Day 45 Ness City to Scott City

We seem to be having thunderstorms every night at the moment. Tonight we are staying at a Sports club with the option to sleep indoors. As I write a massive storm is brewing with thunder and lightning the like of which you nevet see back home. Quite exciting really. At the moment I am still in the tent listening to Bob Dylan.
The ride today was fairly uneventful but I spoke too soon about the wind. We ascended very gradually with a heafwind all the way. Tomorrow is our last day in Kansas before we enter Colorado. Bring on the Rockies !

Miles Today   57
Total            2187

Do you remember this Stuart?

The Mustard Seed restaurant in Buhlen, zomewhere in the middle of Kansas.

Day 44 Lahned to Ness City

Last night we had stormy weather with winds gusting up to 50mph and tbunder and ligbtning so most of us were tucked up in our tents at 8 30 just before the fun started. The local police phoned and told us that we could take refuge in tbe nearby scout hut but I was keen to find out just how good my new tent stood up to the conditions. And it performed admirably with no leaks anywhere. So the MSR Hubba  Hubba Green gets my vote. A great versatile tent.
The notorious Kansas wind has been kind to us so far with tail and side winds and today was no exception.  Its flat as far as the eye can see but there is a certain tranquility about riding across the plains, disturbed only when the huge trucks come thundering past, which they do on a fairly regular basis.
Early morning we stopped by the historical site of Fort Lahned, famous for its Santa Fe trail connections and for lunch I had the best hamburger yet but sadly no pie today.

Miles Today 67
Total          2129

Day 42 - Newton to Sterling (guest blogger Hadley)

After dinner, Rob, Greg and I biked into town and settled in at the local pizza joint.  Rob

whipped out his dorkulator and we started in on a very focused collaborative blog post composition session.  We wrote.  We laughed.  We cried (well, I did anyway - from laughter).  Greg drank at least 5 jumbo refills of pop.  Three hours later, we emerged from the restaurant... the blog post had been written!  It was epic, hilarous and touching. 

The next day, Rob woke up and turned on his dorkulator (in order to post our blog entry) and was dismayed to find that THE BLOG POST HAD MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED!!!  Yes... it was gone.

It's taken us two days to recover from the loss.  Only now am I able to muster up the energy to write a summary of the post.  What follows is a sadly abbreviated version of our masterpiece.  Read it and imagine something much longer and thousands of times wittier & more touching and you will get a sense of what we originally wrote.

1. Rob slept in.
2. Rob caught up with me & Greg 12 miles out of Newton.
3. We sat around ate chips and talked about aliens.  For approximately two hours.
4. We sat around and ate donuts and made plans for a scavenger hunt.  For about one hour.
5. We rode our bikes.
6. We met a really charming and sweet young girl (Paige) who introduced us to her dog Baxter, took me for a bike ride around her neighborhood, and gave us big hugs when we said bye.
7. We met Paige's grandpa, who showed us his red Model A Ford with a chevy 327 small block, aspirated 620 horsepower.  It was a chopped & channeled hot rod that he'd built.  It was a thing of beauty.
8. We rode our bikes some more.  Rob's cycle computer showed that he had pedalled 2000 miles so far on this trip.

And that is that. 

Miles Today 59
Total        2008

Day 43 Sterling to Lahned

Today it was back to the 6 AM breakfast routine after a night of disrupted sleep in Sterling city park. They take a pride in their parks over here and like to keep the grass green. So they have sprinkler systems programmed to activate at night and usually they are turned off when people are camping. Last night they forgot and about 11 PM  my flyless tent was right in the spray line. So I  jumped out of the tent at lightning speed (but not quick enough) and moved it to what I thought was a safe position only to find that another bank of sprinklers activated to drench my tent again. Eventually a sprinkler safe pitch was found and I drpped off to sleep only to be woken at at 4AM by the noisiest and longest train this side of Clapham Junction. So the last thing I needed today was the 6AM bugle call.

Once on the road today was brilliant. Not too hot, a little bit of rain, only 50 miles but most of all a tail wind that just about blew us all the way to Lahned. Rounded off with a nice piece of pecan pie and ice cream.

Miles today 52
Total 2062

Day 41 Rest day in Newton

On this occasion we had the luxury of 2 nights in a motel. It's so nice to sleep in a proper bed in an air conditioned room. Unfortunately woke up with a slight hangover as a result of 2 margeritas and a beer in a texmex restaurant last night. We get so dehydrated that even a little alcohol takes it's toll. Or I am just a lightweight.
We now have nine days slog across Kansas with no more rest days until Royal Gorge in Colorado. We also hit the half way point of the tour at Pueblo where there is a very good bike shop so  I have very lazily booked the bike in for a clean up and service. I am also swopping my Marathon XR tyres for a pair of 1.25 Pasela Panaracer Tourguards. Desparation measures maybe. They wont be as puncture proof but the better rolling resistance will hopefully make life a little easier.

Relaxation Stop and Stare style