Dayb 53: Nickerson, KS

Day 53

July 8, 2015

Miles: 61

Larned to Nickerson

It was chilly this morning!  It got into the 50's last night and was still in the 60's when we went for the continental breakfast at the Townsman Hotel.  The breakfast offered slim pickings and was, as Di would say, "Lousy!".  We ate it anyway.

Di enthusiastically eating her lousy breakfast

We had gone to a Mexican restaurant last night and met Rachel and Alan.  Rachel was sitting in the booth right next to us and as soon as we sat down she turned to us and said, "You're not from around here."  Di said, "Why, is it our accents?"  "No", said Rachel.  "Is it the way we are dressed?", I asked. "No."  "Well, how did you know?"  "I know everybody in this town, and I don't know who you are, so you must not be from around here", Rachel said very matter of factly.  She introduced us to her husband and the four of us had an interesting conversation about farming, the weather, and water.  Rachel is working hard to pass college algebra, which is no fun for her, and she will then get her masters and then PHD.  She wants to work for FEMA and influence how government policy affects the farmers in Kansas.  She told us that last year wheat was selling for $5.70 a bushel, but this year, because of the spring rains, is selling for 9.50 a bushel.  "Imagine if we could get some of the flood waters that other states experience in the Spring and bring it to Kansas.  We have oil pipelines that extend for thousands of miles, why can't we have water pipelines just to bring us the extra water that other states don't need.  I think before I began biking through Kansas and talking to some of the folks who live and work here, I would have scoffed at such an idea.  But seeing how hard the people here work and how important water is to the success of their crops and their labor, I have developed a sympathy for their efforts and hopes.  It is small wonder so many people are very religious out here - with so much riding on the arbitrary nature of the weather, the only way to influence a thing such as rain is to appeal to a higher power.

Rachel and Alan made sure to tell us to take Broadway St when we left town to get us to the next route we had to take.  Of course, upon leaving the hotel we immediately went the wrong way.  After about a mile, we stopped in a clothing store to ask directions, and the woman said we had to go back into town and we would see Broadway.  Of course, it ended up being the cross street where our hotel was.  There was a convenience store on the corner and we stopped to get some ham, egg and cheese sandwiches and gatorade.

Second breakfast 

Looking down the main street from the convenience store

After eating our second breakfast, we wondered if we should alter our route and find a faster way to get to St. Louis.  Brian and Michelle will be there in 10 days and our goal is to ride into St. Louis to meet them.  We decided to ride back to the hotel and use the internet to find the best way to go.  After looking at the map on the computer and Googling things for a while, we decide to stay on the TransAmerica Bike Trail until we got to Newton.  We then went to the Subway Deli and picked up a couple of foot long turkey sandwiches for later.  It was now 11:00, we hadn't yet ridden any miles, and we had 60 miles to ride.  Not very good planning!  We got rolling and we had perfect riding weather: temperatures in the 70's, overcast skies, and very little wind.  It was nice not to have the wind blowing us all over the road for a change.

Lots of telephone poles, or perhaps telegraph?

We rode until 1:30 and stopped at a church to have lunch.  There were no restaurants or service stations between Larned and Nickerson, so that's why we had stopped this morning to pick up those turkey sandwiches.  We sat on the church steps and had our lunch.

The church refuge

Lunch on the church stoop

 We resumed riding and were happy to see the environment had changed a bit.  There were a few rolling hills and a lot more trees.

I'm no botanist, but I do know some things about flora, so I am able to identify the above plants as yellow flowers.

There was still a lot of wheat and I saw a deer leaping in wheat that was almost as tall as him.  I think he was leaping just to show off.

One deer-a-leaping

While I was taking a picture a solo rider caught up with us.  His name is Dreux, he is from Hartford, CT, and is riding to Yorktown, VA.  We had 16 miles to go to Nickerson and the three of us decided to ride those miles together.  Dreux and I took turns at the front and we were able to ride between 18 and 22 miles an hour.  At that speed, we got to Nickerson in no time!

Di and Dreux riding a Kansas rode

We got into town at 5:30, had a quick dinner at the only place open in town, the Sunshine Cafe, and then went to the city park to set up our tents.  The park has a bathroom with a shower, so we were very happy about that!  Its a lot nicer to sleep in your tent when you're clean and its a lot nicer for your tenting partner, too!

My tenting partner setting up our tent

Tomorrow we are off to Newton!