10 minutes after our start this morning were are shedding all of the arm warmers, winter gloves, buffs, stocking caps under our helmet, jackets, everything, almost!
Beautiful morning on KS150. The shoulder of the highway is just adequate but more than made up for by the great surface, light and polite traffic and panoramic views of sweeping Kansas.
As we've ridden east from Colorado through Kansas the landscape has gradually shifted from brown, scrubby and dead with bare trees and tumbleweeds to lush, moist and verdant. We've been hearing the peepers (baby frogs) peeping for several days now. And the nice weather today makes the change in landscapes really pop.
This was a very steep climb.
We broke away from the main highways to take a county road to a little place called Cottonwood Falls. Here Ang is making the last of several steep climbs.
Oldest courthouse in Kansas.
The Grand Central Hotel in Cottonwood Falls open for lunch.
And it was an excellent lunch, probably the best food and ambience for lunch we've had so far!!
I love the flint hills, but have never seen them, except from the turnpike. Are you going to take in the tall grass prairie? That is on my list of sights to see when in Kansas with Teresa's family. You'd think after visiting for 30+ years, I would have taken the time to explore a bit more.
ReplyDeleteGlad the weather is nice now.
I went shopping today for last minute supplies, batteries, dried food, sun hat, hatchet, etc. I'm sure I will need to leave half of what I'm thinking of bringing, as it will never fit, and be too heavy. It's fum to know that it won't be long before I head out to meet you both.
Take care,
John
John,
ReplyDeleteWe got our rear panniers (clothes, sleeping bags/pads, personal effects) down to 10-12 lbs. each. The front panniers which are food, tools, spare parts, stove, locks etc. are probably 9-10 lbs. each. The tent in my back rack makes 8 lbs. and the Ang's and my front handle bar bag are probably less than 3lbs. We keep our money, sunscreen, handy snacks, etc. in them. We kept paring down our gear and have found we still could get by with a little less but we're pretty comfortable with the balance struck at this point. I've often felt it was less the weight on the bike than the wind drag the bags created, especially when you're heading into the wind. Of course the weight is felt when climbing but so far we've had no issues climbing the hills we've encountered so far. But, we are in the plains, eh?
Scott