Today we rode 50 miles from Eureka, KS to Iola, KS in an 112 degree heat index. Holy moley that’s hot. We arrived in Iola around noon, exhausted and sweating buckets. We were told we could camp in the city park, but seriously, when it feels like 112 degrees out, well, it’s pretty miserable to be outside in a tent. So we asked around and were eventually directed to the Grace Lutheran Church’s new building. The pastor was wonderful and took us in for the night without even blinking. He even gave us free reign of the kitchen! The building is wonderfully air conditioned and we’ll probably be going to sleep around 7pm… that way we can ride really early tomorrow (the first part of the day is a bike path- so it should be pretty safe in the dark) and get somewhere between here and Clinton (I have to figure out exactly where) by 11ish because it’s supposed to be just a little warmer tomorrow. Man, when is this heat going to let up?
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Category Archives: Kansas
Newton to Eureka
This morning we woke up and had a fantastic pancake breakfast courtesy of Bob and Jodi. We had a wonderful time staying with them and their two boys who made us feel right at home! Thank you so much you guys! We really appreciated your saving us from the heat!
We hit the road around 7am and encountered some classic Kansas scenery along the route.
It was super crazy hot today- the heat index was 110 and we started seeing that even the cows on the sides of the road were smarter about the heat than we were. They were all just standing neck deep in the water as we passed.
We made it to Eureka and met up with two other cyclists:
We grabbed some dinner with them, went for a dip in the public pool and took the opportunity to test out some of the playground equipment in the park where we’re all camping. It’s always to fun to run into cyclists on the road and we wish we could ride with these guys, but alas, they’re headed West tomorrow morning. Anyway, it was a long, warm day, but a good one and here’s hoping tomorrow will be just as much fun.
A short ride and a productive day
This morning we hit the road before sunrise and made it the 45 miles to Newton before noon. On the way we encountered a “road closed” sign- which we ignored having no idea of any alternate options. The road was lovely and quiet since it was closed to cars, but we soon found out why:
This area of the country has had so much rain in the past few weeks that it can’t seep into the soil fast enough causing many fields to flood. This particular field flooded from a nearby river and the water was flowing over the road obstructing traffic. It looked pretty shallow and we knew that flood water can be deceptive… 
But we went for it anyway. Turned out to be about eight inches deep at the highest point and we both got soaked riding through. Good thing at 6:30am it was pushing 90 degrees! 
Anyway, we survived the flooding and greatly enjoyed our very hot ride knowing that we were outsmarting the absolute worst of the day’s heat by riding early. By the time we got to Newton though, we were pretty sweaty and focused on getting to the city park where we could camp. No sooner did we enter the town boundary though, than we were greeted by an undercover police vehicle indicating that we should pull over. We did and the officer stepped out to “chat” with us. He actually turned out to be a detective and showed us some photographs of another cyclist. They had found one of his bags smashed on the road that morning containing his iPhone, laptop… all sorts of important stuff that you would notice if it fell off your bicycle. We hadn’t met him, but the detective escorted us to the park where we sat down and gave him and another detective a sort of crash-course in touring. We showed them the maps and guestimated based on his previous blog posts where he might be headed. The detectives were great and were certainly working hard to make sure this guy was alright. They left and we took off to hit up Jackie Chen’s Chinese Buffet- a legend in the touring community for their all-you-can-eat lunch buffet of good, homemade chinese food for six dollars. It was delicious. We used the laptop to do some work and later in the day heard back from the detectives. They had found the cyclist. He had no idea his bag was missing. All that worry for nothing! Anyway, hats off to some of Kansas’ finest and a big thank you for taking so seriously the cyclists coming through!
Tonight we’re staying in a wonderful finished basement (nice and cool) at Bob’s house in Newton. Bob met us as he was leaving Jackie Chen’s and offered us a cool place to stay with showers. How could we resist? He and his wife and two sons greeted us this evening with open arms and fresh sliced watermelon- who could ask for anything more?
Yet another hot Kansas day
Yesterday we hit the road as the sun came up and make it 65 miles by 11:45. 
We pulled into Hutchinson, KS and were welcomed with open arms at the Hutchinson Zion Lutheran Church where they were having a celebration of a pastor’s 50th year of service. They fed us tons of food and showed us their stage area, which they have set up as a hostel for touring cyclists.
They have a couple air beds, a bulletin board where you can read notes about the route from previous cyclists, a full kitchen and best of all, AIR CONDITIONING! Yesterday it hit 99 degrees with 80% humidity, so the hostel services were much appreciated! Today we decided to get a rest day in (we were up late last night chatting with 4 other cyclists we met), hit up the local bike shop, do some work and get an interview. It’s been pretty productive so far, and with the forecast for tomorrow of 101 degrees, we’re planning on getting up super-duper early (around 3am) and hitting the road before the sun comes up.
Night cycling is a much talked-about trend in touring, and is something we haven’t tried before. Most of the things we’ve read about it suggest that Kansas is the place to do it. Long, stretches of gently rolling road allow you to see and hear cars coming from miles away and get off the road. We’ve got some very bright lights that will keep us visible as well, but our general feeling is that riding at night it becomes our responsibility to get way out of the way of cars- not their responsibility to go around. We’re not taking any chances, and we’ll see how it goes and report back in tomorrow!
A rainy day in Kansas
This morning we got up early because the forecast called for rainstorms all day. It was dry as we left, but it sure looked threatening.
We rode 65 miles and it rained. Hard. Then it would stop and we’d dry off and get hot and it would rain again. 
We passed mostly fields all day and ended in a little town called Larned, Kansas. We went to the police station as the weather cleared to ask about tenting in the park and they recommended that we check into a motel ASAP. It was good advice. No sooner did we get a room key in this little motel as the skies opened up and started absolutely pouring. The thunder and lightning followed closely behind and we’re sure glad to be watching it out a window… it’s nasty out there! Tomorrow it’s supposed to hit 100 degrees so we’ll be leaving super early in the morning and trying to make all our miles before 11am. We’ve got 57 miles until the next town, so we’re bringing lots of water! Hopefully the town we stop in will have a pool or a coffee shop where we can cool off for the rest of the day!
South to Ness City
After an incredibly hot night (it stayed at 80 all night) we awoke to storm clouds and figured we’d be wet all day. But the clouds stayed and the only rain shower we got was brief. 
We rode 65 miles to straight south to a town called Ness City. The riding was pretty nice and we had a good tailwind- which you can never complain about. It was quite warm out (around 88 degrees) and it got really sunny by the end of the day, but as we pulled into Ness City and rejoined the Adventure Cycling route, we were in good spirits.
We found a little pizza place that sold the biggest servings of soft serve ice cream EVER for a buck. That combined with the news that we could camp at the town park, which included a pool… well, we were thrilled. We enjoyed some ice cream, hit the pool, got some much needed showers and set up camp. A lifeguard at the pool told us that just yesterday a huge group of cyclists stayed here. We wonder which way they are going…?
A hot day into Kansas!
Yesterday we ended up in a town called Mccook, Nebraska after a fairly strenuous day of riding hills. We got a great interview around lunchtime about irrigation in this area and a woman on the street even bought us each an ice cream cone! So this morning we set out early with a lofty goal of 98 miles to a town called Hill City, Kansas. 
And boy did it get hot. Whew. Really, really hot. By noon it was 96 degrees and it felt like 100 percent humidity. We drank plenty of fluids and pressed through it, but it was a really hard day of riding. Contrary to our previous beliefs, Kansas is NOT flat. Not by any stretch of the imagination. This part of Kansas actually seems to consist entirely of fairly steep rolling hills. As soon as you climb to the top of one, you see the next- right at the bottom of the little downhill. That pattern repeated all day long until it almost became funny… almost. Unfortunately not too much is funny in 96 degree heat on a loaded bicycle. We went through only three towns today and stopped in the third: Hill City. We made our goal and were pleased about that, but we’re pretty exhausted and the temperature just isn’t dropping. At 10pm our tent is still at 82 degrees. We’re camping in the town park, which is great, but the bathrooms are all locked up so we tried to rinse some of the grime and sunscreen off ourselves in the little spigot. We’re retiring for the evening, and hopefully it will cool down a bit overnight! We’re hoping to meet back up with the Adventure Cycling route tomorrow, but that means another huge day… we’ll see how the hills are!
Side note: This part of the country has some of the most incredible classic American scenery we’ve seen all trip. Here’s a shot I grabbed in Nebraska of one town’s gas station.
