The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

From Janie:

Tuesday, October 2, from Garden City to Larned KS.  And an extension by Jody to Great Bend.

On Tuesday, Kansas decided to kiss and make up with us for being so windy on Monday.  It was a gorgeous day, high temperature was about 70 degrees.  Sunny, with just a bit of a tail wind.  Best possible weather for a bike ride.  We set out, headed east on State Highway 156, with Jody prepared for his second century ride in two days.

Heading east in Kansas.

 

Rod ran me down the road again.  I hopped on the bike, determined not to let Jody catch me.  Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run!

Jody, headed east across Kansas, toward Great Bend.

 

We were thinking Kansas was getting a bad rap.  There is plenty to see in the gently rolling hills.  (Photos by Rod Riley.)



Agriculture is a major economic force in Kansas.

An abandoned house on the plains.

Janie, running down the road ahead of Jody.

Abandoned farmstead.

 

Silos on the plains.

 

I rode my first 19 miles in about 90 minutes, pushing hard to stay ahead of Jody.  He didn't catch me until I stopped.  Here we are at our first stop, eating the Daylight Donuts Rod picked up for us early in the morning, before we left Garden City.  Did I mention Rod got us DONUTS!  Oh, we were very happy.  At least on this day, we're in the Rod Riley/Chris Horner school of thought:  calories are calories!  And cyclists need them.

Eating donuts at our first break.

 

I got in The Little Darkness to rest my feet and to gain a few miles on Jody.  I rode my next 14 miles in a little less than an hour.  Jody still didn't catch me!  We did, however, stop for lunch.  I waited the few minutes it took him to finish closing the gap, then we fine-dined on PBJ, chips, bananas and apples.  Turns out all three of us like Honey Crisp apples the best.  Yum, yum.



Lots of quarried stone in this part of Kansas.

Used to edge historical markers and farm fields.

Historic marker in Burdett, KS.

 

Rod and I watched the crop dusters practicing take-offs and landings from the east side of the little airport in Burdett KS.  Jody watched them from the bike on the west side.  Rod dropped me 14 or so miles short of the hotel in Larned.  I rode the rest of the way in a little less than an hour.  A very good day in the saddle for me.

 

Turns out it was a great day in the saddle for Jody.  He paused at the hotel in Larned long enough to eat and drink a little, then he was back on the bike.  Great Bend was a mere twenty miles away and he had, after all, been promising - in both English and Hebrew! - to ride "until 120!"  And so he did.  He finished his 120 miles in Great Bend on a glorious October afternoon in Kansas.  What a gift the weather was!  He asked me to pick him up in Great Bend, and I was happy to do that.

 

I hopped in The Little Darkness, stopped at a gas station, where I was greeted by what sounded like the recording of an elementary school lunchroom plus a thousand Thanksgiving turkeys all calling for relief.  It wasn't either.  It was a trailer full of geese!  No kidding!

Geese.

Geese.  Incredibly loud and extremely close.

 

We stopped in the bike shop in Great Bend, looking for shifters and shoes.  No luck with either, despite the best efforts of the helpful bike shop guy.  So, Jody and I hopped back in The Little Darkness, returned to Larned, picked up Rod and went for Mexican food.  That's a topic for another day - food on the road.  Sometimes great, sometimes not.  Always an adventure.





All in all, a very good day in Kansas.  Living in the present. Making good memories.

We looked for the Wicked Witch.  Didn't see her.

But we did see her bicycle!

 

Why didn't I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.    
      ~Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close