Blowin' In the Wind

Day 46

Hesston, KS to Eureka, KS

Distance: 90 miles

Wind: S at 25mph with gusts from the SW

  

I woke up bright and early in my comfortable bed at LeAnn and Stan’s house, and felt a little bleary-eyed, being my first early start for a few days.

Grabbing a bit of breakfast and having a chat with LeAnn was a nice way to start the day. I said my goodbyes to Stan, who went to pick up Jesus, and tickled Picasso’s tummy, before advising him to eat as much as possible that morning since (although he doesn’t know it) he will be off to the vet’s tomorrow to have a tooth out, which means no food tonight… fill your kitty crunchy boots Picasso.

And as my departure time got closer, both LeAnn and I found it weird that we had known each other for less than 24hrs but it felt like we had been friends for a long time. So magical to have met such lovely people and in random circumstances – I pedalled off feeling very lucky.

Fighting a reasonably strong wind heading South into Newton, I was grateful to be riding that section of the route first thing in the morning with the winds still gathering and the temperature cool- much better than thrashing it yesterday afternoon. 

And when I reached Newton, I headed to the famous Donut shop  - open 11pm – 11am (yes, you read that right), where I treated myself to a jam donut and a coffee, knowing that I would have 38 miles of nothingness from then on before I could feed my face again.

It was about half way into the starvation zone that I bumped into a couple of cyclists coming the other way – Ian and Alejo – I hope I have spelt their names right… Well, they were a laugh and a half and we spent way too long chatting and sharing stories and jokes before hitting the road again. They will spend tonight at the bike shop in Newton – I still think it’s one of the coolest spots I’ve come across. Enjoy guys...

Powering off with the benefit of an oblique tail-wind at that point (sorry guys), I made good time to Cassoday, the only stop for the remaining 75 miles after Newton, where I was able to get a sandwich and salad at the grocery store. And then I stocked up with as much liquid as I could reasonably carry and set out into the heat of the day, and into a Southerly direction…and noted formally that Kansas was no longer flat. 

I had already seen from the maps that I’d have a stretch of around 17 miles of headwind, and I was prepared for it to be tough. And so when it kept blowing and gusting, and stopping me dead in my tracks, I just tried to laugh at it. It wasn’t until I looked at the Garmin and saw that I was going around 5 miles an hour that even my rudimentary maths could work out that I could be playing this game for over three hours, which wasn’t such a laughing matter.

Just as I told myself that the wind might drop, the road surface might improve, and I might get some downhill, the surface changed to a coarse chip and seal, over the crest of the rolling hill I was climbing, I could suddenly see a higher one beyond, and at that point a gust of wind battered me, as if to ram home the message. I couldn’t even get the mirror on my helmet to stay in a useful position as the wind kept pushing it so far back I could only see behind by tipping my head back and staring directly at the sky like a howling loon – clearly the old-fashioned method of looking behind me was out of the question (but seriously I didn’t know when to look as I couldn’t hear anything over the wind).

It took me over two-and-a-half hours but, eventually, I had ticked off that stretch and turned East. And that was when I lost my sense of humour a little. With temperatures up around 100 degrees on the Garmin, and still twenty miles to go, I had been hoping (against the odds, but that’s what this kind of ordeal does to you) that the small town at the junction of the roads would have at least a vending machine (if nothing else) since it had a school and a post office etc etc, but… nothing! And so I was forced to drink and be grateful for the warm lemonade in my pannier while fantasising about cups of ice with can of coke being poured over the top, and frosty glasses of beer, and jugs of cold water with ice and lemon floating in it.

As I pulled up to my motel, I saw my third cyclist of the day – an English guy called Tim who is cycling around the world!! Yes, you read that right. He started in Greenwich in London and cycled through Europe before getting a flight to Toronto, from where he has cycled to Kansas. He’s heading for San Diego, then down through South America and then over to New Zealand and… I’m not sure where from there…. but, what an adventure!

We arranged to meet for a bite to eat this evening and had a great chat over some fried lovelies and a couple of weak beers!  Well, it is Kansas…

And yet again another day without animal sightings, or hilarious jokes that I have to share – OK, jokes that I have to share.  So, having now gone through yesterday’s photos, I just share the best photo I managed to get of Jack…

Jack's no torso rule, "Show it off mate, and before you know it
Russell Crowe's here with his shirt off looking for a fight."  

Back on the road tomorrow and more than ready for my rest day on Saturday.

Me x