Fourth of July. Larned KS to Buhler KS 78 miles.

Camp at Buhler, KS

Campsite at Buhler City Park/Pool

More of the same except that the riders reported they saw more wild life including turtles and turkeys.  And trees!  We are guessing that the farms in this area are family owned, and the ones we saw before are factory ones. Therefore the tree wind brakes planted during the dust bowel days are still intact.  You have heard that they roll up the sidewalks in small towns on certain days.  It's true.  Buhler KS did that on the fourth of July.  There was not a single store open.  The city park and pool however was alive with folk including us. The shower was hot and the pool cool.  Just what we need on a 102 degree day. However by the time we cooked and setup our tent were ready for bed we could have used another dip in the pool.

A local guy came and chatted with us for awhile.  He mentioned that it's so dry that they do not get any dew, so Dave and I decide to not use our rain flys in order to get more air flow.  Wrong.  We were both musty, "dampish" as Dave called, it in the morning.  I doubt I will try that again this trip.

We usually hit the sack about 9:00.  There was no sleeping before 12:30 this night because of the fire works in the neighborhoods around us.

Phil

Pete taught chemistry at South Christian High.

Scott City to Ness City 55 Miles. Ness City KS to Larned KS 64 Miles

7/2/11
This ride took a bit longer because of -- you guessed it -- wind.  Pete and I rode an average of 11 miles per hour because of it and the heat.  You cannot imagine, at least  I never imagined, what a head wind does to your enthusiasm for being out in it. That and heat saps your strength and you are forward to the next city swimming pool.  I don't know if this is going to hold out, but all the Kansas cities we visited so far have city parks with swimming pools with showers and camping is allowed in them. A thunderstorm roared trough at Ness City.  I neglected to stake down my rain fly and all the water ran down from the top to under my tent and I woke up floating in a puddle.

Campsite in Ness City

How much work would it be to change a flat?

Dave carried all our gear to the lower level. What a guy!

Rusty (or Ray) took this picture of KS route 96.

I mentioned in prior posts that we are on the same route and Rusty and Ray.  Rusty is keeping a blog too.  He has a way with descriptions that are beyond me. They mention us every once in a while. So if you want a different description of the route and their experience check in at www.rustymccain.com.

Rusty McCain and Ray Ashworth

7/3/11

Kansas. All horizon and no mountains.

Larned City KS was the next one on our list of KS city to visit.  Dave and Pete reported that it those 64 miles were hard - wind in their faces and heat (100 today).  BUT.  The city pool and showers were fantastic. The grass is green and the ground is level.  The storm clouds gathering in the west are not going to dump any rain under my tent tonight. I think I learned.  I wish I could post some captivating pictures, but we haven't seen any captivating sights.  Field after field, after field, after field, grain elevator, after grain elevator on each horizon as far as the eye can see. You can see the next elevator 10 miles away - I clocked it.  Oh, and oil wells.  There are a lot of little ones all along the way. There are caravans of contract harvesters on the road - apparently from Texas.  They are hauling very large John Deer machines which take up the whole lane when they pass. We were warned by riders going west that KS might just be the hardest state to ride because of the sameness.  The road, KC 96, is straight, straight, straight. When the next town comes into view it looks like an oasis because of all the trees.  Ride through, no more trees.

Fort Larned National Historic Site.

Larned KS City Park/Pool.  Fountain in background.

We heard that the writeup about trip is in the GR Press today.  I have to get to it on MLIVE.com yet.

Happy Forth of July

Phil

Eads CO to Scott City KS. 105 Miles

You bikers might know how this goes.  The ride today was scheduled to end at Tribune KS.  Dave and Pete got there about 10:45 AM after 56 miles.  (They left Eads about 6:15 AM.) The looked at each other and said "It's too early to stop.  Let's go to Leoti -  another 22 miles."  Off they went.  They got there and called Phil to say they were going to Scott City - another 25 miles. Pete says his total for the day as 105 miles. The temp hit 100 degrees. We are staying in an athletic club.  We slept on the flood on our air mattresses.  The place is air conditioned, has showers, and a pool.  It has a great deck to fix our meal and share it with two other retirees, Al Nordstrom and Keith Wilson,  who are doing their bucket list ride.

Sharing dinner with Al & Keith at the Athletic Club.  Scott City

Kansas awaites.

Scott City Athletic Club. Deck and Pool

Our kitchen/dining room. Scott City

I am again impressed with scenery.  Farms.  There is cultivated land stretching to the horizon front, back, right, and left.  There are no trees. It's just fields. The John Deer harvesters are huge.  Grain trucks going to the elevators are everywhere.  Grain elevators are the tallest things around and they seem to be built every 1/2 mile.

The  ride tomorrow is scheduled to cover 51 miles.  But you know how that goes.

Phil

Ordway CO to Eads CO 56 Miles

Hot again.  Dave & Pete decided to leave the Ordway Hotel ASAP.  They were on the road at 6:20 AM headed for Eads CO before it got too hot and windy.  Temps that time of the morning are moderate and there is not a lot of humidity.
This is desolate country. There are brown fields as far as you can see in all directions. Some parcels had cows in them, most do not. We came across a feed lot with many thousands of cows.  We measured the road side of it to be 1 mile long. The smell was over powering.
The guys made good time and finished this leg by 10:45AM.  The next possible camp ground was 65 miles from Eads, so we decided to make this a short day. We set up camp in an Eads city park with no restroom , or shower but there is a library across the street.  A swimming pool is close by.  Temps hit 102 by 2:00 PM. Then it started.  WINDS, More Winds, Heavy Winds.  They nearly tore our tents apart.  They lasted until 1:00 AM, and then changed to the opposite direction. Our fellow travelers Rusty and Ray rode their last 20 miles in that gale.  We met them for dinner and they were exhausted. We were glad we stopped when we did. I read the book on the dust bowl (THE WORST HARD TIMES) and I got a feel for what that must have been like.  Our camp was next to a grain elevator.  The trucks going in there kicked up dust which blew hard right to our camp site.

Eads CO.  Note the grain elevator.  Lots of truck traffic. Much dust.

Eads, Co.  Wind was blowing hard.  Note how the tent is collapsed.

This is our last night in CO.  KS awaits.

Phil

Pueblo to Sugar City 60 miles.

The morning started in Colorado Springs with a breakfast of Julie's baked oatmeal.  The car trip to Pueblo took about 45 minutes.  Phil then lost the riders and finally caught up with them about 40 miles later. This was the hottest day of the trip.  108 Degrees. Our map said that there was a camp ground at Sugar City, but that was wrong.  There was a campground at Ordway five miles back but it was dirty, rocky, no shower - unacceptable.  So the Ordway Hotel is our stay for the night - a cute room.  The boring sights have begun.  There isn't much to describe.  It's dry, hot and no mountains to describe.  Kansas is on the horizon with wheat fields to describe.  We have at least one more day in CO.
Phil

Pikes Peak on a rest day,

Colorado Springs is the resident city of Darin, Julie, Zoe, and Levi Zaruba.  Julie is the daughter of Jan & Phil Quist.  The riders used their home as a base for the first day off since Minden NV on the CA/NV border.
So what does one do on a day off from a bike trip?  -laundry, take a cog railroad trip to the top of Pikes Peak, ride through Garden of the Gods, shop for supplies, get your tent poles fixed at REI, blog and crash.

Garden of the Gods

Look closely for the deer on the COG Railroad tracks.

 Back to Pueblo tomorrow.
Phil

Over Monarch Pass then on to Pueblo

Gunnison to Coaldale over the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (11,313 feet).

Dave wearing his GVSU jersey on Monarch Pass

Zoom in on this picture to see the ice on Dave's rain fly.

 Wow. What a climb.  The seven miles up the mountain took about 3 hours.  The euphoria at the top was unbelievable.  The long ride down took about 1/2 hour.  Lunch was in Salida, then on to Coaldale.  Nice camp ground there beside the mighty rushing Arkansas River.  Pete and Dave wanted to get a jump on the next day (again) and rode another 10 miles toward Pueblo.  So Phil went to get them a brought them back to Coaldale.  Spaghetti for supper. Bugs for dessert. 

Arkansas River

Camp Site on Arkansas River at Coaldale CO.

Camp Site on Arkansas River at Coaldale CO.

6/27/11.  ICE.  Dave had ice on his tent in the morning.  Packing up was finger numbing. Dave rode for the first 15 miles.  The were forest fires in the area.  The smoke in the air hung over the mountains and made the view hazy. Phil took over from Westcliffe to Pueblo. 56 miles. There was one long climb, then a seven mile downhill with strong cross/head winds. We had to hang on and slow down to keep from getting blown over. We saw another climate contrast.  This part of CO is really dry, and the ride was hot.  31 degrees in the AM, 90 degrees in the PM. Yet air at times seemed cool.  AT Pueblo the plan was to load the bikes on the car and then drive to Colorado Springs.  We did.
Phil