The past few days have provided little to write about because they have been spent doing a lot of pedaling with fairly minimal human interaction. The 2nd found us riding from Cassoday to Eureka Kansas. The ride in to Cassoday on the 1st was hot and about 90 miles. We were both very tired when we arrived, and feeling the need for a rest day. Well, Cassoday was certainly not the location where we wanted to spend a day off. Cassoday has one, very small, general store and a rather rustic park with no serviceable bathrooms. There is an area about a block long that seemed to have comprised a small main street, but there were no businesses open.
Eureka to Cassoday was only about 40 miles, but the first 17 were into a fairly stiff headwind, which somehow seemed to shift just as we turned to the east. As I mentioned a while ago, riding into the wind is rather demoralizing, and we arrived in Eureka tired and cranky. To top things off, upon our arrival, Riley couldn't find his phone, so he was ready to throw in the towel right then and there, and was generally inconsolable.
Once again the hospitality of the people of Kansas came through - meaning a free shower and swim in the city pool, which I gladly partook of. While I was swimming, Riley went off to sulk and generally be miserable. When I got out of the pool I selected a spot to set up the tent, and eureka, there's the phone! After the phone was found, Riley was willing to go swimming and he was then generally feeling much better. We then went to the library and grocery store...
Owing to the nature of the route - Newton to Cassoday being about 40 miles, and Cassoday to Eureka about another 40, with nowhere really to stop and certainly not camp, in between, it was a reasonable bet that Kym would arrive in Eureka. Sure enough, at about 5:30 she rolled in. The pool manager stopped by our campsite and chatted for 20 or 30 minutes and invited us to stay in her yard, watch TV, etc, if we were going to take the day off on the 3rd (as Riley & I had determined to do).
I had lied down to go to sleep when, at about 9:00 another east-bound rider named Tim rolled on in. I figured that I could stay up a while longer since I would have tomorrow off, so I got back up. We were all chatting, the light faded, Tim was still covered with the sweat & grime of a 90 mile day, so the next thing you know, the four of us jumped the fence and went for an unauthorized after-hours swim.
Tim was talking about trying to get to Branson for the 4th. We looked at maps, and soon had decided to ride on the 3rd and take off the 4th. Chanute Kansas has a population of almost 10,000 and was about 65 miles forward, so off we went.
I'll spare you the details of a long, arduous day that included too many flats (my first since California), too many breaks, and just too much work in general for a day that I was looking forward to not riding at all. By the time that we rolled into town at almost 3:30, I was fit to be tied! We really shouldn't have stretched that out much past noon.
So here we are in Chanute as evening approaches on the 4th of July. I began this posting in the morning, but will get it done and posted now, just before turning in for the night. It has been a non-stop barrage of firecrackers all day long in Chantune. I doubt that more that 10 or 15 seconds have gone by without the sound of them going off today. Riley, Kym & I went to see the new Spiderman movie. Kym then stayed and paid to watch Brave, but because we had already seen it in Denver, Riley & I went to a park for a short nap. Now it's back to the campground area to get to sleep, which I intend to do regardless of the fact that the city fireworks display is over the lake that is here in the park.
I'm very tired and I know that this post is poorly written. I would venture to say that it is the poorest of any blog entries to date, but I just don't have the energy to fix it. I don't even plan to reread it for any reason at all.
I hope that everyone is enjoying a safe and happy 4th of July. Happy Birthday!
Dale
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