Day 17 –Clay Center, KS to Lawrence, KS 123.0 miles

Watching Jon Stewart this evening is making me crave popcorn…
I did 123 miles today, the minimum required to make the 13 day journey home according to my route and Google. I was chased down by a tremendous storm and I was having such a great day I didn’t want to be a mile hog and get greedy. It’s a question my conscience answers for me during the latter part of the day, “Should I go? Am I getting greedy?” If the answer is yes, like trying to push to Manhattan yesterday, then I stop pedaling. If I’m feeling lucky like Google, I go for it. There has been very few times I’ve felt lucky, and in Wyoming it ended badly when I decided to go 150 miles without any way of repairing a flat tire. The innkeeper in Clay Center told me I was lucky to not attempt Manhattan because there was a rodeo/stampede going on and all the rooms would be booked. So it all works out again.
Supposedly there’s a 3% chance of getting hit from behind on a bicycle. I don’t use a rearview mirror because I don’t want to see death approach, and I expect some people might be encouraged to cut it close if they see I’m watching their driving skills. I met someone in Idaho who said he uses a rearview mirror so he can avoid a near hit. I would be preoccupied with everything behind me when I should be focused on what’s ahead of me. What really keeps drivers from killing cyclists when most deaths by vehicle aren’t pursued by the law? I ponder that during the day, especially on US-24 east of Topeka on a 70 mph stretch with a gravel soft shoulder. If I’m not too busy counting I’m usually thanking each of the passing drivers who let me live that day.
I headed out of town via Broughton Road, yet another beautiful stretch of Kansas unfolded before me with waving locals. I was curious to know when the locals would stop waving. It was Manhattan and Kansas State University. I was greeted by heckler #9 in a truck who wished I would not be on his road, from across the median. While I have counted the number of hecklers and buzzes since I started, I expect I may have missed a few due to the earbuds. All the better. So ends all the nice folks from the west/central Kansas area. Remember how everyone treated each other during the days following 9/11? That’s west/central Kansas all the time. Take a ride in one of the combines along the road, all you have to do is stop and ask.
In Manhattan there are trees everywhere, and the roads flattened out as I headed east. The corn stalks are at least 3 feet higher than their brothers in west Kansas. I assume it is due to the cold weather and rainfall differences. Everything in the fields are lush and green, the trees fill in the areas between the fields and along the knolls along the horizon. It reminds me of home. It’s something in the mind when I think “home” that sends a jolt of energy through the legs. I wore the jolts out pretty quickly.
I met a group of college students at a Subway/gas station from Baltimore who were on their way across the states in the name of cancer research, a perfect opportunity for me to tell them about 24 Hours of Booty and the Columbia MD event in September. I told them about the group 3 days ahead of them and I learned they were the “Illini” who copied the Baltimore students’ own cross country event and were also responsible for the student’s frequent denials for requests for food donations since they already gave food to the Illini. I have a feeling I’ll see some of them again.
By 10:30am it was 90 degrees. By 11:30 it was 93. I was miserable and wearing the skin off under my eyes from wiping them too much. I had to reapply the sunscreen several times because I wiped it off to clear the sweat from my eyes. I stopped a second time for the Gatorade fix, and I put one in my back jersey pocket. The cold against my spine was wonderful. An idea popped in my head and I would use it at the next Gator-fix. Along the way I stopped in the shade of a small town and a local asked where I came from. I couldn’t remember. I knew I started in Seattle and I was definitely still in Kansas. I was confused and a little concerned I couldn’t remember where I came from… We didn’t have a lively conversation… The patchiness of my skin was getting worse, and I noticed my hands were getting swollen.
By 1:30 it was 101. I stopped for the Gator-fix and this time bought a bag of ice. I dumped the ice into an empty Gatorade bottle and another water bottle. I put one in the back jersey pocket and one behind the zipper in the front of the jersey.
Pure joy.
I haven’t read this approach in other cyclist’s blogs and maybe everyone except me knew about it, but it’s more than psychological. I didn’t sweat as much and I actually felt good. The rest of the ride was easy. I discovered cycling AC.
As I type this out I notice my skin above my knees appears to form some kind of rash. I assume it is the heat. I don’t think there’s much I can do about it.
For folks wondering how my knees are holding up: I learned a little tidbit from the nurses at Ride the Rockies: 800 mg of Ibuprofen is an arthritis dose, so take 3 doses a day. I take just one in the morning and one at night and everything is great.
Life is good!
Today’s calories included 2.5 gallons of Gatorade, 2 bowls of Frosted flakes, a muffin, a bagel and cream cheese, a glass of orange juice, a foot long Subway meatball sub and a Coke to wash it down (in Kansas, where there’s a Pizza Hut there’s a Subway), 2 packs of M&Ms, 2 BBQ brisket and pork dinners with slaw and beans at a local BBQ hut in Lawrence with 3 Budweisers… I love watching Kansas storms. The one that rolled through this evening was orange, green, and blue along with the normal colors of a storm.
I’m staying at the Quality Inn for about $62. I’m washing my clothes and hanging out a bit since I made good time today. Reportedly there are coupons at the travel centers because another guest checked in for $40 when I was trying to get quarters from the front desk.
Tomorrow I’m headed deep into Missouri. I hope to end up in the Harry Truman State Park for some evening camping. The Baltimore students said Missouri was worse than Kansas in terms of heat and humidity. I’m going to try my AC method again to see if it really works or if it was just a fluke.

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.