Distance: 64.6 mi, Climbed: 1,171 ft
Completed: 2,158.3 mi, 103,497 ft
Joanna and I woke up this morning to another round of thunderstorms, which caused us to get a later start than planned. The storms ushered in some cooler weather, which was much appreciated once we got out on the road. We have our second-longest day of the trip with almost sixty-five miles to Dighton. Fortunately, we should have a slight tailwind and flat roads to make the distance a little easier.
This is our second day riding on K96, a major thoroughfare through rural Kansas. We will be riding K96 all the way to Colorado. Unfortunately, that means no more of the quiet back roads that I prefer for quite a while. The road is somewhat busy, with lots of truck traffic. Maybe a vehicle every three or four minutes. The speed limit is 65, so everyone is going pretty fast. But on the positive side, it has a good shoulder, and we are treated to beautiful farms on either side.
The landscape today has been dotted with many windmills. Both the modern wind turbines that tower over the skyline and the smaller antique windmills of days past. The science nerd in me loves the modern technical marvel, but the photographer in me prefers the aesthetic of the older design.
We have ridden over 2,000 miles and so far have seen only two cyclists, both going east to west. Today, we saw our first cyclists riding west to east. Duane and Mark are on their own cross-country adventure. They met several years ago when each of them through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. They are bicycling the traditional TransAmerica Trail from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia. We wish them a great ride.
We stopped in Ness City for a quick resupply. I walked into the convenience store at the local gas station and thought I went into the wrong building. When I first walked in, there were no chips, candy bars, or refrigerators with drinks. Those were in the back. At the front counter, they were selling shotguns and pistols. They had a very large selection.
The route today followed train tracks most of the way. Roughly every ten miles along the tracks is another grain elevator. We can see the grain elevators far off into the distance. Sometimes, it felt like we were riding from grain elevator to grain elevator.
We have seen dozens of them, but because of their size, it’s always amazing to pass close to one and imagine the amount of grain each one holds.
We arrived in Dighton with plenty of time to grab dinner at Pete’s Place just on the edge of town.
After dinner, we were rewarded with a beautiful Kansas sunset. A great end to a great day.
