroom, with a shower, unlocked all night for them. Wow. I then called the Sheriffs office to get clearance and they were very friendly and said I could stay and that there were storms forecast tonight and if it got bad I could come to headquarters and sleep there!

I’m now thinking I’m going to enjoy myself and stay in this nice place. But first I need ice cream. As I started wandering the streets I met Manuel pushing his lawnmower down the street. Surely he would know where I could find ice cream. He was a great 12 year old kid and gave me directions south to the bowling alley on the other side of the tracks. 

I found the bowling alley but it was closed because “the guy” is gone this weekend for a wedding.  Later at the pool I found out that everyone in town new this except me and Manuel. 

 

At the market I modestly satisfied my need with an ice cream bar. 

Relaxing in a late afternoon sun, biding my time until the lifeguards all blow the whistle for Adult Swim.  The pool usually closes at 5:30 today but some little girl, perhaps 2 years old, had a for real “Baby Ruth” accident and they had to close the pool to do the necessary clean up process. I thought about taking a picture but then decided no, not a good idea. It could ruin that little girls future.  

My Base Camp for the night, across from the pool and the tennis courts and softball field. The shelter should help me a bit if a storm does come as long as the rain isn’t blowing in horizontally. It also has electrical outlets for charging my stuff. Sweeeet!

I enjoyed a little bit of a softball game as the sun was setting. Manuel joined me for a while back at Base Camp and we talked about many things before he went home after dark. The storms seem to be sliding by up to the north so other than the +20 mph winds it should be a good night.

Tomorrow I ride to Sheridan Lake, CO where my lovely wife Angela, who I miss very much, will bring me back home to Boulder County. 

Kansas!! Day 6: Larned to Dighton

A big, warm day positioning me to cross into Colorado this Saturday.  Leaving at 5:30 this morning and arriving in Dighton at 4:45PM for a 95 mile day. 

 

I left in the dark before the dawn, riding west under a 3/4 moon. Very nice. 

Lots of long views today, especially nice in the early morning light. 

Food needs devided my ride into roughly 30 mile segments, the first being in Rush Center for a breakfast of egg & sausage hoagie and the apple fritters I’d been hearing about from other riders at the convenience store at mile 31.  It did the trick!

Shortly after breakfast I had my first chain drop off of since I started riding in Missouri. Three minutes and I was back on the road. 

I had a 3 to 5 mile stretch along this wind farm and I could see them allowing the wind turbines to start up one at a time. The wind was out of the south or south west but still pretty mild, barely enough to rotate the turbines. 

I need Christ to peddle too!

My second cross country rider but the first to stop to chat was Mike from Oakridge, TN, a retired Fire Chief.  He started riding the Pacific Coast route north but didn’t like the narrow roads and cars so he quit after a week or so in Ft. Bragg and rented a truck to Pueblo where he is riding the Trans-Am back home. He said he’s lost 22 lbs. so far and he rides an Appaloosa Rivendale bike. He’s already broken a previous Sam Hilborne at the headstock. Hope the Appaloosa proves to be stout enough.  This is for you John Croft’s!

My 2nd 30 mile segment ended at mile 65 at 11:30 in Ness City with a long lunch at the Cactus Club.  I ate, drank and rested for 90 minutes before starting the final and the hardest segment, the last 31 miles into Dighton in the growing heat and sun. 

 

Meet Dan from Lawrence, KS who started his ride in San Francisco, and is headed for the Atlantic Ocean, maybe in Georgia??

Dan was quite a character as evidenced by the shirt he had made up and the pool noodle to keep cars and trucks at bay. 

At mile 80, I stopped at probably the only shade spot along any road for 50 square miles. It was a historical marker for George Washington Carver, the famous black agricultural inventer. He apparently homesteaded a few miles south of here in his early twenties before he went to college. While I was soaking up the shade Dan #2 drove up in his pickup truck, catching my attention with his biker garb.  He wasnt just a poser biker but rather taking his turn in one of the SAG vehicles supporting a dozen bikers riding from San Diego to Washington, DC to raise money for vets. About 8 of the riders were vets and you can see them breezing by in kind of a ragged pace line. He said they take turns in the SAG vehicles and are getting about 150 miles per day. 

The momentary shade and the sight of the fast boy vets heading east gave me the gumption I needed to push onward to Dighton. 

I had a $42/nt room at The Shays Inn on hold for me by “Hoss” from a phone call I made at lunch, but before I checked in I stopped at the Kwicky Mart to pick up a well earned beer to begin my recuperation.  A shower followed by dinner at the bowling alley and I was off to sleep to dream about my next day on the road tomorrow. 

💤 

Song of the Day:  Everybody Knows This is Nowhere by Neil Young. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EFZ8ufkJ4cQ

OPTIONAL FEATURE: “Grain Elevators I admired today”

I’ve seen many areas where the grain stored is so great it is stored on the ground under ventilated tarps. 

More over flowing grain storage. I wonder if the farmers are getting tired of winning too much yet??  I’m sure the $16B farm subsidies they received the last two years for the impacts from Trumps tarrifs helps. Maybe a little bit of socialism isn’t so bad after all??

Kansas!! Day 5: Sterling to Larned

8am departure with a 1pm arrival in Larned through mostly cloudy skies and 70 to 80 degree day. A nice 54 mile day. 

I was preparing for a very long ride today with almost no services available so I’m bringing extra water bottles and a bladder, cheese, yogurt covered raisins. Unfortunately I got into the M&M’s the night before and there weren’t many left for today. The TP is just in case since I had Mexican food for dinner, the only open restaurant in Sterling last night.  I hope I have enough. 

😬

Kansas wheat, probably a strain of the original Turkey hard red winter wheat first brought by the Russian Menonite immigrants who were escaping the Czar in Russia around 1873. Newton, where I stayed a few days ago, was primarily settled and developed by these Russian immigrants. Hard Red Winter wheat makes up over 90% of the wheat grown in Kansas and Kansas produces more wheat than any other state. 

My 3rd Trans-Am cyclist I’ve seen this morning but the first that stopped to chat. Wade is part of the Trans-Am “race” across America from Astoria, OR to Yorktown, VA. He lives in Rhode Island and started riding from Astoria on June 2!  That’s about 120 miles per day!  He was a very nice guy and I was glad he stopped so we could compare our rides. I’m afraid me and my ride came up lacking in comparison. 

Todd, and Wade before him, are the new face of cross country cycling as I’m finding out on this trip. I had stopped to look at an artesian well that helped me understand the wet lands I was riding through and Todd caught up to me from the east. He’s originally from Calgary but currently lives in LA. He started in Yorktown 27 days ago and is riding on to Astoria.  His loaded bike including all of his gear strapped on weighs 41 lbs. My bike, by itself weighs 41 lbs and loaded as it is now, it weighs north of 95 lbs!!  When Todd started riding west with me he quickly left me far behind. Weigh to go Todd!

 

Larned was my “safe” stopping point for the day.  I wanted to go further to Rush City to the north and west but first I wanted to see how I felt when I got to Larned. I have ridden continuously for 54 miles and wanted to eat, drink and check in with my body and mind before I committed to another 30 miles where I would have to pitch a tent and there was no public rest rooms.  I also wanted to check the weather radar, especially this time of day. 

I stepped into a Wendy’s and Josh showed up within minutes. He’s 26, a graduate of East Carolina University and a post graduate of Virginia Tech as a Physical Therapist.  He’s riding the Trans-Am from Astoria to the east coast before he takes his PT exam. As usual with riders passing each other we compared notes on the roads, places to eat and sleep and we were on our way. Josh pointed out a storm to me that was advancing this way from the west. A very nice young man and I enjoyed lunch with him. 

Josh’s advice about the storm proved prudent. Based on his advice and finding a very inexpensive motel I took the easy way out and stayed in Larned.  2 hours later the storm arrived here. I’m glad I decided not to ride into it!

These two riders checked in AFTER the rain. 

☹️