The Flatlands

So, we've made it to Kansas! We're all so excited to finally be riding on some flats.

Here's a recap of the past few days:
When we last left you, we were going to attempt a pretty long day to Fowler, Colorado. We left the KOA bright and early for a fairly long, gradual climb (about 3,000 feet), which we completed around 11 AM. For the rest of the afternoon, we coasted downhill to Pueblo, Co. As we coasted though, losing over 4,000 feet, the temperature began to rise exponentially. By the time we rolled into Pueblo around 3:30PM, the bank read 104 degrees on its thermometer. Our original plan was to stop quickly by a bike shop to pick up supplies and head on our way for the last 37 (flat as a pancake) miles to Fowler. However, we stopped in a gas station to cool down, and after some slushies, we decided that it would be much better to wake up super early and get the extra miles under our belt in the cooler weather. We spent the night in a motel, with our alarm set for 4:30AM so that we could get an early start. Little did we know what the next day would hold for us.

Our alarms went off and we packed up our panniers only to discover that Katherine had a tire that had gone flat overnight (she had had 2 flats on the same tire the day before, and we were beginning to get a bit suspicious about the integrity of the tire itself). We figured that we would try one more tube inside of that tire before completely giving up on the tire. So, about 30 minutes behind schedule, we started off for our 112 mile day. We were coasting along at about 16MPH for over an hour, and were really proud of our progress when Katherine's tire went completely flat again. So, we stopped to change it---but, as we soon found out, our handheld pump was completely broken (keep in mind that it had worked an hour earlier to blow up the first flat). So, at 7:3o on a Saturday morning, we were stranded about 20 miles outside of Pueblo in the middle of a field. Fortunately, a very nice woman drove by and saw that we looked concerned and offered to give Tony and Katherine a ride to Walmart to purchase another pump. The mission was successful, and after purchasing a pump, as well as some CO2 cartridges as a backup, they were able to get a ride back from someone in the parking lot who just happened to be heading for the middle of nowhere (quite like us). The rest of the day towards Eads was relatively uneventful. It was brutally hot in the late afternoon, and we managed to pick up quite a headwind for the last 20 miles. Even still, we rolled into town around 6PM. The Traveler's Lodge in Eads was kind enough to donate a room to us for the evening. We were especially grateful for this room because it appeared that a pretty huge storm was rolling through. A woman in the local gas station told us that there was a flash flood and tornado warning out for the county. Fortunately, not much came of the storm aside from pretty crazy winds and some lightning.

Today, we woke up at 5AM for a 105 mile day. We were out the door and riding by 6, when it was still pretty cool outside. The heat picked up quickly though, and by 9AM, we were already scorching. We stopped about every 10 miles for a quick 'breather', and about every 20 miles at gas stations for water fill ups. We made great time again, and rode into Scott City, Kansas at about 4PM (which was really 3PM for us, because we gained an hour when we came into Kansas). We were pretty pleased that we didn't run into any technical difficulties today, because it would have been quite unpleasant to bake on the side of the road while attempting to fix a bike. The scenery in Kansas is....lots of wide open space. Most of the wheat has already been harvested, so we can see for miles and miles around us in any direction as we ride. As we approached Scott City, we began to see some corn fields (the green was a welcome sight!). Apparently, we are entering 'feedlot country', where cows are raised for beef. I'm sure this will be an adventure for our noses tomorrow! The Best Western has donated a room to us for the night. It's currently about 7:30 here, and still 98 degrees outside, so we are very happy to be inside.

Tomorrow, we will wake up at 5 again, and we will be treated to a full breakfast at the Best Western. We hope to be on the road by 6:15 again, in order to beat the heat (it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow--and we're forecasted to have headwinds). Our goal tomorrow is La Crosse, Kansas, about 95 miles or so from here. We'll let you know how it goes.