Day 53, tribune, Kansas to eads, colorado.

The sunset after the storm. The clouds were dark over head. There were lightning off the the north, and there was this clear area in the middle, like the eye or something.

This is actually a later shot that I lightened so you could see more detail.

A close up shot. If you look closely, it looks like the sun is illuminating the under side of the cloud layer. Pretty cool.

Eastern Colorado looks just like western Kansas, maybe even flatter.

This hawk was the only thing we saw all day that got us excited.

A typical farm on the plain. There were dozens of them spread out through out the area. You can actually see them, and towns far off in the distance since there are no trees except where there are people living.

The only cover I could find for taking a break was behind this train parked by the side of the road.

Colorado. It means: The Color Red, describing the color of the Colorado river when the settlers first saw her.

You gotta watch out for these things. They are way bigger than you, and if they turn that thing on, it'll rip you up to shreads.

I laid my camera down across the road so no one would run it over. Bad idea, bad shot. But here we are entering Colorado.

Meet Chris from Germany on the left, and Chase on the right from Texas. We meet these two west bounders along with a couple of Englishmen today. We were all headed the same way.

The only real difference I saw as we left Kansas was that as soon as we entered Colorado. We saw flowers on the side of the road again. The last two days we saw nothing.


Chase and Lisa as we were entering the town of Sheridan Lake. I didn't see a lake, but I did see a large dried salt bed.


Day 53, Tribune, Kaunas to Eads, Colorado. “A Day Of Blessings” 59.16 miles

The wind switch during the night. Today’s ride put us into a moderate 15 mile an hour south-west head wind that lasted about 98% of the way. The tail wind of the last two days are now a thing of the past…………………….. We left the Trail’s End Motel at 8:00AM. We stopped at Judy’s Dinner for breakfast. This was also where we had dinner last night. For breakfast, I went for the breakfast buffet, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving the place hungry.
Once on the road, we kept a steady pace spinning so as not to exert too much energy. For those of you who aren’t cycle savvy, spinning refers to a technique used when conserving energy is more important than speed. You use a lower gear that is easier to pedal, thus conserving energy. Our average speed, about 9 miles an hour.
This part of Kansas lacks any kind of character for photography purposes. The land escape is lifeless, dry, flat, windy, and dull in color. I had to force myself to take pictures. If it were a film camera, I don’t think I would have taken any. Cost too much for developing.
How ever, there is a silver lining in every dark cloud. The Lord is always there weather we know it or not. He Does little things that if you are not paying attention, you wouldn’t even notice. There were a number of times today when I was pretty bored. At these times, my mind tends to wander, I think about home, the beach, fishing, all kinds of stuff. But you can only escape the present situation to a point. Then reality brings you right back when say, a large truck blazing down the highway, wiz passes you and creates a huge air wave that blows you right in the face. But today was different. There were not that many big trucks like yesterday. In fact, the ones that we did encounter, either slowed as they passed, or gave us wide birth. Another thing that happened was the temperature. It did get well over a hundred today, but during the worst times, I noticed thin clouds that rolled across the sky. These clouds were almost un noticeable, because you could still see your shadow, but they were there, a number of times. Then there was that hawk on the telephone pole. I didn’t even notice it there till Lisa pointed him out. I stopped, was able to get out my camera, and he never flew away. Usually when you stop, those things are gone. Also, in terrain this flat, you don’t usually encounter down hills. But today we did. At least two fairly long down hills that came as a welcome treat, allowing an escape from the head wind. Because we are gaining altitude at such a gradual rate, we don’t really notice it. In 60 miles, we gained about 400 feet. So any kind of down hill is really noticeable.
We met a few west bound riders today. Five of them to be exact. And no east bounders. I only had the chance to talk with Chase from Texas, and Chris from Germany. I Think the other three were from Australia…………………………. It was a long day, hard at times, but I feel good, I think if I had to, I could have gone on another twenty or so miles. But I’m glad we didn’t have too.
We rolled into Eads at 3:30 this afternoon. And about a half hour after we checked in, we got hit by a dust storm immediately followed by a thunder storm. How lucky was that. Or was it luck at all? I think The Lord planned it that way.

We will have a rest day tomorrow. It’s the 4th of July, and we want to stay off the road. Aloha everybody. We miss you all. Ted.

Day 52, Scott City to Tribune.

Click on map to see where we are.

Entering Mountain time. We are now only four hours earlier than Hawaii.

This is a grain storage facility. To the right, out of frame is a huge storage area with many cells much larger than the ones shown.

Here's a close up of a truck being filled with grain.


The caboose says Santa Fe on it. It reminded me that we are actually on the original Santa Fe trail as we ride.

These two deer grazing in a field.

The plains and horses. They go together like.............., like..............., well.........., like Ted and bikes.

Just some of the sights we stopped at along the way. This was St. Mary's Cemetery. This is a Catholic cemetery. we saw a lot of unmarked graves placed very close together. We thought maybe they were small children.

Another feed lot. We passed dozens of these today.


The Lazy R Motel, where we spent last night. Very nice, but no ice box or microwave.

This doe had just crossed the road. I missed it while it was crossing.

This was one of two fawns the doe had. The other one got hit by a car.

I think this is a mule deer judging by the big ears.

Another Hawk or something.


These two east bounders must have found the head wind too much to handle. They hopped a ride with this pick up. Shame, shame, shame................

I don't know what this was, but I was impressed. shortly after we rode past it, a warning siren went off. I was just glad it wasn't nuclear fall out.


Here' those guys again, I'm just hopping when it comes my turn, I can do the same.

Okay train, where are you? I'm waiting...............

Down town Tribune. All these little towns look almost the same. That's why I can't remember any of their manes.

Lisa riding into the great beyond. Where ever that is.................



Day 52, Scott City to Tribune, Kansas. “Cloud Cover and Tail Wind” 47.79 miles. Total=2207.1 miles.

We had a very good day today as far as riding goes. We had a strong tail wind that pushed us all the way into Tribune. We are now in the Mountain Time Zone. The cloud cover was a welcome relief from the previous days of heat. With a tail wind, you feel the heat more, because you don’t have the cooling effect of a breeze, so it does feel hotter. Most of the time, you are rolling along at the same speed as the tail wind, giving the impression of no wind at all. But with cloud cover like today, it keeps the heat down to a minimum.
While we were having breakfast at a dinner in Scott City, we saw ten west bounders rolling through town. They all were not carrying anything, so we knew that they were a supported group. We never saw them again the rest of the day………………. When we left our motel, we took our time checking out the town. At this early morning, there wasn’t much going on except the farm machinery getting ready to hit the roads. Once out of town, we immediately picked up speed from the strong tail wind, and maintained an average speed of 15 miles an hour, about twice our average speed so far. I stopped occasionally to take pictures. And each time I did, Lisa was able to get about a half mile ahead just from maintaining her present speed. But since the terrain is so flat, I could see her with out any problem at all.
We did not see any east bounders today, my guess is that the tail wind we were experiencing was really playing havoc on the east bounders going the opposite direction. No fun, if you know what I mean………….. As we cruised along, we saw a large wheat storage facility that had a truck being loaded with grain. It’s amazing. Some of the storage bins are huge. Each cell can be 2o feet or more in diameter, and a hundred feet high. And there can be as many as forty or fifty of these cells together at each facility. We also rode past a small wind mill farm which we later found out that was only put in with in the past year. All that power goes to Colorado through under ground power lines.
A few miles before entering the town of Leoti, Lisa saw two deer. A doe, and a fawn. They were in a soy bean field, not 25 yards off the highway. We stopped, and they just stood there looking at us. Even after getting my camera out, they did not seem to be bothered. Finally they both crossed the road and disappeared into an open field. What a sight to see these wild animals in their own environment. It’s a shame that there aren’t more places where wild animals can run free un molested………………. We rolled into Leoti at 10:30AM. Too early for lunch, we were still full from breakfast, but knew we should have something since we had 25 more miles to go, with no services in between. We found a Quick stop and had a light lunch there. While inside, we met a young man who was sitting in the booth next to us and started a conversation. He lived in the town, and gave us the run down about the wheat harvest and everything else that went on around there………………………. Since we were way ahead of schedule, we spent some time exploring the town, but found everything to be closed, including the museum. We went into a Dollar General Store to buy some small needed items, then continued on. The temperature was still quite pleasant, about 90 degrees. And with the cloud cover, it only felt 80.
We rode passed several large feed lots. The odder from the ones on the south side of the highway was almost unbearable. There were times when we had to breath the foul odder for minutes at a time until we were well past the areas………………….. Ahead in the distance, we could see rain clouds, dark ones, and at one point thought that we were in for some showers. But by the time we got there, it had passed and we were dry as can be except for our perspiration. We could also see dust clouds off in the distance. Some were form farm implements such as tractors, combines, trucks, etc. And some from the strong wind blowing across the plains……………………………….... Just before entering Tribune, we saw our first two east bounders, we waved and exchange greetings, at the same time wondering how they would handle the head wind.
We arrived in Tribune, located just outside the Colorado boarder at 2:30 in the afternoon, and checked into the Trails End Motel where we will spend the night. After getting settled and showered, we went hunting for a place to eat. We had soft tacos with salsa and chips. Not the greatest, but it did the job. On the way back to the motel, we saw These two east bounders hitching a ride on a truck. I guess the head wind was just too much for those poor fellas. Good night for now., Aloha, Ted.

Day 51, Ness City to Scott City, Kansas

We passed this train bridge just out of Ness City. There were several of these. Trains play a major roll in the wheat industry.

We ran across this farm equipment grave yard in the middle of no where. It looks as if people just bring what ever they have that don't work and park it here.

There was everything from tractors to trucks, and everything in between. I wish I would have stopped and taken a walk through there.

These are the only two cycling tourist we saw all day today. They were heading east.


We stopped to take a break at the George Washington Carver Historical marker. Click on the picture to read about this remarkable man. Lisa thought they were talking about her.

The Byrd Ranch. It just looked cool, so I took this picture.

Wheat, wheat, and more wheat. Just imagine. In the great depression, this was known as "The Dust Bowl"

These are brand new Derricks for sale at an equipment store. Kansas has oil derricks all over the place. And here I thought they were all left over from the good old days.

That's wheat being unloaded from those trucks until it can be loaded on to trains. The train track is right next to that thing unloading the wheat.


Day 51, Ness City to Scott City, Kansas. “Tail Winds Baby!” 55.8 miles.

Tail winds, it can mean many things to many people. Tail winds can be bad if you are stalking deer with a bow and arrow. It can be bad if the person behind you had beans for lunch. Bur for a touring cyclist. Tail winds mean smooth sailing, less effort, and an over all easier day. It can mean the difference between dead tired at twenty miles, or fresh after 50. Tail winds are a blessing. And today, was just that. You see, normally the wind on the plains blow from west to east. Which equals a head wind for west bound cyclist. It was like that the last few days for the most part. But today, the wind switched around, and stayed that way. If it stays like this tomorrow, we should be at our next destination by noon.
This morning, after a restless night of sleep, we pulled out of Ness City early, in hopes of escaping the afternoon heat, and the head wind that we have been experiencing lately. The Derrick Inn, was a strange place. It is an enclosed building, so all the rooms face in, where there is a swimming pool and Jacuzzi in the center. There is also a game room, lounge, and the only whiskey bar in the state of Kansas. Because the whole thing is enclosed. The odder of cigarette smoke was in the air all the time. I hated it.
The ride was smooth and fast for most of the day. It never got to a hundred degrees till shortly after noon. And it hovered right at 102 for the rest of the afternoon. Don’t get me wrong. 102 degrees is hot, but after ridding in temperatures of 110 and above for the last few days, 102 was a blessing.
We rode past thousands off acres of wheat fields. Some of them extending as far as the eye can see in either direction. We could see large combines working the fields way off in the distance by the cloud of dust that followed them. The roads were busy with large grain trucks hauling their load to the transfer facilities usually located near a train track. Large trailer trucks hauling combines with their attachments passed us going both ways for most of the day. These thins are huge, they take up most of the road, and because this is peak harvest season, they are all moving pretty fast. Lisa read in the local paper that this year was the best harvest they have had in years. And it is rated grade AA which means good quality, and plenty of it. They faster they can get rid of it the better, cause once the market gets flooded, the price will drop and the farmers with late crops will suffer the loss.
We Passed one of thee transfer stations with several trucks waiting to unload their load so they could go get some more. The store it in one big pile until the train comes I guess. We rolled into Dighton at 10:45AM. There was a Frosty Freeze on our right as we entered town, so we pulled in. The sign said open at 11:00AM. We were just about to leave, when a truck pulls up and a gentleman said, “If you can wait five minutes I’ll be open.” That was good enough for me. When he opened, I had the biggest root beer frosty he had.
We only had a little over 20 miles to go till Scott City, so we decided to keep going instead of taking a longer lunch break. We saw two east bounders pulling trailers coming the other way. It was our turn not to stop since we had momentum on our side. We waved, exchange pleasantries, and I snapped a picture as they smiled.
It seemed like in no time at all we were in Scott City. And found the Lazy R motel right at the edge of town. This place is pretty spread out. We could not find a place open to eat except the dinner right across the street. We must have walked a mile and a half, only to be right back at the dinner across the street. And believe it or not, they had the best French Dip I have had in years.
Tomorrow our destination is Tribune, Kansas. Right at the boarder of Colorado. We will also enter the Mountain Time Zone. Bye for now, Aloha, Ted.

Day 50, Larned to Ness Citry, Kansas

This guy really looks like he knows what he's doing, doesn't he?

Ted entering Fort Larned.

What do you think this guy just got done doing?

This wind mill was at a rest area. It was over a hundred degrees out there.

Another award winning mail box from Kansas.

I always take my camera with me when i go to take a um, break............... and some times it pays off.

Can you imagine living way out here with nothing for miles in any direction?
This is Bob from England. I stopped to see if he needed help. He's on his way to Yorktown. Good luck Bob.

The barracks at Fort Larned.

These are real guns from time past.

The Indians used these on the settlers.

This came from The World Trade Center aster 911.

The barracks at Fort Larned. The NPS really did a good job at preserving this place.

More of Fort Larned.

Lisa at the entrance of Fort Larned.

This is the prison at Larned. We passed it coming out of the town.

This is only the second SDA church we came across on our trip so far.


This flag pole is at the center of the fort.

The bank in Ness City is the tallest sky scraper in the plains. That's what the sign said.

An old school house from the 1800's. It is an historical attraction here in Ness City.


In the middle of no where, they still have a problem with graffiti.



We were really moving along. Wind at our backs, and cruising. I told Lisa, I think we can catch that train.

And we were, we were flying.

We actually caught up with it and passed it. Later we found out that the train was parked there for the last two day. Bummer, it was the only time I thought we were really making progress.

We ran into a total of six east bounders today. I stopped taking their pictures cause we see too many of them lately.

Down hill into Alexander.

This machine make hay bails in one continuous length.

This guy must do well for himself. Maybe he's the mayor or something.

Rolling into the town of Larned, Kansas.


Day 50, Larned to Ness City, Kansas. “A Better Day” 66.59 miles.

It’s good when you can say it was a better day. I say it was better, because we had an early start, the temperature wasn’t that bad, and a couple of good things happened. As we left the Best Western Motel, it was only 69 degrees. Perfect for a bike ride. The route took us on a loop for some reason, so we actually went a mile or so further than we had to, but what the hey, what’s a mile more on a 4,250 plus mile ride, right? We finally got back on track, and was headed west under ideal conditions. Just out of town, we passed a Seventh-day Adventist church. I was excited, because it was only the second one we saw since we started. The other one was in Virginia. I stopped to take a couple of pictures to post so pastor Kurt and my mom could see it. We continued n, and went past the largest cemetery I’ve seen so far. This thing was huge. I didn’t get any pictures, but it was probably a half mile long, and a quarter mile wide. Very nicely kept. I bet the occupants of that one were very happy…………….. About 9 miles further down the road, we came across Fort Larned. A historical land mark run by the national Park Service. We pulled in and spent some time checking out this well preserved monument. It was one of the many forts used to guard the Santa Fe Trail against the Indians.
A short time later, I noticed an east bounder on the side of the road looking over his bike. I stopped to see if he needed any help. His name is Bob, from England. He had a flat, and had just repaired it when I came along. We chatted for a few minutes, exchanging information about the road ahead. Bob told me that he ran into 6 inches of snow in Wyoming two weeks earlier, but it should be gone by the time we got there. He was a pleasant chap, and I didn’t want to dampen his spirits by telling him what he was in for in Missouri and beyond. I then left to catch up with Lisa who was long gone by now.
As our route turned north, we had the advantage of a tail wind. A welcome change from the 20 mile an hour head wind we battled most of the day yesterday. We made good time, and spent the rest of the day in the big ring.
At the town of Alexander, we stopped at a place called
“Ethal’s Place”. It was the only place in this small town to get anything to eat. A really neat Bar and Restaurant with tons of old soda, beer, and tobacco cans on display from years gone by. The service was slow, it took almost an hour to get our order, but that’s cause it was lunch hour, and every one wanted to eat at the same time. When we went to pay for our lunch. The lady at the counter said to Lisa, “I gotta tell you this, but someone wanted to buy you guys dinner, but all she had was three bucks, so she gave me the three bucks toward you dinner.” We were blown away. She wouldn’t tell us who it was, and said that we would never know. People here are so kind, that city folks could learn a lot from country folks…………………… As we were leaving, I noticed a rattling sound coming from my trailer. I stopped to check it out, and I had a flat. A bad one too. The slime sealant wasn’t able to stop it cause there was a big hole in the tire. I ended up changing the tube and the tire. Lucky I carried a spare, in this town, there is nothing. We turned on to HWY 95 that will take us all the way to Pueblo, Colorado. A few hundred miles to the west. By this time the temperature had risen to over a hundred degrees, and when we entered the town of Bazine, about 10 miles up the road, I was ready for something cold. A Gatorade. But this town was even worse than Alexander. All we found was a soda machine. We left in disgust and continued on. At a rest area 12 miles later, we stopped and was rewarded by a drinking fountain, a water spigot, and just important, SHADE!
The rest of the ride was pretty easy going, baring the heat. But fortunately, we had cloud cover when we really needed it. I offered a prayer of thanks to The Lord when ever it happened I believe He gave us that shade when we really needed it. I really do…………….. We rolled into Ness City at about 5:30, and found the “Derrick Inn”, where we are spending the night. We had dinner at the “Cactus Club”. All you can eat tacos for $4.95. Good night, we miss you all. Ted.