Day 4: June 11, 2002 Abilene, KS to Lincoln, KS

I set my watch for 7:00. Today was planned to be an easy day. Lincoln was about 58 miles away and this was the day that I was to meet up with the BAK A route. I packed everything the night before except my riding clothes so all I'd have to do is dress and go. There was a Mc D's across the street. I was going to eat breakfast there. I looked at my bike in the corner and noticed that I had a FLAT TIRE!. Ahh! "Wait a minute," I thought. This was good Karma. I was in the motel room and not out on the road. I then proceeded to fix the tire while watching the local weather. One thing I read on a bike touring web page was to always pack tools and tubes on top for easy access. This bears repeating: always pack tools and tubes on top for easy access, and just so we won't forget: always pack tools and tubes on top for easy access.

I then rode across the street to Mc D's and had a breakfast burrito.

After breakfast I headed north on county road A. This is a nice road, 2' shoulders and very little traffic. The wind had died down, but the weather looked stormy to the west. That was the direction that I was going, of course. In about 6 miles, the Hwy 18 intersection appeared. I turned west on Hwy 18. Note the gray colored sky and the outline of the storm in the picture. As I rode west, the only traffic was an occasional gravel truck ( the area is known for it's limestone quarries) or electric utility truck. The big thunderstorm in the picture passed in front of me. I did slow down some to make sure that it did. I was making very good time since this area is not as hilly and the winds had died down considerably. About 20 miles later, the very tail end of the storm passed over and it rained a frog drowner for about 15 minutes. It was barely enough time to get my rain jacket on and pull the rain covers over the panniers. When the rain stopped I took the rain jacket off, but left the pannier covers on since they are bright lime green and visibility wasn't very good. I also found out that my tail light wasn't water proof and it died during the rain so I needed the extra visibility.

Just after the rain and near the town of Talmage, I spotted a roadside cafe. I took this opportunity to have a second breakfast as my breakfast burrito in Abilene was rapidly becoming a faint memory.

As I was riding through Bennington, a man watering his flower bed asked me if I. wanted a drink. Lincoln was another 30 miles, so I stopped for a water refill. We chatted about my trip, what is was like to bike tour, what the road was like to Lincoln, etc. As we talked, I noticed a 1951 Ford in his garage that looked to be in very good shape. He told me that he'd been restoring the car for some time and had just finished the interior. It wasn't stock because the seat was made of acrylics, not wool and nylon as it originally done. Just before I left he showed me his 'baby'. It was a perfectly restored Ford Model T. The finish glistened like new. He told me that all it needed was a new drive chain.

Heading on to Lincoln I started to encounter what I later learned were a group of riders that were doing centuries every day of BAK. I was pretty tired. Just getting to Lincoln was going to be good enough for me. Below are some pictures that I took along KS Hwy 18.

I made it at last. Lincoln H.S. in the background.

Note on Lincoln: All the front tent spaces were taken when I arrived so I went over to the north side of the building and pitched my tent on the highest ground that I could find there. There was little shade there, but it was clouding up as I set up camp. I moved my tent to the highest ground in the area. Right next to the building. This turned out to be a wise (or lucky) move. About 6:00 or so we had a squall line run through, rain and wind, and complete with tornado warnings. When the storms passed, only the tents on the north side of the building stayed dry.

Mileage: 63.03

Lessons learned:

1. Camp on the north side of structures. Do not pitch your tent in a drainage area.
2. A motel is good every now and then.

Lessons not learned: In 2003, ride all the way to Colorado to meet up with BAK?  If interested, send me an email.

Les Sires 12/14/2002

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