County Fair and Kansas Humudity

In the last week my travels have taken me through the town of Larned, KS where they were hosting a county fair complete with rodeo, 4-H exhibits and, of course, judging of the best rabbits, chickens, cows, hogs and horses. This was a relatively small fair but it was great to see how the whole community got together and showed off the best and finest in each category (there was even judging of best hay!). Me and my new friends (Heather, Hazel, Todd and Brent) decided to take a rest day in Larned and so we spent the better part of the next day hanging out at the local Pizza Hut since they had an all-you-can eat buffet and, just as importantly, it was air conditioned. In sharp contrast to the hot but dry climate in western Kansas, the eastern part of the state is much more humid. We've adopted the practice of getting up at 4:00AM so that we can get on the road by 5:00 and get 40-60 miles done before the heat of the day really kicks up. We then wind up finding someplace cool, like a library or cafe, to hang out in for a few hours before finding a place to camp for the night (and usually taking a nap). While I'm not exactly a "morning person" I've found this routine does have its benefits, even if it's a little strange riding in the dark for the first hour. A couple of days ago I was also given a new nickname by the group. We were riding along when suddenly we saw a thick swarm of gnats along the road. Brent and Todd were able to move out of the way but, all I could do was duck my head and try not to breath in as I went through. Once on the other side, I noticed that my arms and legs, which were very sticky from sweat and sunblock, were just covered in a black layer of bugs! So now my name in the group is "Flystrip" ;-) Cleaning off all those bugs at the next rest stop was not fun but I'm glad all those little critters never made it into my nose or mouth! Then, yesterday afternoon, we got into the town of Rosalia, KS where it was so hot all we could do was lay out under some shade trees near the main street. In a while, a woman stopped by and invited us all to her home for showers and also said we could sleep in a nearby air conditioned church building! We were so surprised and thankful! In addition, this wonderful lady baked us some cookies and also made us pancakes for breakfast this morning! Her neighbor also let us use his swimming pool. It's just amazing how generous some folks are and how, what seems like an awful situation can sometimes turn around into something really wonderful. We're now continuing on through Eureka, KS and should hit the Missouri border in another couple of days.

Total mileage so far: 2,220

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