Day 3: June 10, 2002 Council Grove, KS to Abilene, KS

The wind blew and I heard storms off in the distance. My camp site was tucked behind a little hill and out of the wind, so I slept well. I was awakened by the "bird alarm" again. They are very punctual, precisely at 5:30.

I wasn't as tired this day as the day before. I was starting to get used to being on the bike most of the day. This morning I rode back to Council Grove and ate breakfast at the Trails Cafe (not sure on the name). This place is tucked back on a little street that runs south off 56 on the east end of Council Grove. I discovered it on a Cottonwood 200 ride a few years back and try to stop in whenever I'm through that area on a bicycle.

After breakfast I headed west on U.S. 56. The traffic was pretty light on this road. I was getting into a part of Kansas that is sparsely populated. On the way to Herrington I was probably passed by 20-30 vehicles. There wasn't much on this road so I spent the time keeping the bike on the road and fighting the cross winds. On this day, the winds were from the southwest and pretty strong. The terrain was a constant up and down (west side of the Flint Hills). So I struggled up, fought the winds at the top, and coasted down. This cycle repeated until I arrived in Herrington, KS.

At about 10:00 I arrived in Harrington, KS. Herrington's street are brick. Several bricks were missing in the roadway so I had to be real careful. I rode to the main street and looked around for a place to have a snack. I found a nice little place to eat and had a fine piece of lemon pie and iced tea. They also made me a sandwich for the road . I was pretty tired after the trip from Council Grove so I didn't think to write down the place's name. Now I can't remember it.

After eating I went back outside and noticed that several people were examining my loaded bike. We talked, or I answered questions. "Where did I start?", "Where am I going?", "Where do I stay?" were some of regular questions I was asked. Pretty typical, but I was glad to answer them. We talked for about 30 minutes. I was in no hurry. I had planned to make Abilene by 2:00 and it was not quite 11:00.

Herrington KS

Herrington, KS is where the Oklahoma City bombers hatched their plan. The got the chemicals, rented the truck and spent the night here. Pretty bad fortune since the place seems to be very nice. When I was researching this ride I did some investigating of facilities and Herrington sent me a packet with a map, a brochure with telephone numbers, and a brochure on their lake. The lake has camp sites and is about 1 1/2 mile from town.

I decided to leave Herrington on KS 4. I wasn't sure how to get there since Hwy 4 is north of Herrington and there was supposed to be a road that lead right to it. There were three choices and none said "Hwy 4 this way" so I decided to ask directions. I stopped at a Coastal store and asked some people gassing their cars but was ignored. They seemed to be afraid of me. Across the street was a trucking company and some of the truckers were standing around. They were VERY helpful. Even showing me how to get to Hwy 4 and avoid the truck traffic (grain trucks). Following their directions, I went west out of town, took a right at a T in the road and followed it around to Hwy 4.

KS Hwy 4 is a nice cycling road. It's smooth and there isn't much traffic. As it approached mid-day the winds picked up and became stronger and were coming almost directly from the south. I found out later that this was a rough day for the BAK A route riders as they had several miles of riding directly into this wind. Down the road a few miles the highway turned south for a mile. The high winds made for some slow, tough going. At the start of this stretch I entered Hope, KS. I figured that I'd get a Coke and eat my sandwich here. The only store in town wasn't open but there were several weathered vending machines there. I picked the least weather beaten one and ... It worked! I then sat on a bench in front of one of the stores and ate lunch.

After lunch I continued eastward on Hwy 4. The next town was Elmo. That was where I planned to turn north to head into Abilene on KS Hwy 15. There wasn't much to Elmo so I hung a right at the intersection and headed north. It was like I had a motor. The strong south wind hit the panniers and I was soon doing a little over 20mph. I made the 17 miles into Abilene in about 45 minutes. I probably would have gone faster but the Surly's front fork really isn't designed for carrying panniers and at speeds over 25 mph and the bike started started to wobble. So I backed her down and coasted into Abilene at 19-20 mph.

Arriving in Abilene:

Abiliene has a four lane road through the middle of town. The traffic was moderate, but mostly truck traffic, no doubt heading for I70. At least the speed limit was set at 35. As I rode into town, I passed a greyhound kennel. The dogs were loose in the lot and started barking and gave chase as I passed. I'm glad they were behind the fence or I feel that I'd been dog food if they had been loose. One doesn't sprint well on a fully loaded bike. Further down the road was the greyhound hall of fame museum. My wife and I had one for about 10 years that we adopted from the Woodlands after he retired from racing so I tought I'd pay a visit.. I bought a water bottle (light and easy to carry) and watched a movie that the ladies in the museum insisted I see. I think they were trying to get me out of sight for I was pretty stinky. However, there were a couple of greyhounds in the museum wandering around and they thought I smelled real good.

A few blocks further was the Eisenhower musuem. I really wanted to see it but needed to get a motel room and it was getting late in the afternoon. Maybe next time (I'll also pack a clean shirt). I found a cheap motel close to I70. Registering was interesting. The motel needed my license plate number for registration. The computer program for registration had it as a required field. It took 4 people to figure how to get around this. Ain't technology wonderful. I didn't even inquire about putting my bike in the room. I didn't want to start another management conference. After I checked in I went to my room, cleaned up, washed some clothes, turned on the A/C, and laid down for a snooze.

Later on I walked across the street to a Pizza Hut and pigged out. After dinner I called home. Then I walked back across the street to the motel and returned to my room. I turned on the TV and watched police chases while cleaning my bike. I stayed up until 10:30 (late for this trip) like an adult. There was no need to crack out early the next day for I had 50 miles to go and I didn't need to get to Lincoln before 2:00.

Day Summary:

1. The further you get from civilization, stop at every town that has services.
2. Pacing is important.
3. Mileage for today: 65.88

Les Sires 12/13/2002

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