Christine W (christineweir@hotmail.com)
Wed, 12 May 1999 07:53:38 PDT
Hi there everyone
Yahoo, we are half way! We are in Kansas City, Kansas (which, as everyone knows, is a
different place than Kansas City, Missouri). Staying with Byron and family in luxury
accommodation, beds with sheets on them, bathroom, side street, no traffic noise,
squirrels and rabbits running around outside, thunder and lightening last night -
fantastic!
We left Dodge City last Thursday afternoon and had an easy 65km ride to Kinsley, which to
our surprise had a sign saying it is the midway point between San Francisco and New York,
1651 mi (2640 km) in each direction. Madi asked a couple of guys to take photos for us, it
seemed like their first time ever using a camera because they got all goofy and shy about
it! So we thought we would celebrate half way, even though we started from LA but what the
hell, we must be getting close. Kinsley is not exactly a big city, the first shop we came
to had a note on the door "John, gone to do an errand - Vicky" and was locked
while she went to do her errand. We crossed the railway lines and to my amazement there
was a one-way street, I mean there are only about 3 streets in this place, so why a
one-way street? I have enough trouble riding on the "wrong" side of the road,
let alone going on one-way streets as well. Anyway we cut through somewhere and found a
good grocery store and got some yummy fresh salad things and had a Madi salad mixed up in
a plastic bag. Madi's salads are world-famous in Upper Moutere, they are a visual and
taste feast.
We had a bit of a ride around the town looking for somewhere to camp, and the most likely
place was in a public park beside a church and museum so we pitched our tents in the
shelter behind a shed, with the highway on each side of us as it was at a junction, and
the No Jake Brakes sign a bit further up the road, so the trucks did the big brrrr noisy
thing as they used their engine brakes to slow before they got to the sign that said they
couldn't use the engine brake to slow down.
We had a good fire going, and a carful of yobbo youths arrived, one came over and said his
mother runs the motel behind us and we could go in there if it got too cold, and we might
get in trouble with the police for having a fire. Yeah yeah we thought, thanked him, and
away they went. Shortly after, his mother who really did manage the motel, came over to
say hi. We offered her a cup of tea, which she declined because she is on a beer diet and
she had her own can of beer. We had an interesting chat for a while, she used to live in
the mountains in Virginia and finds Kansas quite different.
It was the usual noisy traffic night, plus a truck parked on a side road not far from us
and left the engine running all night. However, it was dry and calm and not snowing so I
wasn't complaining. We were still at 2000' however instead of sleeping in 3 layers of
thermals plus sox and gloves and balaclava and scarf and woolly hat, I had now downgraded
to just 2 sets of thermals and only put the hat on when I woke in the morning so it's
getting warmer.
Next day was a lot of excitement, because there were a few bends in the road and once we
actually had to stop at a T-junction at Larned and turn left. Whew, that was fun after the
straight roads. Just up the road was Pawnee Springs, and one of the many antique shops
that we have gone past. This one was actually open and we spent about an hour looking and
touching stuff, it was real fun to see all the old implements and household things and
pictures from years gone by. Similar stuff to our own antique/junk shops, just different
enough to be interesting. I bought a wee pewter covered wagon, which seemed appropriate
since we are following the Santa Fe trail.
There was more excitement to come at our lunch stop at Great Bend, so named because the
road actually bends around. Wow, this was such a great day. The road changed from a North
East direction to East, and we had a tail wind for the afternoon which was a bonus. The
houses in Great Bend are really beautiful, and lush green grass and lots of spring growth
around, it was interesting riding around to have a look.
We stopped at Lyons so Madi could buy a celebratory beer (she has taken to drinking beer
because there is no apple cider here). I wanted a juice, but the law doesn't allow the
liquor store to sell anything but liquor, weird. The local paper boy aged 13 came along,
riding a 1968 Schwinn classic old bike, it was a beauty. We got talking and he showed us a
good camping site tucked away in the trees out of sight, beside a railway line which he
said won't matter because the train only comes on Mondays. Obviously the kid is a late
sleeper because at 6 a.m. the train came thundering past about 20' away from our tents!
The terrain is now gently undulating, still straight roads, and the horizon is not so flat
looking, a few lumps and bumps. Instead of the usual motel and petrol advertisements at
the outskirts of a town, there are usually church signs around here. Church seems to be
the popular pastime. We were intending to go to Marion Lake and have a scenic lakeside
camp site, and missed the turnoff, probably because there was no sign. We could see on the
map roughly where it would be, and didn't want to go charging up a hill to have a look, so
settled for the side of a wheat field beside a muddy river, trampled down the long grass
and set up camp. That was a peaceful site, we had a roaring fire going in no time because
the wind didn't drop in the evening as it usually does!
>From there the road remained quite straight, although more excitement at having to
make a left turn to head due North on hwy 56, with a tail wind for a while. The road
stretches ahead like a ribbon, straight and undulating. Get to the crest of what they call
a hill, and ahead is a downhill and another crest in the distance. Beautiful green
countryside, farms with cattle now, as well as wheat fields. It's very beautiful around
here.
An interesting lunch stop at Council Grove, a very historic town on the Santa Fe trail
where they have preserved a lot of old buildings. It was memorable for me because I leaned
my bike against a tree while having lunch and picked up 2 more thorns so had 2 holes to
mend before continuing.
It was a very gusty crosswind all afternoon, undulations getting steeper and longer, warm
and pleasant enough though. I rode uncleated a lot of the time when it was really gusty
and I was going slowly uphill, because the wind was blowing me onto the road and I stopped
once while the traffic passed because I didn't want to be blown in front of them.
We pulled into Allen, a typical small town with a lot of abandoned shops and lots of
houses and no people, found a sheltered spot beside the phone company, and were just about
to put up our tents when the sherrif drove by. We flagged him down and asked him if it was
ok to camp here. He said it probably was, but he could escort us to Allen Lake just up the
road, where it would be more private. He had a wee dog in the car, which he was taking to
the pound. Here is this huge black sherrif with this tiny wee dog sitting on his arm in
the police car! He even took our tents and panniers so we could ride quicker, as it was
7.30 pm, and he drove a few km down the road to the lake. He said he had told his deputies
to check on us during the night, and just after I went to bed my tent got lit up by the
spotlight from the cop car! That was good service all right. We sat in the long grass and
had another yummy salad and a very quiet night.
It began raining not long after setting out the next morning, still nice and warm. At
Burlingame we stopped for morning munchies and asked a few locals about the weather. Some
said thunderstorms are coming, some said it might keep raining and it might clear up. With
that definitive information we kept going, decided to do 40km before lunch and then would
be able to make it to Kansas City after lunch. Well the wind turned onto more of a quarter
head wind and the undulations got a bit longer and steeper, so progress was slow. To our
amazement, Byron who we had arranged to stay with in KC, was in Baldwin City to drive us
to his house! What a treat! Madi had stopped for a beer to celebrate her 16000 km (she
doesn't drink much, honestly, it just sounds like she does!) and I had ridden on ahead,
when this van pulls up beside me going up a hill and doesn't pass me, and there is Madi
grinning from the passenger seat!
So that's where we have been for yesterday and today, and tomorrow we hit the road again
and head for Missouri which sounds grand but it's really just down the road. We will then
go down to Sedalia and take the Katy trail along the Missouri River, right across the
state almost to St Louis. This will be such a treat, it's an old railway trail which has
been turned into a biker/hiker trail, so no cars or trucks!
We have found out that the tornado that hit Oklahoma the night after we did our big 111
mile ride, reached wind speeds of 318 mph, the highest ever recorded. They said winds that
powerful can rip pavement from roads, grass from the ground, and freight cars from train
tracks. We have photos of both of us standing by the Oklahoma state sign which is all bent
and buckled, and I am standing with my back to the wind, brakes on, sitting down on the
bike to keep it stopped. Madi turned to face the wind, bike is blowing over! What is maybe
more interesting is that the background is totally flat and empty, if a tornado had come
along then, we had nowhere to hide. Just as well we didn't know about such things at that
time.
Talking about photos, here is the one of us at Aguila Arizona, taken by the Young at Heart
group of over-50's who are cycling from California to Florida -
http://members.aol.com/azyhorton/route/seg9.htm That's me on the left of the photo, Madi
on the right. I am wearing my anti-sunburn camoflage scarf. All those unkind people at
work who laughed at my "farmer tan" marks on my arms and legs will now be in
hysterics when they next see me. Just as well it will be winter when I get home and I will
be covered up while the tan lines fade.
So we are half way, it seems to be going so fast. Our destination is New York where we fly
out on 1st July, so we are doing well. We have probably done the hardest bits now, with
the mountains and desert, and are now moving into different countryside - more frequent
towns, more traffic. We seem to be a novelty as soon as either of us start speaking. The
standard questions are - where are you going, where did you start, where are you from.
People are so friendly and happy to help, and it's amazing how many people know where the
nearest bike shop is and can tell us how many miles away it is. We have a few language
difficulties, it has been really hard to get boiling water for a cup of tea. When I ask if
I can boil the jug for a cup of tea, I might as well be speaking Russian. Hoever, Greg who
is an American married to a Kiwi, has given me the correct words to use so hopefully I
will be right from now on. Usually people give me hot water from the sink tap, yuk! It's
not always possible to light a fire when we are in a city or town!
We seem to have escaped the critters and bugs that we could have encountered. The day
after we sat in the long grass eating our tea at the lake, we saw a dead snake on the
highway. Apparently there are some deadly ones around. Also ticks on the trees. Lots of
dead turtles, frogs, racoons, skunks, and even possums which are different from our
possums. These ones are bigger, like a small dog, and have a sharp pointy face like a fox.
There are also bugs called chiggers which can embed under the skin, how lovely.
So that's it for the first half. Watch this space, there will be more I'm sure. Every day
is a slowly changing tapestry of landscape, different housing styles, new people to talk
to as we briefly pass through their life and make a small connection.
Thanks again to everyone who has been sending supportive and encouraging emails, it's
wonderful to keep in contact.
Christine and Madi