Here is a recap of the last few days:
Scott City-La Crosse
Lacrosse-Lindsborg
Lindsborg-Osage City
Osage City-Leawood
We left Scott City bright and early, and had a relatively uneventful day to La Crosse, aside from some headwinds at the end of the day when our legs had begun to tire out. In Lacrosse, we stayed in a room donated by the Green Acres Inn. That night, some pretty big storms came through, so we were very thankful to be staying inside. With those storms came some pretty incredible heat and humidity.
Our next day, we again left by 6 in hopes of beating the heat. By 9am, it had already turned out to be a scorcher, and the winds picked up pretty early. Even still, we made it to Lindborg by 3:30 or so. As it turns out, Lindsborg is the 'little sweden' of America, complete with an annual festival dedicated to its Swedish heritage. When we arrived, the Viking motel (in tune with the Scandanavian theme) donated two rooms to us! We were so thankful to each have a bed to ourselves. The owner of the motel couldn't have been nicer. Because the town is so small, he has donated a room to the past 3 years of riders as well, and was able to show us a binder full of interesting articles about people who had stayed in the hotel. In the binder was a press release about Ben Ristau and Jeremiah Tracey's trip (the first annual Coast to Coast for a cure)! He was really excited to be help out another crew. He even called down to the local family restaurant, spoke with the owner, and she then donated dinner to us. We've decided that people in Kansas, as a rule, are pretty nice.
We woke up again bright and early, ready to start a 115 mile day, only to find that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for the area. The wind was blowing like crazy! We decided to go back to bed, and woke up again around 7:15 to find that the storm had passed. We were on the road around 8, and were stopped again around 10:30 to wait for another round of storms to pass. In all, we estimate that we lost around 4 hours. We also learned on this day that eastern Kansas is not actually flat. The 'Flint Hills', as they're known, are actually fairly 'bouncy'. The scenery was beautiful, and we enjoyed the expances of farmland and farm animals. Tony has a pretty impressive cow impression, and spoke to the cows on several occasions. Sometimes, when he moo'd, he would scare the cows away, and sometimes they would run towards him. Apparently, he doesn't know what he's saying when he speaks cow. We rolled into Osage City around 8, completely exhausted. We were excited about the prospect of finding a place to stay, only to find out that Osage City was not actually much of a city, and did not have a motel. We walked into the local convenience store to ask for suggestions, and the clerk (Amber) was kind enough to have us camp in her lawn. Unfortunately, she did not get off of work until 10:30, long after we would have been asleep. We set up camp and had a very hot, sticky night inside of the tents.
We woke up around 6 the next morning to head to Leawood. Our ride was very pretty in the increasingly large rolling hills, and we had a ripping tailwind behind us. By 3, we were in the area surrounding Leawood and Kansas city. However, the roads here are very confusing, and are known to have multiple names (not all of which are listed). They also frequently end and then begin again 1/2 mile away. Needless to say, it took us until about 5 to find the Douglas' house. When we made it, we were very relieved! They have been so kind to us, and we are so thankful for their hospitality (and very very full bellies).
Tomorrow morning, we will cross the Missouri border (only about 2 miles from where we are now), and then make our way towards St. Louis on the Katy Trail, an old railroad bed turned bike bath. This will take us all the way though Missouri in 3 or 4 days.
We'll write soon (and there are pictures coming, promise!)
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