Seward to Sterling
The ride to
Sterling was on some amazing road.
Highway 19 ended and became 484. This is designated a remote no services
section and borders the south side of the Quivira Wildlife Refuge. Nill
traffic, decent road surface and total serenity and subtly beautiful scenery.
One of the
first homes exiting the nature preserve area had a sign out offering water and
a shaded bench. Another trali angel. I was good on water but took them up on
the the shaded bench. Once cooled I traded back from wood to English leather.
The Brooks B-68S is still working well as a contact point for my backside. With
over 2000 miles on it both the saddle and my contact patch should be considered
broken in.
I made it on
to Sterling about 1130. Knowing the layout of Sterling I went to the city park
where most festivities were at. I got a schedule to help Nishanth plan his
first ever US 4th of July and bought my evening meal button. I was still
remembering the fine community meal served for the 2013 BAK ride.
The park was
packed with folks and activities. Horseshoe pitch, pizza eating contest, water
games at the pool and the list went on.
I ate some
aging grub from my feed pouch while waiting for Nishanth. At up to 100 degrees,
aging is quick. Two days I try to have everything turned over. I always try to
have a days worth of calories on the bike. This is especially important on the
remote areas we have traveled thru. We were lucky having favorable winds at
those points and quickly passed thru. Bad weather or headwinds the food would have
been used. I also carried water purification tablets, just in case.
Once
Nishanth arrived we made the parade and antique tractor pull. Both were pure
Americana and great activities for him to experience. The evening community
meal, band playing and finally the fireworks display should top it off for
Nishanth.
Nishanth had arranged a couch surfing host for
us. The home owner Greg was off somewhere else and the house left unlocked for
us. So we got our first real showers in several days and did a load of sink
laundry each. Tommorow we should leave Sterling clean and refreshed. And back
to the hot dusty trail!
Days miles
just a short 35 leaving us some time and energy to celebrate the 4th.
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