Distance: 72 miles Heston, KS to Eureka, KS
Ride Time: 5:32
Average Speed: 12.6 mph
Average Temperature: 102
This morning we woke up to the water pump on the trailer still not working. We drove to the truck stop in Newton, KS about 15 miles away. We talked to the maintenance people and they had done similar work before and most of them owned rv’s which they had worked on as well. We contacted Mountainland RV in Logan and a trailer dealership in Wichita, KS. Neither one of them would give us confirmation or not on whether our work at the truck stop would be covered on warranty. The dealership in Wichita said they would not be able to work on the trailer for weeks. I went ahead and gave the truck stop authorization to do the repair.
We unhooked the trailer from the truck and Kathie took my bicycle and I back to Heston where I had stopped the night before. I rode the bike back to the Newton truck stop. The work on the trailer was done. They had installed a new pump. It was noon when we paid, hitched up the trailer and were off again.
About 30 miles down the road I saw a sign that said “Welcome Cyclists.” I stopped, signed a register and got some ice water out of their cooler. It was some of the best water I have had on this trip and most appreciated.
Kathie found an excellent shady park for our lunch. She had seen it while passing through, but didn’t have a place big enough to turn around. There was a construction site beside the railroad where she had pulled over to wait for a long train to pass. Two cars with women drivers came by and she got out and asked where she could park. Mona suggested the park that she had seen. Then Mona got permission from the construction workers for her to turn around at their site and led her down to the park and told her to turn around on the grassy area as cars always park there for their Easter hunt.
We saw some very interesting country from Cassoday to Rosalia. There were some huge pastures with either cattle or horses in them. Some of the pastures had probably over two hundred horses. On one stretch of pasture land a large motorcycle passed, making quite a bit of noise. The horses on the one side of the road began a mini stampede. I thought it was kind of interesting because the horses on the one side of the road were running crazy but the other side didn’t seem affected. As I looked closer, I saw the horses were still running even after the motorcycle had passed. Then I saw what was really going on. They were being chased by a lone wolf! I stopped and watched the wolf for a little while and then he seemed to notice me and started running away from me. He would stop every so often and look over his shoulder at me. I watched him until he was out of sight. Cool, huh!
We stayed at the Eureka City Park for the night. We met two other cyclists that were riding through the area. We had a good chat with them. They camped in a tent for the night and left early in the morning. We lost a few hours of sleep when some boys broke into the city water park that we were parked next to and enjoyed the park after hours.
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