Today started out a little later than anticipated. Dan and I both slept a little extra long, but clearly our bodies needed the rest. Breaking camp and rolling out again on a foggy morning, we were set to roll about 13 mi into a small town where we could get a big breakfast and finish the rest of the day. The small country windy roads were wonderful very little traffic as we wound past farmhouses and fields. The hills came again some short and very steep but in this part of the country that’s what you’re going to get. The early morning climbs were difficult we would just weren’t ready for some of the high stress right away. Sitting and enjoying a big breakfast getting some fresh water we started out for what was another hot and hilly day. The roads were narrow and at times resembled a small cobblestone like road. At one point we passed a large embankment that have been clearly dug apart assuming that that’s where they found all the rock for this section of road that we were. As we wound our way through a small town we came upon a cattle sign 25 mph. A little bit farther up the road they weren’t moving that fast they were parked in the grass enjoying a lazy day. Soon the cobblestones changed to a pitch and tare like road. The roads are relatively smooth and early on we didn’t take notice. Is that type of road continued and the heat rose throughout the day. All we heard under our tires was popping. It sounded like popcorn. Eventually after stopping at the top of another strenuous climb, taking a look at the road you could see the tar bubbles bulging in between rock. The heat was causing these bubbles to rise up and that’s what we were rolling over causing the popping sound. All I kept saying was no flats. The clouds were very much popcorn like or non-existent throughout the whole day after the fog burned off. At one point we were talking about stopping and looking at her route in search of a water spot when all the sudden we came upon a church in a pastor closing up shop. We turned into the parking lot asking for some water. The gentleman lettuce into the kitchen to an ice machine and a sink where we could fill up our bottles with fresh cold water. We talked about the journey a little bit. In this Amish community he mentioned that people were very aware of bikers and that we should be safe. He prayed for her safety and we continued on our journey. That water turned out to be critical to getting us to our finish line today. As we continued for the remainder of the the ride, we were continually passed by young boys and girls on eBikes. Most of the young boys were carrying at least two baseball bats there must have been a game somewhere but we never did see the field where they were going to play. A few of the hills that we saw later in the day reach 16% grade. I definitely wanted an e-bike. For one of the hills we just couldn’t make it we had to dismount and walk. As we begin walking up the hill what did we see a goat on the side of the road. Stopping to take picture I’m pretty sure the goat thought we were going to hand him some food. We were both tired and hot and ready to finish the few miles that we had left.
Continuing through the Amish country we passed a bed and breakfast with a whole set of e-bikes and carriages. And then up on a hill there was a buggy in a boat. From our vantage point it looked like the buggy was pulling the boat. A few yards beyond the owner was standing there. We asked if he could pull the boat with a buggy. He said he had never done it but he was sure his horses could do it.
Pulling into this town we had booked a hotel due to the limited services around to camp. We were both glad to finish early and get into a temperature controlled room. The morning temperatures are great but the afternoon temperatures rose to 101° with all the reflected heat off the road. This is a good wake up call for what is coming in the Kansas and Nebraska. I definitely need to make sure that I have places to get water on a regular basis. I will definitely need to start planning in a few days I’m more detailed route to make sure I accommodate.
