Day 294
#calculatedkillers@a-town-called-sharon
OK so let’s talk wind. No don’t worry you’re not re-reading yesterday’s post, it’s not Groundhog Day. The wind is still with us though. but with a mighty fine difference...today y’all we had a tail wind. Makes much difference you ask? Oh boy, does it?!
To a cyclist a tail wind is a gift from the Gods, an engine from above, and today we were doubly blessed. You don’t feel a tail wind, cycling just gets easy, the bikes just glide along, you feel as if any distance is possible. The town of Great Bend was just over 200 miles away, where we would join the Transamerica Trail. How near could we get? We pawed over the route on Google Earth, seeking out wild-camp spots, there was one at 97 miles, another at 121, 137, maybe a possibility at 141. Maybe even Great Bend itself?
Up early to take as much advantage of the wind and daylight we were soon flying along. Oh my, if only cycling could always be like this. We were riding the quieter back roads, no commercial traffic is allowed on these so it was just fantastic. A few miles on we had to ride on a dirt track, but we didn’t care as Mr Wind was behind us. 35, 50, 70 miles in the bank before we stopped for lunch. We even took time to be tourists, visiting the Sod House Museum, where the last remaining Sod House in Oklahoma is to be found. They were actually closed due to an embroidery class taking place, but we were welcomed in. At one time a Sod House was the desired dwelling in the plains of North America. The one we were seeing was built by Marshal McCully in 1894. It was laid out as if he and his family had just popped out for a while. I was enchanted by the remains of the floral wallpaper, and rather shocked at how many day-to-day kitchen items were still in daily use in my parents house in the 1960s. The rest of the museum was set out to reflect small rooms from that time, I had a go at writing with chalk on a small tablet, whilst sat at a school desk, I think I would have had my knuckles wrapped, my writing was illegible!
Off we went again. By late afternoon we had done over 100 miles! The giddy heights of getting to Great Bend was clearly not attainable, but maybe 140 to 150 we hoped. First though we needed food. We had plenty to cook but Kansas is tinder dry, so we decided to try and buy some hot food and keep the petrol contained. Only problem is we were in Kansas and well, the area we were in was just fields, many the size of English Counties. We were approaching a town called Sharon, and were hopeful, but as we cycled through it was clearly pretty run-down. Then I spotted 3 guys outside what looked like a pub. We were greeted like superstars and handed endless bottles of ice-cold water, whilst they explained there was a great food spot a 20-mile round trip ‘thataways’. Ah well. We went inside and chatted away with the guys. Josh and his friends work for White Tail Heaven Outfitters, a hunting and fishing store, and they were also just setting up their own business, @calculatedkillers. They are into land management and deer control, not, well anything else the name perhaps brings to mind! I think that apart from policeman they were the first people we had seen carrying weapons, which for two cyclists from the UK was quite a sight.
We finally tore ourselves away and hit the road. We ate a cold tea sat on a marble bench in a graveyard, oh the glamour of long-distance cycling, then it was back on the bikes to see how far we could go before the light failed. At 138 miles, with the light falling we saw a place to pitch our tent below a bridge. Home for the night. Too tired to do anything but pitch the inner tent and fall asleep!
