Day 54-56

Day 54 Hutchinson to Newton

The morning started off early.... I can't put WE in the sentence because it was Kristen who was the one who woke up. She had a fun filled morning! Went to the laundry mat to wash our clothes (I thank god everyday that I selected a women to come with me because I always have clean clothes! To be honest if I was doing this trip with another guy I would never have any clean clothes!) and went to the store to get food for breakfast all before 8am. I woke up seriously a few minutes before she came back to the church and pretended to do something so I didn't feel completely worthless. My contribution to the morning was making scrambled eggs. I admit and Kristen agrees they were some good eggs. We finished packing up all our stuff and got out on the road around 10:30. We were happy with this start time and the only other thing we had to do was get Kristen a new tire for her back wheel cause the tread was worn off and kept on getting a flat on a daily basis. I went to the bike shop while Kree veered off to the library to update the blog/website. Next thing I knew it was 12:30 and I was still doing more repairs on her bike so it could make the 1400 mile trip to the Atlantic.

We were on the road at about 1...finally. Just as we were about to leave town and merge on the state highway we heard a gentlemen yell out of his pickup "I'm the guy on the website with Big Bikes". I was like this guy is a nut and kept on riding. Two minutes later he was back. This guy pulled up next to us and said we must check out his house/workshop cause makes retrofitted big bikes. I looked at Kristen and said "have a late start already, what is 20 more minutes matter. We pedaled up to his house. When I attempted to dismount from my bike the trailer hit Kristen's pannier and I couldnt unclip my left foot...next thing I knew I was heading towards the grass(thankful it was grass and not pavement). Les Bernard was the man behind Big Bikes. Some of his bike designs were far out there, but as he let Kristen and I ride some of his crazy bike designs, we really enjoyed the ride!

So after chatting with Les for about a hour we hit the road at 2:30. We rode for about 3 hours and covered 35 miles until we hit town of Newton.. The time was approaching 6 and the next town with services and camping was 30 more miles. We wouldn't make it before dark so we called it a night in Newton. We found a $8 Chinese buffet and ate until we almost threw up! We setup camp at the nice city park and slept under a pavillion. (In the middle of the night a storm came with strong winds mixed with rain and got is and the sleeping bags all wet...)

Day 55 Newton to Eureka

We woke up to Marks annoying alarm that I despise! My alarm plays a nice little tune that makes you wake up in a good mood and doesn't scare ya half to death! His is just loud and goes eh, eh, eh, eh!!!! After living through the storm, we decided to grab some breakfast at The Breadbasket, to our surprise, it was another buffet! I need to get out of this town before I gain ten pounds! We talked with two men by the names of Paul and Byron who were interested in where we were headed! They were nice fellas and we asked them about Menninites, a popular religious sect in Kansas. They were both Mennintes themselves, and gave us some history! They were travel agents in the past and have done a lot of missionary work in Uganda! They grabbed one of our brochures, and as we headed to the register to pay for our meal, the cashier told us it had already been taken care of! People are just so nice in Kansas!

Sidenote: as we sat down to eat I placed a napkin by Marks plate, with the intention that if he saw it, there would be a slight chance he would use it. Oh he used it alright, to soak up the cottage cheese juice left on his plate, and then poured ketchup on it for his potatoes. I can't take him anywhere!

We hit the road and had about a 75 mile day ahead of us. It was a bit chilly in the morning time and as we pedalled quickly, the cold air was swiftly hitting our bodies. The terrain was getting better, a bit hilly and more trees! It definitely made the time pass more quickly! We rode 34 miles to the next town and stopped at a gas station. We sat on one of those swinging benches, I love those things! We rode all day, it definitely got way hotter and when we had about 18 miles left, guess who got her 8th flat tire, I did! We patched up a tube on the side of the road and fixed it all up, leaving the scene with greasy hands and chainmarks everywhere, I tell ya, I don't know how I get so filthy everyday!

We made it to Eureka and headed towards the city park to find the pool was closed! Since there was no barbed wire, we hopped the fence and went for a quick dip, we had to cool off! Mark set up the tent while I was trying to open a bottle of wine. Problem was is that we didn't have a wine opener. I sat there, with my knife trying to shove the cork inside the bottle. Then I tried chopping up the cork in order to get rid of the top half. After about 30 mins of entertaining myself, I decided to ask the people who lived across the street. This cute old man answered the door and was a bit hard of hearing, actually he could hardly hear! So I started playing charades, and he took me around to his work bench and pulled out his drill! He drilled a screw in the cork and then pulled it out with a pair of pliers! It was so cool!

We grabbed some food and of course milkshakes for dessert! Off to bed for a 92 mile ride tommorrow!
Kristen

Day 56 Eureka to Walnut

This morning we didn't wake up to any alarm, except for the scorching sunlight roasting our faces! I started organizing our things like usual and realized our cookie bag along with the rest of our food was scattered around the park! An animal perhaps a racoon or coyote had rummaged through our food and something else for that matter! Marks helmet was mysteriously missing! I know it was under the picnic bench the night before and it was nowhere to be found! The tale of the missing helmet remains a mystery! I was hoping the animal would have taken mine, after the cat incident and all, now I have no excuse to get a new helmet!

We grabbed some breakfast at the Copper Kettle Restaurant and began chatting with Becky and Peter, from Ontario on a motorcycle tour! They were so nice and took a picture of us! Becky was a schoolteacher and said she wanted to tell her class what we were doing to inspire them to do whatever they wanted to in life! We definitely felt cool when they passed by us on the highway a few miles down the road and took an action photo of us!

We made our way through a few small towns, loaded up on some granola bars and finally ended up at the Subway in Chanute! The air conditioning felt amazing! We met Chris and Kyle, oddly enough, Chris was the brother of Jeff, a guy we shared a cabin with in Rawlins, Wyoming! Such a small world! We chatted for a bit and decided to head out and use up the last of the sunlight!

We rode about 25 more miles to Walnut, Kansas, just before the sun was about to set! As we entered town a huge dog chased after me and my heart was pumping! I have only heard horror stories about the dogs in Kentucky and am a bit nervous! As we looked around for the city park, we saw a man by the name of Bernie Smith, on his front porch. As he pointed us in the direction of park, he mentioned we were welcome to stay at his house and take showers and do laundry! You can't imagine how happy I was! He made us feel right at home and was so nice to invite us into his home! I tell ya, the people in Kansas have the biggest hearts!

We talked about Tornadoes and learned about the different calls that hens, wild turkeys, and owls make and the history of hunting! Bernie was a great guy and the world would be a better place if it was full of people like him!