Day 55: Cassoday, KS

Day 55

July 10, 2015

Miles: 40

Newton to Cassoday

Today's post will be brief because I am being savagely eaten by mosquitoes as I write this.  It gives new meaning to the phrase "Publish or perish!"  Di and I got up around 7am and went next door to get a cup of coffee and plan our day.  We need to head north to get to St. Louis and meet Michelle and Brian, but we are having a hard time figuring out the best route.  We talked to Jen while we were in the cafe and Jen, being the practical and common sensical person that she is, said that given our predilection to get lost so frequently, we should stay on the TransAmerica route for as long as possible.  So we decided to follow her advice and continue on the TA for at least one more day.  

We finished our coffee, went back to the bike hostel to finish packing, and rode to  a restaurant offering a breakfast buffet.  It cost $7.99 per person and I hope they got a lot of people that didn't eat a lot today, because they certainly lost money feeding Di and me.  I only went through the buffet line three times, but believe me, I certainly go my money's worth.

A patron took this picture of us

The mechanic at the bike shop told me that as he was cleaning up the shop, a grasshopper jumped onto my handlebars.  He decided to leave it there and this morning the grasshopper was still there.  We all that that was funny, but what is even more interesting is the grasshopper stayed on the bike as I rode away from the hostel.  I didn't lose him until we had ridden more than 24 miles.  I guess he needed to head east and didn't feel like hopping all the way, so he hitched a ride with me.

                        

                         

Aargh, I just got bit a few more times, so my dedication to this blog is waning fast.

We saw cows

And signs for competing churches

We saw a rider up ahead and that's how we met Vera.  She is riding from San Francisco to Yorktown, VA, and we made her very happy by giving her an extra sandwich we had.  We had this extra sandwich because we stopped at a service station on the way out of town to by some lunch for the day, and all they had are what Di labeled as lousy sandwiches.  We bought them anyway, because lousy is better than nothing.  A mile down the road we saw a truck stop, and when we went in we saw they had what Di labeled as better than lousy sandwiches.  We bought those also, and now we had four sandwiches.  When we came upon Vera I offered her one of our extra sandwiches and she smiled and said, "Magic!"  We told Vera we were going to ride ahead to look for a place to stop and have lunch, such as a church.  About five miles later we found such a church and a few minutes later Vera rode in to join us.

We meet Vera again as we were snacking at a church

Di striking a pose

During lunch Di and I decided we would stop in Cassoday.  It would only be a 40 mile day, but it is our fifth day riding and Di said that it would count as our rest day.  I can't believe that a 40 mile day is actually a rest day, but after some of the hard days we had in Utah and climbing Monarch Pass, 40 miles over relatively flat roads is a pretty easy day.

Kansas corn

Standard Kansas windmill

A lot of today's riding was over hilly roads.

Hilly roads

For much of the day it was threatening to rain.

That's what threatening to rain looks like

We made it to Cassoday, population 171.  But even with so few people in town, the city still managed to earn the distinction of "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World."  I don't know what that means, but presumably, somebody does and it is an important honor.

Other cities are jealous of Cassoway's fame

A lot of things end in Cassoday: Rt 177, America's Byway, Scenic Byways, the Flint Hills. Even the South ends here, apparently.

We went looking for the only motel in town, but it was closed.  A neighbor came out to ask what we were looking for, and when we told him we wanted to stay at the hotel, he said, "Well, sometimes they are open, but most times folks prefer to sleep in their tent in the city park."  We understood what he was hinting at and Di resigned herself to sleeping yet another night in something other than a nice hotel.  Before we went to the park, we decided to get some food at the country store just one block away.  About five minutes after arriving at the store, all those threats of rain finally came to fruition.  The rain was heavy, the thunder loud, and the lightening cracks were long and spindly.  And, it got a lot colder.

Doesn't Di look like she is enjoying the rain?

At least we aren't riding in it

Vera had joined us at the store and she, too, beat the rain, and we made the most of it by ordering some food and drinks, having interesting conversation, and basically hanging out at the store and congratulating ourselves on being lucky enough to be there and not riding out in the rain.

Yep, those are hot dogs.

We stayed at the store for a few hours until the rain stopped.  We then rode back to the park and set up our tents in the gazebo.  We set up in the gazebo because we wanted a real roof over our heads in case it decided to rain again.

At the Cassoday city park gazebo

Another reason we are in the gazebo and not on that lush lawn is because the woman at the country store warned us about the mosquitoes, chiggers, and ticks that are prevalent around here and are probably present in the park.  If you don't know what chiggers are then you are lucky, because you have never had them.  If you do know what they are, then you understand why we prefer to be on the gazebo and not in the grass.

I have made my voluntary blood deposit to the Mosquito Bank and will end this post, but not before I wish Dine a happy birthday.  Happy Birthday, Dine!

Tomorrow we are going to Eureka and probably beyond,  Everytime Di says Eureka I tell her she is mispronouncing the name and correct her by yelling very loudly, "EUREKA!!"