Two Nights and a Day in Jail.

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Two Nights and a Day in Jail. Although the vast flat wheat plains of Kansas have been tedious riding at times with straight roads stretching for 10 milles & beyond and strong winds from the side we have found the people of Kansas County friendly & helpful. Traffic has been light except for the few days when wheat harvesting meant we shared the roads with huge combine harvesters. The whole process from tilling the soil to planting, spraying & harvest is done by enormous machinery. Several times when camping on small village greens local people have arrived with water melon, stopped to chat & make sure we are fine. There has not been a single official camp ground in the past two weeks except the forest park at Toronto Lake. In the small town of Hudson pop. 120 we were met by some senior members of the town. The wind was getting up so they insisted we stay in their community hall which had highly polished floors, bathrooms, kitchen and dining room where we set up our bedrooms. One lady arrived with two freshly baked loaves of bread. Towns over 300 pop. usually have a swimming pool so a shower & a swim at the end of the day are a hit with the cyclists. Sadly there are many country towns that are dying where the shops have all closed & less than 100 people live there. Law & order don't seem to be a problem. Certainly we have felt very safe in our rather public camps. Every town however small has a Sherrif who is elected by the community. This morning as we crossed into Missouri we saw a sign that read," Littering offences may earn a fine up to $ 1000 or a year in jail." Maybe a little punitive. Along all the Highways are signs saying that individuals or community groups sponsor litter collection.
Since arriving in Missouri the roar of V8 engines revving loudly is a common sound. Our camp outside the Court House in Hartville had a steady stream of these petrol heads passing till late at night and resumed before we departed at 7am. V8s and Christian Churches are at every corner, strange companions. A man on a rotunda in town this afternoon reminiscent of Billy Graham was preaching from a microphone to no audience. We have also seen women from the Mennonite sect who are easily identified in their long skirts and bonnets. They usually farm the land with little use of machines and sell produce to the local community.
Two American & a young English cyclist are camping with us tonight. As the Americans are travelling west we have been exchanging stories but don't like theirs much, steep hills & fierce mountain dogs.
It turned out that there was only one day of steep climbing which we all handled after 110 days in the saddle. Many cyclists we have met spoke highly of the Cyclist accommodation in Farmington Al's Place set up especially for cyclists to relax in on their Trans-American Trail Adventure. The building was used as a jail from 1880 to 1996 but has recently undergone a major make-over. Air-conditioning, wifi, fully-equipped kitchen & laundry.

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