Day 49: Scott City, KS

Day 49

July 4, 2015

Miles: 48

Tribune to Scott City

We are in Scott City, or as I like to say to Di in my best Christopher Lloyd impersonation, "Great Scott City, Marty!"  We got up at 7am, but it may have been 8am because we weren't sure which time zone we were in.  There was a large family reunion at the pool last night.  A family that now has branches in Oklahoma and California as well as Tribune had their extended family in town and they had rented the softball field as well as the 4H club.  I went to watch the softball game for a while and met some of the family members.  They started calling me Uncle Jay so I would feel a part of the family and offered me a glass of wine.  I didn't want to be rude, so of course I accepted.  When I told them I was riding across the country with my girlfriend, they laughed and said that was a risky endeavor, but it must be working out okay because Di and I were still together.

Di looking happy in our tent

We packed up our gear, washed up in the public bathroom at the pool, and headed to the only open food establishment in town: the gas station.  We bought the only breakfast food they had: sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit.  It wasn't the greatest breakfast, but we've had much worse.

Di ecstatic over her breakfast

We met three other bicyclists while we were eating breakfast.  Two were riding together and were headed for Oregon.  They had come from Missouri and had ridden 500 miles in one week.  They  said they rode that fast to put Kansas behind them.  Its not that they didn't like Kansas itself, its that the wind was always in their faces and they were looking for better winds.  They also said that where we are headed the flies are much bigger and their bite much worse.  I find it ironic that Di has fears of bears, rattle snakes, mountain lions, and scorpions, but the only creature to actually hurt us has been the fly.  The other bicyclist is riding solo, started in Florence, OR, and is headed for Yorktown, VA. It was weird to have five touring bicyclists converging at the same spot for breakfast.

We left the gas station at 9:30, but one of the westbound riders told us the time zone change was only a few miles away, so it was really 10:30.  I wish I felt like I had slept late enough to be starting the ride at 10:30.

It was a beautiful day to ride.  It was partly cloudy, so we didn't have the full bore of the sun on us at all times.  It stayed cool with temperatures in the upper 80's.  The route was mostly flat.  And the flies weren't biting today!  A great day for a bike ride.

This is what Kansas looks like

Hmm, what does that mean?

Wheat, fields of wheat.

More wheat

Waving wheat

Another classic Kansas view

Di racing cars again

We passed cattle farms, but unlike Colorado, where the cattle roams free, so far we have seen in Kansas only farms that pen their cattle.  But here, like elsewhere, whenever we pass by the cattle stop what they are doing and stare at us.  Its starting to gives us a complex.

Classic cattle view

We stopped in Leoti for lunch and the only thing open was another gas station.  There wasn't anything good to eat, so Di and I just bought drinks and Di also bought beef jerky.  She says its good protein, but I can't bring myself to eat it.  While we were there the rider we had met in the morning stopped in to get a bite.  We sat at the same table for a while and talked about our trips so far.  He is staying in Scott City and is also taking a rest day tomorrow, so we may see more of him.

We had only 24 miles to Scott City and that took us only a little over two hours.  We checked into the Best Western Motel and then went to a Mexican restaurant down the street.  Even though the riding has been easier since we left the mountains, I'm still looking forward to tomorrow's rest day.  I love riding my bike, but I really enjoy the rest days.  Its so much fun to spend and entire day exploring a town (and finding the best cafe!).

Here are some bonus pictures taken during yesterday's ride:

Breakfast at the hotel in Eads

Taking a break in the high plains of Colorado

With Kansas comes the corn

Turkey sandwiches for lunch (and cream soda for me)