Saturday 6/30/18

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A day that started and ended with memories of the west Kansas wind. We had camped on the county buildings  lawn. The park was very close to a grain elevator. A local said with wheat harvest in full swing, we would not get much sleep as the trucks would run all night. The wind blew all night and was still breezy by Missouri standards when we got up.

We packed and got over to the convenience store for our usual breakfast of coffee and instant oatmeal topped with raisens, prunes and walnuts. The store was busy with the harvesting crews. We had been seeing the harvesting as we rode the last couple or three days. The crews slowly work their way up into Canada as the crops ripen. It is kind of exciting to be in the thick of it.

The route stays on 96 for several days at our rate. Today the wind has strong and gusting from the northeast. It was tough pedaling onto it and took continuous attention to keep the bike straight. At times it felt like an invisible hand was grabbing the front wheel. Also when one of the grain trucks passed, the initial wind wall coming off the speeding truck would cause you to overcorrect and then as the truck passed the low pressure along the trailer would try to sick you into the trailers side. This went on all day.

We finally made it to Tribune. After shopping at Gooches grocery we decided that 55 miles was enough. The extremely nice city park sealed the deal. While eating another pair, Dex and Scott, cycled up. We shared stories and my pineapple that I had bought.

A bit later while talking to my son Justin, I noticed a rapid difference in how the sky looked. All of a sudden, a huge gust front hit and did not let up for 3 hours. We started grabbing possessions and bikes and headed to the back side of the steel 4H building. There it was protected. A police car came by and said he thought we would be safe where we were. During the night I heard a few bursts of heavy rain coming down on the metal roof.

In the morning the sky was a bright blue and just puddles in the parking lot to show for the nights storm.

That days ride to Sheridan Lake, crews were replacing snapped off utility poles. We had considered riding on the evening before to Sheridan Lake. We probably would have been caught on the open road in this storm. Again we were being looked over and kept where safe.

Total day about 55 very windy miles.