Day 20

Mileage: 93
Total mileage: 1627

I've reached the flat lands!

I kicked off this morning with a 4:30 start, a little bit before the sky started to brighten for the day. I suppose I was counting on the morning miles to be fairly free in terms of effort, so I was disappointed a little when I rolled out this morning and it was already about 70 degrees if not 80. I say already, but it's still heat leftover from the night before, so I should say 'still' 70 degrees. I kicked it through about 20 miles of decent sized hills before suddenly everything stopped. I went down a big hill and couldn't see the next one. It just wasn't there! I had arrived on the great plains at last.

The novelty lasted about 10 miles, far enough to get me into Golden City for breakfast. I was so excited to not be fighting the hills that I almost didn't mind the headwind I was grinding into.

It's funny how these tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere with one diner know exactly who you are as soon as you show up. Everyone stops at Cooky's Cafe, because there's not any food for three hours either way. They've got a guest log where you can keep tabs on the people you're catching up to and read what everyone has to say. I tried the Dutch blackberry pie there at the recommendation of previous cyclists and was not disappointed.

As I left Golden City on the 35 mile stretch into Kansas I discovered a new kind of challenge. The Great Plains are boring! All across the eastern US I've had little goals laid out ahead of me all day. Climb this hill, make this descent, round the next corner, watch for your turn off. Suddenly I had nothing to do but pedal in a straight line for 35 miles. The downside of having nothing to distract me is that I started feeling my pack for the first time today. I spent at least an hour at a time in the same position, leaning forward into the wind and cranking, but I think it was more just not having something to distract me from the weight than posture.

For three hours I ground on into the wind, engaging in such exciting pastimes as counting pedal strokes, drinking from my water bottle, and seeing how many consecutive times I could make myself yawn. For the curious, 6.

When I got into Pittsburgh I had a great idea. I went to the library and used their Wi-Fi to start an audible free trial and download some radiolab podcasts. The audible free trial gets you one audio book and I chose 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' at the recommendation of Desiree from Carbondale. So far it's making the miles slip by much easier. I don't even have to worry about it distracting me from listening for traffic, because you can hear cars coming from half a mile away on these roads. I could ride down the middle of my highway lane with my eyes closed and it would still be safe here. Motorists can see a good mile of the perpetually empty opposite lane and the few that are on the roads here have all passed with room to spare on the opposite side of the road. Probably the safest highways I've ridden so far, just due to the lack of traffic.

I slept at the library for a few hours to wait out the heat of the afternoon and then snagged lunch at a cafe before peeling out. I had a choice this evening, push on to the Chanuke city hall for a 120 mile day and camp outside, or stop around 93 and stay in a church fellowship hall. That choice was made for me as thunderheads started to pile up on the horizon.

Tonight I'm sleeping on the church's fellowship hall floor. There was no one here but I called the number on my map and got a hold of the pastor who just said the door was unlocked and I should make myself at home. I took that to mean 'make yourself a snowcone' with their snowcone supplies, shower with their hose and crash at 7:30. I forgot that I cut the backs out of my spandex so I don't really have a decent way to shower or swim anymore in public. Fortunately, no one lives in Kansas so I was able to take an outdoor shower next to a state highway and not a single car drove past. Nifty eh?

Shoot, I'm also just realizing that I spread my cycling clothes out to dry like it was a normal night. I'd better go get them and wring them out to dry inside or I'll be riding sopping wet tomorrow. The electricity just went out here, so I guess that's my cue to get some sleep, the storm is going really hard so I'm happy to be inside. G'night!