Blogs from Kansas, United States, North America - page 37

Day 31: Ness City, KS to Nickerson, KS Total Miles: 126.9 Today we rallied - it was exhausting. Headwinds galore - about 30 mph from the southeast most of the day, just the direction we were heading. Our first indulgence in energy drinks (well, my first indulgence) made the morning quite pleasant - we had completed 65 miles by lunchtime. We figure the only way to get out of this wind is to ride hard against it, so that's what we did. The nice thing about a strong headwind is that you can smell each and every upcoming feed yard atleast 5 miles before you approach it - the stench resembling human feces just gets stronger and stronger. Besides a brief bit of overheating and some heat rash, considering the mileage and the winds we had ... read more

Day 29: Eads, CO to Leoti, KS Total Miles: 85.7 Finally, beautiful Kansas. Today got off to a bit of a rough start. At about 4AM the sprinklers (which Arthur claimed to have deflected the night before with clever rock placements - little did he know how many there were) decided to come on. At first we ignored the gentle sprinkle the one was producing, we figured we could wait it out (they couldn't be on that long due to the huge drought). By 5:30 we realized that we were completely surrounded. Our tent was being pelted by sprinklers from 6 different locations. Ironically in this land of draught the irrigation system for Ead's City Park consists of flooding the entire thing in about 4 inches of water. When the edges of our tent began to ... read more

I've just returned home from an exhilarating five-day adventure in Colby, Kansas. What? It's not the first place on your list of towns to visit before you die? It wasn't all bad. The people were friendly. It was sunny and warm and I took an educational lunch break with a group of fourth-graders to the Prairie Museum, home of the biggest barn in Kansas. What was I doing in Colby, you ask? Well, I've always wanted to go. It's the oasis on the plains and I also heard the prairie museum was not to be missed. In truth, I was offered a job getting people to sign up for Wal-Mart cards. Don't judge. It paid well and it fit right into the week after I quit my job before I take off for good. And I ... read more

Today began in Kentucky…. Following our free “breakfast” (doughnuts OJ & coffee) we departed, once again on route 64W. Louisville was a “must see” according to the lady at the desk. I’m still not sure what was there…except a bunch of nice bridges across the Ohio River. Still, this was the first city we really drove through so it was exciting in that right. Indiana was…well…as Reece so eloquently put …”it started off like Kentucky and ended like Illinois. Illinois & Missouri were much the same….huge 50-acre expanses of farmland giving way to acres of tightly forested patches. I can see why people that do not live in costal areas may not readily be conservationists….it seemed as though trees were in endless abundance….I don’t know that if I was raised in Indiana I would have any ... read more

April 3 - 17, 2006 Cortez, Colo. - Leavenworth, Kan. Mile 5,375 1,541 Miles this Leg We are now balanced at the easternmost edge of Kansas, more than halfway across the continent from the coast we started on (see Route Map). Since leaving Port Townsend on Feb. 9, we have traveled more than 5,000 miles in nine weeks. Yet we have used up just a quarter of the time allotted for this road trip, and—one might hope—just a quarter of the adventures! This blog entry recounts our time in the Four Corners region of the Southwest, as well as our arrival in America’s Midwest. Which brings us to the unseasonable seasons… In our recent travels through northern New Mexico, spring was properly in force (albeit with less-than-usual rainfall), but we got a good dose of “winter” ... read more