We arrived in Elkhart, via a B&L Tours charter bus, in the
rain. Although it continued to precipitate during our unloading,
it slowed, then quit as we set up our tents, leaving us with a clear
evening round trip to the Colorado border.
Here, it's obvious that Kansas thinks a lot more of this road than
Colorado does -- it turns to gravel over the border. Anyway,
turning back into Kansas, we had the sun
and a little breeze at our backs, making for a quick return trip to
Elkhart. On the way back to the campgrounds at the school, we
stopped at The Restaurant at The Motel and enjoyed a late dinner.
The storms started again after midnight. Around this time, I
heard someone in a neighboring tent cursing like a (insert favorite
stereotype here). Sounded like someone's Tourette's Syndrome was
kicking into high gear. Or, maybe he just got wet. Pretty
funny.
Saturday, June 4
The morning began clear and cool with overcast skies that eventually
burned clear. The mass start / photo op at the Oklahoma border was a popular place. The
riding was nice as we cruised up Highway 56 through Hugoton &
Satanta to Sublette at about 18mph. The Sag
Hags provided an entertaining rest stop. The lunch break in
Satanta was nice -- beef enchiladas with all the trimmings, including
homemade salsa.
Our accommodations in Sublette were at a recent-model high school with
two gyms. Camping sites were
plentiful on the lush lawn of the campus. The Knights of Columbus
of Satanta grilled 800 burgers for the BAK participants -- we're pretty
sure every burger was eaten.
So far, the SAG stops have been little social events. Over the
years, I've met so many good folks on this ride -- I want to visit with
everyone.
Sunday, June 5
This year's promises of southwesterly winds pushing us up a
northeasterly route proved true again today. I'm afraid we'll be
spoiled for the rest of the week. Oh, and my fixed gear bike has
me spinning like crazy to keep up with my many-geared, freewheeling
friends.
Our route took us past the amazing windmills around
Montezuma. It's just great to see Kansas' most plentiful natural
resource (wind) being put to good use.
We arrived in Dodge City in time for an early
lunch at Casa Alvarez. We're learning that there is excellent
Mexican food available all over southwestern Kansas, and this
restaurant really stood out. Luckily, we had a short ride into
Spearville.
As we exited Dodge City on the east, we saw the happy face of a scenic overlook sign. Anticipation building,
we turned out to view the scenery.
Aahhh...the smell of money.
Reaching Spearville, my friends Frank and Melanie decided they'd go
knocking on doors, asking if the group of us could camp under the
homeowner's shade trees. We ended up in the front yard of John
and Bernice Lea Groth, nice folks who stayed up late, chatting with us
on their porch swings. (BAK postcards make good thank you notes.)
Monday, June 6
We really got rolling today, going for miles at a time around
20mph. The tailwinds continue spoiling us.
It was good to see Paul Reaves with his sisters
back in the saddle after his solo-crossing on the tandem last year.
The destination town of Ellinwood was especially welcoming this
evening. Food vendors set up in Wolf Park: Sue's BBQ, Granny & the Kids serving bierocks, pie and
cookies, Mu Kappa serving sloppy joes, and many others. The Sun Country Band provided music. A great
turnout of cyclers made for quite a party.
Another round of door-knocking by Frank and Melanie landed our group in
Dennis Carson's front yard, across from the grade school. He had
ridden BAK before, and he and his wife were very welcoming to the dozen
or so campers renting shade in their front yard.
Tuesday, June 7
The tailwinds continue, providing another easy day of riding. The
hardest part was chasing my big-geared buddies down a couple of
tremendous downhills with a tailwind. I scurried along at over
30mph, which translates to around 150 rpm in this year's gearing choice.
We took a short rest stop in Claflin, which is all dressed up with
these store fronts. Nice looking downtown. Just off the route as we
neared Lindsborg is the town of Marquette, which has a good
old-fashioned ice cream fountain on its main street. Cherry soda
for me, please.
After setting up camp in Lindsborg, we wandered downtown and enjoyed
lunch at The Cookery, the swedish meatballs and peanut butter
cream pie being the highlights.
A high-school aged bunch of Swedish dancers entertained us at Swensson
Park in the evening, and a Swedish sampler platter was served for
dinner. Pretty darn festive, I think.
Wednesday, June 8
En route to Chapman this morning, Terry bike-jacked this hot rod from a local child. He returned
it after a couple of victory laps.
Just past Elmo, we opted off the route and headed up K-15 to Abilene
for a very nice lunch at La Fiesta.
Last year, we had dropped off the route south to Abilene for a fine
lunch at the same place, and thought we'd do it again, knowing that
there was a nice, flat 10-mile cruise into Chapman after lunch.
At first, we were concerned that there would be too much traffic on
K-15, it being a highway and all. But, we were very pleasantly
surprised to find that there were actually many fewer motorized
vehicles here than on the route.
Chapman once again rolled out the red carpet for us, offering burgers,
polish sausage, homemade pies and ice cream -- a nice way to cool down
on a hot day. Karaoke
music filled the air.
As the sun set, ominous clouds filled the
sky. Hmmmm....
Thursday, June 9
Well...those clouds turned into rain this morning. It came down
in buckets for a while -- so hard that we delayed our departure until
it turned into more of a sprinkle than a downpour. On the bright
side, this made for some cool temperatures, a nice contrast to
yesterday's 99 degrees in Chapman.
We rolled into some beautiful scenery today. Like Milford Lake. Highway 77 took us up and
down some rolling hills to Tuttle Creek Dam,
where we had a lunch stop. The flat stretches became fewer and
farther between as we neared the evening's destination of Onaga.
Today was the longest scheduled day of the tour at 88 miles.
Folks were using a hose in the back of the high school to wash the
day's road grime from their bikes. The free cookies in the
commons area was a welcome gesture, and the taco/potato bar for the
evening meal was good.
Friday, June 10
Today was hilly. No doubt about it. One of the few flat
stretches of the day led us into Wetmore, where a SAG stop was setup
near the Wetmore Calaboose. The description is kind of funny in that the first
tenant of the jail has the same name as my pastor.
Closing in on Hiawatha, a Schwan's driver had pulled over his truck and
was serving ice cream pops for a buck a piece. I had to have two.
Our shuttle driver took us past the Davis Memorial.
This monument to John Milburn Davis' wife Sarah is spectacular and odd. The detail
of the statues is so realistic. Here is
some more info on it.
Saturday, June 11
Sad that the trip is ending. It's been a good one. Today's
hilly 21 miles into White Cloud just beat the rain by a few
minutes. Our group had time for a quick photo-op
on the river before the rain arrived in sheets. Thankfully, the
rain stopped as we loaded up for the bus trip
back to Wichita.