Thursday, July 9, 2020

Distance: 97 miles Chanute, KS to Golden City, MO

Ride Time: 7:09

Average Speed: 13.8 mph

Altitude Gain: 1839 feet

Average Temperature: 84

We woke this morning to the sound of a hard wind and driving rain. I decided to wait until the wind and rain let up a little. By the time I was ready to go the rain had let up. Paster Wade came over asking me if I was going to take the day off. I told him since the rain had let up I was going to hit the road. He wished me the best.

The day was a good day for riding. There was no wind to speak of and because of the morning rain it was cooler than it had been yesterday. As I was riding along, I saw the steeple of a church in the distance. As I got closer, the more interesting the steeple became. When I got up to it, I decided to take a picture. While taking the pictures, I noticed the sign in the front said, “Welcome cyclists.” A bulletin attached to the sign mentioned that the building behind the chapel was available for meals, if the food wasn’t labeled for something else; there were showers available and cyclists were also welcome to sleep if needed. It was the Immanuel Lutheran Church and it was listed in my maps as a place to service your bike. It was a very friendly atmosphere just before we left Kansas.

During the day Kathie was talking to a lady who told her there was a tick on her neck. We don’t know where she found the hitch-hiker, but it made us extra careful for a few days.

Lunch was at the high school parking lot in Girard, KS. Girard is the last city in Kansas and the changing point for another map section. While leaving the town, a man on a bicycle waved me down to talk to him. He was also riding the TransAmerica bike trail and had started in Yorktown, VA, headed west. It was interesting talking to him. He earns money on his blog called “CrazyGuyOnaBike.com.”

Kathie and I stopped together at the Kansas/Missouri border and took pictures. We rode on to the next town for the night. It took quite a bit of looking and talking to town’s folk, but we found an electrical outlet next to the baseball field in the city park to provide our air conditioning and water for the night.