Day 15 –St Francis, KS to Phillipsburg, KS 137.91miles

Ow… this day reminded me of 100k charity rides in the Carolinas during August. The wind was no relief, and it blew directly from the east. It would just blow the hot asphalt air and all the gnats against me. I could tell the direction of the wind by where my skin was darkest from the gnats. I seemed to collect a lot of different species of insects, maybe I discovered a new one or two. The gnats were worse when the wind was weak, they would collect in a gnat cloud and then spray my body kamikaze style. In Kansas though, unlike the Carolinas, they don’t go for open areas of the body like the eyes, mouth, nose, etc. They keep to the arms, legs, and chest, which is nice. I’ll take the gnats over the 20 mph wind in the face. Unfortunately, Kansas will bless you with both several times over the course of the day.
I left the motel at 7:30 and didn’t have any wind until a couple hours later. I rode to Atwood and stopped at a local cafe with a painted mural of the late Dale Earnhardt on the window. Works for me! I had 2 helpings of mashed potatoes, roast beef, a roll, salad, corn, chicken sandwich, a couple glasses of water and coke… all for $15… Nice folks at “My Place”, although the waitstaff all wanted to be somewhere else more populated. They liked the principles of Kansas, but wanted everything else more urban areas provided. It was at this point I realized I was in Central time by the clock on the wall. Time didn’t matter much to the staff, as one didn’t know what I was talking about, “Central time”.

Everyone in Kansas waves at you. It's strange, the pickup trucks are friendlier than any other type of vehicle. Try waving at a truck in Carolina while on your bicycle and see what they'll fire back. I started experimenting with the traffic and it's true. The dirtier and truckier the vehicle, the friendlier. I gave a big wave to a passing Mercedez and I got nothing back

In Kansas, distance is measured by towns. If you’re going to Z town and you’re in W town, well then you have 2 towns to go through before you get to your destination. I had a few towns to pass in order to get to Phillipsburg. I looked up lodging in the town and found the Mark V motel had a good review so I headed there as directly as I could, over the continued rolling hills of Kansas. These rollers aren’t like the hiccups of Carolina where I can spin through it with the inertia from the prior downhill, they were 1 or 2 miles of 8%+ to throw me to my lowest gear. I grudged up and down them, my energy waning under the sun. I took a picture of a town sign with elevation of 3k, “No way” I thought, it feels like I’ve been going uphill for days.
Gatorade became a regular occurrence, I downed 192 oz over the day with about a gallon of water to chase. Subway received my business with a footlong club sub late in the day and I hit the bed with one bounce before I was asleep again. The heat sucks the life out of me. I am tired of hills. Kansas is not flat. I’ll say it again, Kansas is not flat.