May 19, 2011
We had the day off today, which worked out nicely as it has been pretty windy and cold. A good day for huddling inside. We did make it outside for a bit. We left the athletic club this morning, it wasn't as comfortable as we hoped for the price and since we had the whole day of relaxing, we thought it'd be nice to get beds. We finally found an open room at a motel; almost everything in town was full. We walked around Scott City for a few hours, buying some food for this upcoming week, chilled in the library for a little while, and had some lunch at a Mennonite Cafe. Other than that excursion, we mostly hung out in the hotel, planned for our new route, napped, and watched TV. We actually have made some pretty big changes to our itinerary (the changes will be listed pretty soon on the itinerary page, once we finalize some stuff). Our timeline will be basically the same, we are just changing the route so as not to go through the desert in the dead heat of summer. A lazy day indeed, but we got some much needed down time.
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May 18, 2011
Today we knew we would have pretty favorable winds, though strong, and we wanted to make it all the way to Scott City, 94 miles away. We knew it would be a pretty big feat, especially after a 93-mile ride yesterday and quite a few difficult days before that, but figured we'd take the following day off if we made it. The ride started off at Don and Donna's house, in the middle of nowhere with only sand and gravel roads. We had to ride 10 miles on sand (not easy at all) to start the day. When w...
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May 17, 2011
We left Nickerson early and headed toward Larned, KS. We were so appreciative to have favorable winds. Although they weren't strong, they were at least blowing in a better direction. The combination of flat roads and kind winds allowed us to increase our mileage. Instead of staying in Larned, we decided to go further, to Rush Center.
We stopped at the public library in Larned to look up information about Rush Center. While there, we talked to a friendly librarian named Donna. Not only did she ... Continue reading...
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May 16, 2011
Today was yet another windy day. This time the gusts were a little less strong, but still enough to exhaust us. We biked 50 miles from Newton to Nickerson. By the time we arrived in Nickerson, everything was closed. We were lucky enough to get into the only grocery store to pick up a few items before it closed at 4pm. Since it was Sunday, the library, pizza place, cafe, bar & grill, and post office were all closed already. We asked for directions to the city park and were disappointed that th...
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May 16, 2011
We were hoping for a break in the winds, but no such luck. As soon as we woke up and stepped out of our tents, we knew we'd be in for another tough day. We packed up, ate oatmeal, and got on the road a little bit later than usual (we only planned to go 38 miles to Newton).
Once again, we took turns leading and drafting to be as efficient as possible. We barely averaged 10 or 11 mph, but made slow progress. There weren't any services (or towns) between Cassoday and Newton, so we only took 2 sh...
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May 14, 2011
Today was tough to say the least. We ended up biking only 35 miles, though it felt like much, much more. The winds in Kansas can be fierce since there are not a whole lot of trees, buildings, hills, or anything really, to block them.
During the first half of our day from Eureka to Rosalia, we were exposed to a strong crosswind (about 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph). By the time we reached Rosalia, we were feeling exhausted and defeated, not to mention cold. We luckily found a little restaurant... Continue reading...
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May 14, 2011
We woke up at Knight's Inn in Chanute and thoroughly took advantage of the continental breakfast. This one was the best so far since you could make your own waffles! It also had the usual cereal, bagels, milk, coffee, juice, etc. After eating, we had to head across the street to the campground where our tents had been pitched. They were still soaking wet and the sun was not shining. We opted to pack them away wet; waiting would be futile. We just had to hope that there would be sun later in t...
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May 11, 2011
Today was our day off (after 7 days-in-a-row of hilly Missouri). We allowed our legs to rest a bit, but still had to run a lot of errands. We spent a good chunk of time using the internet at the public library. We also did three loads of laundry, went to the post office, bought supplies, and went grocery shopping. Our favorite part of the day was lunch. We stopped at a little local place called Sweet Green Soup & Salad Bar. If you ever find yourself in Pittsburg (the one in Kansas), make sure...
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