Cbiiling out on the side of the prairie to the Grateful Dead

Day 40 Eureka to Newton

On the road at 6 15AM to tackle the gruelling straigbt line 73 miles we had to do today. I do hate getting up in the dark. It reminds me of work.
The first 30 miles were pleasant in the cooler morning air at least until I missed a turn and added another 5 miles to my day which also caused me to miss my rendez vous with Greg and Ellen. Eventually we all found eacb other and joinex up with Don, another in-betweener, to tackle the lasr 40 milez. By this time the temperature was up in the high nineties and for good meazure we were battered by a good old Kansas side/head wind.
But the real bummer of the day was that both refreshment stops in our cue sheets were closed down so we cycled all day with absolutely no pie options. So todayz consumption was :

2 cheese and jam sandwiches
2 packets crisps
4 fig newtons
1 packet M& M's
1 packet peach rings
6 litres water
2 bananaz and 2 oranges

We really are eating a load of junk. BUT WE CAN BECAUSE WE ARE ADVENTURE CYCLISTS.

Miles today    77
Total             1941

Day 39 Chanute to Eureka

Many exciting things happened today in Kansas. It rained. There was one hill. Ellen took a wrong turn and lost her sunglasses in a creek. I nearly fell off my bike on a railway ctossing as well as nearly hitting a turtle. Greg rescued 3 turtles. We had a pie free Sunday lunch. The faster end of the group decided to do a 100 mile day today to maintain their testosterone levels ( said David )
We are passing through the Flint Hills which is the largest area of open grazing cattle land in the USA. We have a long 73 mile day tomorrow and the temperature will be in the high nineties with a headwind. So its early to bed with a 6AM start to try get az much done before the hottest paft of the day.
Miles Today     62
Total              1864

Hey Tom It's your Birthday Dude Have an awesome day!

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthay to you.
Happy birthday Dear Tom
Happy birthday to you.

Sung by the ACA Transam Tour group 2011.

Day 38 Pittsburgh to Chanute

The first flat day of riding and after massive thunderstorms last night the morning temperature was nice and cool. Bliss. Not much to see today apart from corn and wheat and that's the way it's going to be for the next couple of weeks. The town of Girard that we pazzed througn today had an interesting Vietnam war memorial with an original 'Huey' helicopter.

Miles today  64
Total          1802

Chanute, Kansas

Named after Octave Chanute who was involved in the first manned flight by the Orville brothers in 1903, a history project of mine that I recall from school days.

Day 37 Rest day in Pittsburgh

As you may know a couple of weeks ago there was a devastating tornado in Joplin Missouri that took over 150 lives and totally destroyed a huge part of the city. Today we are only 20 miles north of the disaster area and a couple of days ago Greg, Ellen, Kelly and myself responded to an advert for volunteers at the United Way Catholic relief centre in Joplin.

We received a positive response to do a 3 hour session at their emergency supply centre so we hired a car and drove down this morning. We were a little apprehensive az the consensus of other opinion was that Joplin had been inundated with volunteers and that we would be more of a hindrance than a help. Neverthelless we decided to go and assess the situation as we felt that the charity would have declined our applications  had this been the case.

It turned out that our fears were unfounded, we were warmly received and  each of us did 3 hours of useful work helping with the distribution of supplies to families  who had lost their homes.

It was a very humbling experience but at the same time after seeing the devaztation here it made me feel very proud to be raising money for Shelterbox and even more determined to achieve my sponsorship target.