Day 8

Wednesday, 20 Jun 2012
  Great Bend, KS to McPherson, KS
64.7 miles, 5h27m, 11.8 mph
Elapsed Time: 7h04m, Max speed: 20.9mph
Total Climbing: 912ft, Max elevation: 1866ft
Total mileage: 533.1


Copyright 2002 DeLorme. Topo USA. Data copyright of content owner.


Today was a repeat of yesterday. Strong winds from the south. It was quite a bit cooler. The high was supposed to be in the low 90s, but it felt much cooler because of the crosswinds.

I thought I'd finally kicked my cold, but I woke up with a sore throat. It's just moving into a different phase. I'll try to get some sleep tonight--tomorrow will be a long day into the wind.

After a big breakfast at the Perkins, I rolled out at about 7:30. The whole day was basically struggling to hold the bike upright and smelling oil. Lots of wells.


This one was right next to the road.


The beard is coming back nicely. If it looks like I smell something bad,
I probably do.


Ellinwood has famous underground tunnels. The place where you get tours
was closed. It was only, like, 8:30.


Near Lyons: It's not all about the Santa Fe Trail--Coronado was here too.

I stopped in Lyons for an early lunch at the Wendy's. As I pulled out onto the road I saw another touring cyclist coming the other way. The first touring cyclist I've seen since Eads--when I was on the Transamerica route. We are both a bit off the beaten cycling path.


Jerry is riding from Illinois to the Pacific. Today he's doing exactly the opposite
as me: McPherson to Great Bend. We exchanged information about road conditions--like when we were going
to get the shoulder back. And we commiserated about the wind.
Then he headed west--and I headed to that Cenex station behind him.


I haven't published many pictures of Kansas courthouses because they are just not
that impressive. The courthouse in Lyons looks pretty good though. It's not Georgia-good, but
it's Kansas-good.


I haven't taken a picture of the road in a while. Note the terrain is changing a bit. There are
trees here and there. Note the crappy shoulder.


I finally reached McPherson. It has a cool courthouse--but I don't think much of the grounds.


They also have a cool opera house.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to ride 80 miles to Emporia. I'm expecting a headwind. Bleh.

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"Great Plains Tour 2012" Copyright © 2012 By Bob Clemons. All rights reserved.