The "Show me" state

Weather underground let us down this morning. After yesterday's battle with the headwinds for 108 miles I was looking for something a little more in our favor. And when I last checked Wunderground they forecast southerly winds of 5-10 mph. Something happened overnight and for the most part we had winds in our face again today for most of today's 86 miles. They were, however, not as strong as yesterday so I guess we should be grateful for small favors.

Leaving Topeka this morning was a bit hairy but also kind of fun. Topeka is surprisingly hilly and we had to go from the western edge of town to the east and so we were riding right through the center of the city in the middle of the morning rush. And I say "rush" advisedly - there was some traffic but it certainly bore no resemblance to Rt 1 through the Princeton corridor...far from it. In any case I went out with a group of about 12 cyclists and we headed straight downtown, up and down the hills, past the state capitol and government buildings, following our cue sheets and sticking together as a group for visibility and protection. I'm sure more than a few Topeka citizens wondered just what the heck was going on with this little unannounced little parade.

Once out in the country it was really very similar to yesterday: farms, cattle ranches, and the ever looming grain elevators. And again too it was a beautiful morning with the sun out and lots of big puffy clouds - a cyclist's ideal day. At about mile 50 we hit the Missouri river and after the longest stay we have had in any one state we said good by to Kansas. As I've said before, it is truly a beautiful state and seeing it as we did shattered all my pre-conceived notions.

We had a moment of excitement crossing into Missouri. The bridge was very old and had a horrible surface with several open grates - not too great for a bike. The big thing, however, was that it was only two lanes and so the trick was for us to get into traffic, take a position in the easterly lane and act as a vehicle all the way to the other side. We did in fact jump into the lane, being careful to get in front of a car and not an eighteen wheeler, and just rode like as hard as we could to get quickly across and back into our own strip of shoulder at the side of the highway.

And its funny how everything can change going from one state to the other. For one thing the highway immediately deteriorated and shoulder had more cracks and loose gravel than was comfortable for a bike (this did improve some miles down the highway). And the land flattened out almost immediately and stayed that way for maybe 20 miles before we picked a kind of rolling pattern but without the hills of Kansas. The couple of countyside pictures give you kind of an idea of what we were seeing - the planted field is corn, not yet "knee-high" but then it's a month to the 4th of July too.

We pulled into St Joseph's and had a treat...Someone knew the owner of the Grand Slam, an ice cream store about 5 miles short of our hotel and there was a sign out front advertising free ice cream to any Crossroads (our group) rider who stopped. Needless to say we didn't to be asked twice a free ice cream after 80 miles or so of riding...thank you very much.

And I know I've talked about food and ice cream but another beverage I've enjoyed along the way is some of the local beers. A beer with dinner after a day of riding - I might even take that over ice cream. I know I had a couple in Arizona and NM that I thought were good but they have faded from memory at this point...In the last couple of days though there are a couple that I thought really good. One is Fat Tire (and it comes with a picture of a bike on the label) that is (in my opinion) really exceptional - has a pronounced but not overpowering malt taste and is hoppy as well - the kind of beer you can "chew". And the other is Boulevard Wheat - just a really good wheat beer (better than Blue Moon). I wonder if Wegman's carries them???

So tomorrow is another big day...85 miles again and I hear a rumor we will see some hills...so what's new. Tom is already sound asleep - time for me to do the same.