I did battle with the legendary Kansas headwind this morning. At times I had trouble even riding at an 8 miles per hour pace, so I was astounded when my average for the day was 9 MPH. The winds let up some this afternoon, definitely a relief. Luckily the weather forecast wasn't right today since they were calling for a hotter day than yesterday. The morning was overcast and cooler. I don't think it got into the 90s until the afternoon. That was a welcome change. I think there may have been some storms flying through last night and this morning, perhaps the source of the west winds. When I started riding there were some dark gray clouds, and some of that marvelous cloud to ground lightening to the north. No rain over me though.
The clouds were beautiful this morning. They almost looked like they were painted on the sky. The sun kept popping in an out, giving a play of light on the fields that was pretty amazing. It was one of those days where it would be easy to sit in one spot and just keep shooting pictures as the light continues to change.
I met two west-to-east riders today. The first was Martin, who was (I think) from the UK. He's riding the Transam from Florence to Virginia. He started on July 1st, and has covered 2100 miles already, so he is covering ground quite a bit faster than I am. He filled me in on the motels in Tribune and Ordway, and told me about an inexpensive place to stay right in downtown Pueblo. It's always good to get some tips or confirmation that the one and only motel in town is decent! Martin also told me that there are 4 young guys from Austria ahead of me. They started from Scott City this morning too, but they are going to Eads today. That's way to far for me - over 100 miles against the wind - but more power to them!
The second rider was a guy from Japan whose name I didn't get. He started riding in San Diego, and rode up the coast to Oregon to pick up the Transam. He's riding the Transam, and will then go to North Carolina and finally north to Connecticut. And people tell me I didn't follow a straight line! He's definitely seeing a good chunk of the country. When I told him that he is the second rider that I've met from Japan he seemed surprised. He told me that Asians don't tend to do much touring. (Or at least the people he knows at home don't do much touring.) He was looking for a bike shop because he has a tire that needs to be replaced. I told him that the first one he'll hit is in Hutchinson, which is slightly off route. I was able to point out that the Athleticlub in Scott City ($8) and the Zion Lutheran Church hostel (free) in Hutchinson are both inexpensive places to stay. He's been camping and didn't realize that the places listed under hostel on the Adventure Cycling maps are also either free or very inexpensive. He sounded like he wouldn't mind a night inside, especially after the thunderstorms he had last night in Eads.
I'm still in Kansas tonight, but I'm now on Mountain time. Most of the counties on the western edge of Kansas are in Mountain time while the rest of the state is in Central time. I've been told that until recently there was actually one town that was split down the middle - half in Mountain and half in Central time. It really seems like it would be easier to deal with the time zone differences if it split at the state line, not at county lines. But I guess it's not much different from Indiana with a small part of the state using Daylight Savings time and most staying on Standard time. The time change means I had an early end to the day. It's nice to have that extra hour to use to relax this afternoon.
I was 10 miles out of Tribune when I saw a sign announcing construction for the next 10 miles. I cringed when I saw the sign, but I was lucky again. The road had already been repaved, and they were in the process of painting lines on the pavement. Oh, the joy of riding on newly paved roads!
At one point this afternoon a sheriff traveling east stopped and flagged me down to ask if I'd seen any cars flipped over between Leoti and my current location. I hadn't, and he continued on, I assume he didn't find one because I saw him coming back not to long after we spoke.
The elevation has been slowly increasing as I've crossed Kansas. I entered the state at an elevation of 900 feet, and Tribune has an elevation of 3543 feet. It's been a very gradual change, probably the easiest elevation gain of this trip. There will be another 1200 feet of elevation gain over the next 3 days since Pueblo is at 4700 feet. I guess that's why they call this area the high plains.
At the end of the day I actually saw some tumbleweeds rolling across the road...
I'm staying at the Trails End Motel in Tribune tonight. Martin told me that it was a good place to stay, which is a good thing since it's the only place to stay right in town. Bob - the owner of the motel - called at about 6:30 to invite me to join him for dinner. I had already eaten, but I went over to chat for a bit. He's a cyclist too. He's done the cross-state ride in Oklahoma, has been thinking of riding RAGBRAI (the ride across Iowa), and does a lot of mountain biking in Colorado. He's also done quite a bit of touring in Europe. He told me that he hopes to do the southern route from San Diego to Florida over a winter. It's really strange when the phone your hotel room rings and no one knows where you are. I was sure it was a wrong number - but it was for me.
