Monday, 5/22/17

I like both of these  photos.  The top one shows how each town has its own thing to be proud of.Cassoday is a town of only 129 people, but they stand tall being the Prairie Chicken capital of the world.  The bottom photo is an affirmation to me of how great the drivers have been in Kansas.

It was a good day, but tough physically.  Total mileage was 73 miles.  The tough part came partly from the long distance, but also because today was the first day when hills became an issue.  Not really hills as in high places, but rolling terrain enough to challenge riding technique.  It was probably good to get started on this, since Missouri looks to be all hills, and not very rolly ones at that. A second issue today was that at the 50 mile marker I was expecting a convenience store.  But there wasn't any there.  So I had to adjust to that.  Also at the 40 mile marker I turned and faced headwinds for 16 miles.  Physically it was difficult, but mentally it was really tough. The last 17 miles were without headwind,so I got reenergized and ended up feeling better, though not great.  The one overall positive thing about today was that it didn't rain.  I was ready for a day of rain, but it didn't show up. I went through several patches where rain was still on the road, but it missed me.  Road kill report.  1 racoon, 1 possum, 1 skunk, 5 armadillo's.  Kind of small compared to yesteday.  Today was twice the distance.  Live wildlife report- one owl and one turtle.  The owl flew right in front of me early this morning.  It was crossing from a grove of trees on one side of the road to another grove on the other side.  It was a special moment.  The turtle was in the middle of the road. At first I didn't think it was alive, but as I passed, it was starting to come out of its shell, then quickly retreated inside again.  It probably made it to the other side. That was the part of the 16 mile headwind road.  I only saw 4 vehicles the whole time.  It was almost all cattle country today.  I stopped one time to rest and eat.  A herd of about 25 cattle became curious and wandered over to have a look.  I sang to them.  I talked to them about being a  vegetarian, and how hard it was in the food desert of the backroads to stick to it. I did promise that my first two choices for "cheating" were fish and then chicken.  Towards the end of the day, there were a lot  pasturing horses. They weren't so curious. Kind of aloof and regal.

    The town where I am tonight is Eureka, Kansas.  It was an easy shout of joy when I got here.  The home of the tornado's.  I felt a bit of affinity since I was a whirlwind (junior high)  little cyclone (high school), and cyclone (college).  Two more days of Kansas. Then on to Missouri.  Til next time.