Suck it up!!!

Grain elevator = you're in the midwest; Water tower = town

The Arkansas (hopefully we can raft it later)

Excitement for the day - 60 miles of nothing makes everything special

Ok, so after I was all whiny on the last post, we launched into two 70+ mile days (76 and 71). The first was from El Dorado through northern Witchita to Hutchinson (most of that in the rain), and the second was from Hutchinson to Larned (with full heat/humidity and 60 miles without any place to get water/food). Yesterday, the rain was a godsend; the winds stayed down around 5mph (and were mostly at our backs), and our average speed stayed up around 15. It was cool with very little traffic and enough places to refuel. When we came in sopping wet for second breakfast, the waitress found us towels, and all the folks were friendly at the gas station we had lunch at. We made Hutchinson both feeling good, and holed up in a church basement "hostel." Dad got his bike looked at by a costly bike shop, but they did help him out a bit. There were tornados all over the area, but we didn't notice a thing. The ride was around more corn/wheat/cow fields, and I kept my head down most of the ride to avoid catching the rain/salt mixture running all over me.
This morning we got up pretty early and headed the 10 miles to Nickerson, KS. We stocked up with food and drink and headed into the 60 mile section with no services. We might have seen 20 houses along that stretch. Maybe. Lots of fields (corn/wheat) and a few feed lots toward the end (horrible smelling, and kinda sad with all that lovely pasture surrounding the lots). We've run into an increasing number of Eastbounders, and they sound pretty at peace with the Rockies. Hopefully we'll have a good time of it. I started off with low energy this morning and couldn't convince myself to ride faster than 11 or 12 mph. As the day wore on, I continued at my comfortable, slow pace, but the heat started getting to my dad. We were both quite happy to see Larned and its airconditioning. Went through a marshland somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and there were a ton of birds (many of which neither of us could really ID). Bugs were annoying around that area, needless to say. Looks like we're about 3-4 days away from Colorado now. The next 60 mile unsupported area is coming up, so we get 3 easier days before picking it back up to 60-70mile days. I also get my next book and good shades soon. Wahoo.