Day 12. Ottawa, KS. our last night in Kansas

A 7:30 start out of Emporia and a 3:30 arrival in Ottawa. Nice weather again but the winds kicked up from the morning at 12-18 mph NNW to N so we had to fight them some today, especially when we turned NE from our easterly direction. We had about 8 miles of pretty bad and rough, pot-holed road out of Emporia before we got to Old US 50 which paralleled the interstate for the most part.

After 25 miles we took a little break at an old shut-down Getty station off of Old US 50. This part of Kansas is a bit more hilly, we had PUD's (Pointless Up & Downs - an old backpacking term) all day long. 

We got to Williamsburg about 40 miles down the road for lunch. We had heard about the BBQ'd meat at Guys & Maes Tavern from Jim Dean and several other people so we wanted to make that our lunch stop. The beef and ham sandwiches were excellent and the service was great too. We took a bit longer lunch as the winds were taking their toll on us and we needed to recharge for the final 16 miles into Ottawa. 

Shhhhhhhhhhh. That's the sound your tube makes when you have a premature wear spot on your rear tire and it wears into your tube. I had been checking all the tires every day or so but totally missed this flat spot. I think the tire might have been thin from the get-go for it to go bad after just over 1000 miles. 

You can see the tread on the rest of the rear tire looks good. 

Thanks to my trusty tire boot kit from ParkTool I was able to get the tire patched and into Ottawa with no issues and less than a 30 minute delay. My good buddy Jimmy ( and also my crew chief now!) shopped around in Olathe and is bringing me a new tire replacement. I would not recommend my Clement X'PLOR USH tires, they wear far faster than Angela's Schwalbe Marathons. 

We had a great dinner with Jim and his wife Candy when they so kindly came down to Ottawa to bring me my parts and pieces. 
 
 
 
 
 

Day 11. Emporia Kansas

9:30 departure from Marion and 3:30 arrival in Emporia. Nice , sunny day, 60's and mild winds, none unfavorable. 

After a great ride east on KS150 from Marion we chose a gravel grinder on old US 50 to avoid some road construction and heavy traffic. 

We joined US 50 and found a lot of traffic on mostly 2 lane road but with an 8' shoulder.  Unfortunately the yahoo contractor-designers that built it put a rumble strip all of the way across about every 30 ft. It still was a nice day. We've riden about 650 miles to this point. In two days we'll leave Kansas and enter Missouri for a nice ride east on the Katy Trail with friends. 

Dinner at microbrewery called Radius. Very good food, beer and service. Emporia has a pretty nice downtown. Last weekend they hosted 2,000 Ultimate Frisbee competitors and only had 4 beers left on tap to tonight.  They were "tapped out" so to speak. 🍻

In about 4 weeks Emporia will host the "Dirty Kanza", a 200 mile mountain bike race on gravel and double track that has a reputation of being one of the hardest races and brings in riders from all over the world. We had 1/2 dozen people tell us about it today, clearly a big deal in Emporia.

Now, off to get some sleep. Tomorrow is our last stop in Kansas, Ottawa.  We're excited because one of my old friends from my early days at GE, Jimmy Dean, is going to drive from his home in Olathe, KS and join us for dinner. 
 
 
 

Oh Glorious Spring, we have found you!!

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. 

Day 10. Marion, KS- Here comes the sun!!

8:15 departure with 4pm arrival in Marion, KS. Only mid-40's and cloudy when we started but warmed up by the afternoon to low 60's and the sun actually started to show itself after what seems like at least a week since we last really felt its presence. ☀️

Since Lamar, CO our route has been following the Old Sante Fe Trail.  We've been stopping at many of the historical markers along the way. At this point the OSFT is turning to the NE while we'll be continuing mostly east. At this point of the day we are about 20 miles from our overnight stopover in Marion.  Good bye Sante Fe trail!  

As our speed held up well today we took advantage of the nicer weather in the afternoon and took more enjoyable rest stops.  We found these sheds in the middle of no where off of US 56, with nice green grass and far enough off the road to give is a bit of silence from the traffic noise.  This shed had a porch and the door was unlocked.  It wa actually very cozy inside.  We thought briefly about staying in it for the night but we only had a few hours to go to Marion so we just enjoyed the porch for 15 minutes or so. 

Home away from home?

And another reason to stop. Sonic Half Price Happy Hour where Angela is ordering a thirst quenching Strawberry Limeade!  Some day we'll get where we're going!

We tried to stay the night at the historic Elgin B&B but at 4pm but no one answered the doorbell or returned my phone calls and voice mails. Too bad. 

Our only other choice was the Country Inn on the east side of town. It was clean and quiet and inexpensive but not really nice. We slept well tho. 

Downtown Marion. A nice little town, well kept and friendly people. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

Mr. B's for an early lunch in McPherson, KS

Nice ride this morning of 30 miles to McPherson.  Ang got the chicken livers(yuck) and I got the chili and grill cheese. It's been cooler than we prefer and still gray skies but fairly calm winds from the N that we haven't had to fight. 

Ang keeps up on the local news before her chicken livers (yuck!)

Sign inside Mr. B's - "Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the hell happened. "
 

Day 9. Lyons, KS

We left Larned at 10am and got to Lyons at 5:15. 

Stiff wind, gray skies and cold temps as we leave Perkins in Great Bend. 33 miles  to Lyons, KS. 
 

We're glad we decided to push on after our meal in Great Bend. The shift to heading straight east meant most of the headwind components of the blustery day disappeared. Now we just get blown around and have trouble warming up. It was an ok day but I expect we are probably a little depleted from our 105 miler yesterday but we're snuggling in for the night as I write this. There weren't many dinner choices in Lyons, especially on a Sunday night so I dined on a Chicken Ceasar salad and cup of chili from Wendy across the street. Angela went with the chicken sandwich combo meal. A good part of the town was dining there too. 

A trucker who apparently passed us twice on the highway today saw us at Wendy's and started chatting us up. I don't usually think of long haul truck drivers as cyclist but this guy was part of a club down in Houston and very active in the MS150 there. He shared quite a few stories with us. 

Tomorrow another day. We'll see what it brings. Ciao!!

Tough slog today.

Finding shelter from the wind on this morning's ride. Our target was Lyons, KS about 55 miles to the east but we had to ride NE into a strong NNW this morning so it took us over 2 hours to go 22 miles. More challenging is that the wind just seems to suck the soul out of you as it just pulls and tugs at you and your bike. 

We're sitting at a Perkins with all of the post-church goers having our mid-day breakfast and contemplating staying or pushing on 32 more miles to Lyons.  After a nice breakfast and some rest I expect we'll push on to Lyons to get slightly ahead of our schedule. We never know for sure what the next day or two days will bring. ??