"Abilene, prettiest town I've ever seen..."

Another really glorious ride today, really a dream come true for a cyclist. We left McPherson and picked up US 56 (Santa Fe Trail) again heading for Abilene. The winds were cross winds but tended to come from the right rear which is not too bad. Again, we had sunshine, blue skies and the waves of wheat rolling on forever. At about mile 20 we made a left turn to hwy. 15 heading north to Abilene and all of a sudden our crosswinds became a tail wind - it was as if we had sprouted wings. The next 8 miles to the SAG were a matter of minutes and a preview of the rest of the day's ride. Out of the SAG we picked up our friendly little push of a breeze and commenced spinning down the highway. We had a short day today, only 63 miles so there was no need to push but we got into a pretty steady 20/23 mph and barely needed to touch the shifters (actually never took it out of the big ring at all). At the same time the countryside started to change a little bit. The terrain became somewhat rolling and hills and trees started to appear on the landscape. We still had some of the wheat fields but more and more we saw cattle farms and corn and hay fields. Along with the the traces of white clouds and the sunshine it was a truly gorgeous day.

It occurred to me today that I had flown into Kansas City probably a dozen times or more in the course of my working life but I never really saw anything outside the city and certainly never saw Kansas the state as I'm seeing it this week. It is truly an interesting state with it's own beauty - and, incidentally, some of the nicest, friendliest people we have encountered anywhere along the way. The first couple of photos are taken along the road and are pretty typical of what we saw...the barn and silo and the farm house with wheat coming right up to the driveway.

We hit the city limits of Abilene at about mile 60 and almost immediately were into the Old Town section with a collection of preserved old log cabins, a tiny little log church, a retired old train (with it's caboose) , and a bit of frontier main street. I climbed up on that buckboard with some trepidation - thankfully the ancient seat held for the photo. After a stop for lunch we turned into the Eisenhower Center for a quick look (I may go back tomorrow). The photo is of Ike's birthplace (the smaller white house with small porch) and just a couple of hundred yards away is a small chapel where he and his wife are buried. There is also a library and museum on the grounds...well worth a visit. (And for Katherine - Eisenhower was one of the great REPUBLICAN presidents of the 20th century.)

And so into Abilene and what a neat little town - it almost seems like the city is still in the fifties. The other house photo is typical of what we saw riding through the residential district - well-kept, older homes, big porches that look like they really get used. And the defining moment with all this nostalgia was slowing for one of our compadres on the ride who had engaged a young boy in conversation - the boy was about 12, no shirt, bare feet, and red hair - and, I kid you not, an absolute dead ringer for Opie on the old Maybury RFD. I was sure Auntie Bee was going to come out of the house.

Tonight and tomorrow we get a bit of recovery time and we all agree it is most welcome. Do a little laundry, hang out at the pool, and maybe play tourist a little tomorrow - oh yeah, and sleep in tomorrow morning!