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 Welcome to Missouri! Leaving Pittsburg the winds were whipping the flag at the post office when I stopped to mail home some maps I no longer needed. (3.5 oz) At least it was a south wind not a north.
The super cells that form over tornado alley from Texas to Nebraska are from hot, humid southern air running into cold northern air. The last couple of days with temperatures in the 80s in late October coincided with south winds. Tomorrow the forecast is for winds from the north and temperatures in the 50s. Luckily it is late in the year so there is no real danger of tornadoes. Continue reading Day 57: Pittsburg, KS to Golden City, MO (October 25)
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 Foggy morning in Chanute, KS When I woke up at 06:30, the fog was thick. I couldn’t see more than 100 feet. I could hear the cars and trucks on the highway a hundred yards away but couldn’t see anything not even headlights. I was going to have to wait for it to clear. I won’t ride if cars can’t see me and I can’t see them.
Eating breakfast and packing up, the fog was not clearing. I managed to cut my iphone charger cord with the cover for the RV hookup electrical box. Luckily, across the street was a Walmart. So once the fog suddenly cleared at 09:30 I headed across the street. Next to the iphone charger (ugly and clunky compare to the OEM cord) was an earphone that I could use in my iphone and other cheap phone. Unlike the original iphone headphones that hurt my ears after a bit, this one was soft and smaller. The biggest bonus was fitting into my cheap phone makes it an FM radio. (The radio function doesn’t work without the headphone connected — the headphones are the antenna.) Continue reading Day 56: Chanute to Pittsburg, KS (October 24)
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 Toronto Lake Reservoir Waking up at my usual 06:00, I got up and stiffly walked to the bathroom. I thought, “I don’t think I can do another 90 miles today.” Feeling a bit tired, I lay back down and instantly fell back asleep for a couple hours.
It usually takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to pack up in the morning. Partly to digest breakfast. Partly because I still think I have too much stuff and organizing it takes time.
The weather forecast for the day was good: west winds 5-8 mph, clear, 75+ deg. I started out wearing my legs, windbreak, silk turtleneck, cycling t-shirt and silk balaclava. In about an hour I was down to just my cycling T-shirt and cycling shorts. Perfect riding weather. Continue reading Day 55: Eureka to Chanute, KS (October 23)
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 Kansas fields Leaving Hesston, I turned on my audiobook on how the brain works. The only thing I can remember is that he said the average retention of new material is minutes. Seems about right. I remember laughing a few times at his jokes, but not what they were.
It was mostly cloudy or overcast and somewhat warm getting up to about 75 F. The wind in the morning was nearly calm. The day started out with rolling farmland surrounded with trees separating the fields. As the day went on the rolling hills got more rolling, the trees became fewer, and the cows became more. Continue reading Day 54: Hesston to Eureka, KS (October 22)
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 Real Apollo astronaut suits in the Cosmosphere Late start because I decided to go back to the Cosmosphere to look at the Apollo and shuttle section since I ran through them as the museum was closing the day before. Arriving shortly after opening I stayed until after one o’clock. One of my favorite things from today was a sign with statistics of the Saturn V rocket and what a colossal machine it was.
“On liftoff, the five F-1 engines on the Saturn V first stage generated the energy equivalent to more than 176 million horsepower — nearly twice as much energy as could be attained by damming up every stream and river on the North American Continent!”
“The five smaller J-2 engines on the Saturn V second stage generated a thrust with an energy equivalent of 72 Hoover Dams!”
“The Saturn V first stage burned fuel at the rate of 3,500 gallons, or 30,000 pounds, per second. That meant the rocket’s weight was reduced by nearly 2 million pounds during the first minute of flight!”
“So powerful was the liftoff of a Saturn V that the shock wave of each liftoff was recorded on seismic instruments in New York City — more than 1,100 miles away from Cape Kennedy, Florida!” Continue reading Day 53: Hutchinson to Hesston, KS (October 21)
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 SR-71 in the Cosmosphere lobby I started by heading to the grocery store and then the hardware store. I was happy to find pepper spray on clearance at the hardware store. I bought two which should get rid of a few dogs.
Then I headed over to the Cosmosphere. Being greeted by a real SR-71 Blackbird in the lobby was just the start. The space exhibits are amazing. Very comprehensive starting with a narrative that includes real V-2 and V-1 rockets, Operation Paper Clip, testing at White Sands, Mercury’s Liberty Bell 7 recovered from 16,000 feet below the ocean, Gemini, the Apollo 13 Command module, and the space shuttle. Continue reading Day 52: Rest day in Hutchinson, KS (October 20)
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 Kansas...wide open Cold start to the day so I retreated until it warmed up a bit…at least to freezing.
Somebody I met at my friend’s place in Colorado told me that anyone biking across the US after me would be stupid because it would be cold. The other day I was thinking about that and broke out laughing. I thought, “It must follow that I am a bit stupid for going so late, but the next guy is even stupider. But what if there is no next guy? That would make me the stupidest.” So I figure I could be the stupidest person cycling across the US this year. (Hoping to hear there are others out there so I don’t hold the title…) Continue reading Day 51: Larned to Hutchinson, KS (October 19)
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 Fort Larned where the wind did not stop After going to sleep to the sound of rain pounding down on my tent, I was pleased to wake up to mostly clear skies and sun. I woke up very late for me. Usually I get up without an alarm at about 05:30 to 06:00. Today I was surprised to see it was 08:25 when I checked the time.
I went over to the farmers co-op gas station to use the bathroom. When I came out an old guy wearing a bright green John Deere hat asked me what I was doing. After I told him I was biking cross country and was camped in the park, he said, “You’d better get back over there. There is a black bear loose. It’ll tear your tent to shreds.” I wasn’t sure if he was pulling my leg or not. He said it escaped from a nearby zoo. Not sure which nearby population center would support a zoo considering the nearest convenience store was six miles away. Continue reading Day 50: Rush Center to Larned, KS (October 18)
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 My bike barely goes halfway up the wheel! Yesterday I was frustrated by the headwind. Today I accepted it. There is nothing to do about it but ride into it. I can’t control the weather. I am still not excited by only doing 35 miles on the flattest ground in the country, but that is the way it is. I have now done over 1800 miles.
Today the wind shifted to more of an eastern northeast direction so it was a real headwind. The flags in Ness City were straight out so again 15+ mph. Highway 96 heads pretty close to exactly where the wind was coming from. Once I had to play dodge-em with tumble weeds coming down the shoulder. Lots of tumble weeds that had been caught in the fences parallel to the road were rolling along. Continue reading Day 49: Ness City to Rush Center, KS (October 17)
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 High clouds from the front moving south I knew I was in trouble when I got up in the morning. The wind was whipping through the trees and flapping my tent about that was not secured only placed on the concrete in the city park gazebo. I left the park before the sun was up, but didn’t eat much. My stove was blown out by the wind so I didn’t make anything. At the edge of town, I stopped at the Dighton Bowl & Diner for some breakfast. I hoped that the wind would die down too. Knew it wouldn’t but hoped none the less. Continue reading Day 48: Dighton to Ness City, KS (October 16)
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