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QUICK STATS
|
Start |
End |
Lodging |
Miles |
$$ Spent |
Weather |
|
Eads, CO |
Leoti, KS |
Camp (Leoti City Park) |
78.9 |
$4 |
73 degrees, windy, scattered showers |
We had another great night's sleep on the pews and woke up feeling refreshed. Nathan prepared corned beef, hash browns, yogurt, and bananas for breakfast. We had a 2lb bag of hash browns, so it really filled us up.
As we were getting ready to leave, people started arriving for church. They were all very nice. A few were pretty surprised to see our bikes leaned up against some benches by the sanctuary!
On our way out of town, we stopped at a gas station to see if we could find any Colorado pins or patches for our bikes. We hadn't gotten any yet, and this would be our last chance. After looking around, we realized the gas station didn't have any. Bummer.
The wind blew all day long from the Northwest. We were riding East, and so it didn't take too long for a distant rainstorm in the North to make its way over to us. As it rained on us and the storm blew over, what we didn't know was that this was only the first of three rainstorms we'd ride through today.
As each storm got closer, we'd be blasted by the strong winds at the head of the storm front. They pushed us almost off the road many times.
We stopped for lunch at a town that was, unfortunately, all closed up. We really wanted some refuge from the wind, but we couldn't find a single place open. We decided it must be because it's Sunday. We found a little cove beside a building that was semi-protected from the wind, so we sat on the ground and ate there.
We can't remember a time on our trip where the wind has lasted so long before. It's definitely wearing us down physically and mentally. Apparently Colorado isn't interested in giving us a very friendly good-bye.
When we left the little town, we saw something we'd never seen before: a sunflower field! It wasn't a wild field, it was a cultivated sunflower farm. I didn't even know those existed! It was pretty neat - a good, happy boost to the day.
We also noticed something else new: songbirds! As soon as the rain would stop, the birds would start singing and chirping away. It was so great to hear them make all their different, happy, birdie noises. Well, sometimes it was really nice. Other times, after the rain and the wind, we'd hear them start to chirp, and I'd think to myself, "What in the WORLD is there to SING about right now!?".
As we rode, we marveled at how we could see so far in all directions. It's amazing. There wasn't a hill or even a ripple in the land anywhere. Everything was flat for miles and miles in all directions. The only thing changing the landscape was the telephone poles and some signs in the distance.
As we got closer, we realized we were approaching the state line, and the signs were "Welcome" signs for Colorado and Kansas. We made it to Kansas! While it was exciting to realize we'd made it through another state (Colorado), it was kind-of funny because, here we were in the middle of a big, huge, flat field, where it looked like nothing special or interesting ever really happened, and there were the "Welcome" signs marking the end of Colorado and the beginning of Kansas. There was nothing for miles in any direction, but apparently one state was ending and another was beginning. I wanted to take a video to mark the occasion and capture how flat it was, but it was just too windy, so we took a picture instead.
After we entered KS, we realized that in addition to being officially in the plains, we hit another milestone: our halfway point mileage-wise! We think our trip will end up being around 4,600 miles, and we were at 2,337. So now, within a few days, we've hit our half-way point time-wise, we left the mountains, we've entered the plains, and we hit our half-way point mileage-wise. Exciting!
We ended our day at Leoti, KS and set up camp at the city park. Nathan was especially happy to be camping again. We've had so many nights lately where we sleep somewhere other than our tent that I think Nathan's been having tent withdrawal. Instead of having conversations about how great it is to sleep on a mattress or to sleep indoors, he's started to say things like "I miss the tent" and "I miss camping", so hopefully tonight will help his withdrawal.
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