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Day 38 - July 15 - Larned, KS to Nickerson, KS - 61 miles Click on the thumbnails to view larger pictures.
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| To crosscountry cyclists Kansas is known for
it's flat roads, wind, heat, and friendly people. One part of Kansas
that is not talked about in cycling books and journals is the Kansas wildflowers.
Today we experienced that part of Kansas. The variety and beauty of
the flowers brightened our day.
Our route took us through the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. We saw deer, a large variety of birds, more wildflowers, and a large marshy area that reminded Carol of New Jersey where she grew up. The Kansas scenery is changing from miles and miles of arid, treeless farmland to a greener landscape. After fighting wind all day our ride finally ended in Nickerson. It was lunch time when we arrived, so the first thing we did was search out a place where we could eat. The Pizza Connection was the only place open at that time of day. While we were eating lunch Art Bass, an eastbound cyclist on the Transam Trail, came into the restaurant. For about a week we'd been hearing about this single cyclist that was half a day ahead of us. It turns out that he rode a short day yesterday and we passed by without seeing each other. We finally got to meet him, and enjoyed a lively conversation about our trips. After lunch we scouted out the town park, but found there were no showers and they had a scheduled night baseball game on the field there. Back to town we went to see what was available. One man we talked to suggested checking out the new high school gym. When we arrived at the gym the doors were open inviting us to go in. Inside we found the cleaning lady, Carol, busily mopping floors. We asked if there was any way we could use the showers. She not only let us to take showers, but allowed us to use the laundry facilities and hang out in the air conditioning all afternoon. She even petitioned her supervisor to allow us to sleep in the gym, but because of recent thefts in the school he had to say no. Our hostess suggested we camp on the school grounds, which we are doing. |
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