Saturday, June 05, 2010
We are in Larned, KS tonight. It has been really hot (95 today, 97 yesterday) but we have managed to get our 60 or more miles in each day by leaving earlier in the morning and getting off the road by early afternoon. I forgot to mention last time that we had gone through the Mississippi R. town of Chester, IL and were surprised to find that it is home of Popeye, the Sailorman. We asked how that happened and were told that when he was originally brought out he was Popeye the Riverman and changed to Sailorman when it got picked up nationally. There was a statue of Popeye and numerous buildings with murals depicting Olive Oyl (yes, she spells it with a ‘Y’), Sweet Pea, Brutus, Wimpy, and all the gang. Kind of good to know in case it ever comes up in conversation.
After all the hills in the eastern part of the ride we really looking forward to Kansas (never thought I’d say that) and we weren’t disappointed. The first day in Kansas we rode through gentle rolling hills on good highways with couteous drivers. The second day, in the early morning, we crested a hill and the prairie opened up before us and it was one of the more impressive sights we have seen on this trip (that might be my midwest upbringing and 4 yrs. in So. Dak. talking).
We spent one in a hostel provided by a small country church. We laid our mats and sleeping bags on the carpeted floor of the fellowship hall and had a comfortable night. The minister and his wife invited us to dinner on their deck and we had a very nice dinner and conversation with them. They even cooked us breakfast in the morning.
For the past 3 days we have loooooooved Kansas for the aforementioned flat roads and nice drivers. It feels good to just cruise along again without struggling up hill after hill. And the scenery isn’t bad (really). The prairie and huge, golden wheat fields are pretty awesome. I think it may get a bit boring, however, from here on out as today we had one 48-mile stretch that was straight as an arrow in which we did not make a turn or even a curve! There is a real monotony to never having to check the map (“…follow Co. Rd. 18 for 27 miles to Liberty, then continue straight 19 miles to Larned, then continue straight 22 miles to…).
We’ve been asked several times why we are going east to west as the prevailing winds are from the west. First, the westerly wind thing has been disproven–the jet stream, high up, is westerly, but the surface winds vary and are often from the southeast. Also, we wanted to get to the better scenery (Col., Wyo., Mon., Ida., Ore.) at the end of the ride. We were able to leave earlier from the east as the mt. passes in the west are still snowy in May.
Anyway, the riding is still, for the most part, good and we continue to close in on Oregon, if somewhat slowly.
Take care, everyone, and please keep us in your prayers.
Bruce
