On into Kansas

Time is really flying by, we have been on the ride now for over 5 weeks and we are about 1/3 of the way across the country.  Now that we are moving out of the mountains and hills of the east and Missouri the daily mileage is starting to pick up.
On Tuesday the 7th we rode to Marshfield, MO with lots of hills but the hills are getting smaller, not real long climbs but lots of little ones and some with up to 14% grade. Still a lot of work on the bike.  This ride was thru rolling country side with nice farms and ranches.  We did come across three posted detours for bridges out and decided to risk it and rode on and were able to get across all three bridges,  Enough work has been done to allow us to ride through. Camped at a city park in Marshfield and did the usual for dinner and a card game before hitting the bag. 
On Wednesday we headed out and rode to Ash Grove with the same type of riding on nice rolling countryside.  The roads in Missouri have been nice with good paving and these are the best marked roads of any state that we have been in so far.

Temperatures continue to be well into the 90's every day and on the road the temps get to well over 100. I can't say that I am getting used to the heat with the high humidity but it is not bothering me as much.  I just keep drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Ash Grove is a small city and again we stayed at the city park. The shower was close and had hot water so life was OK in Ash Grove.  It is amazing how just the availability of something like a shower can mean so much.  We did have a lot of climbing on this day and really it may be the last of the really hilly days.
Thursday had us up about 5:45AM and headed into Kansas.  The ride information indicated that we would ride about 20 more miles in the hills then things would change. And it was correct, hills for about 20 then the landscape just started to flatten out a lot.  To be sure there are rolling hills, and now added to the  mix was a wind out of the south southwest at about 15 to 20 mph.  Not a straight on headwind but enough for some of our folks to notice. After 63 miles we crossed into Kansas.

Now that we are in Kansas we will have the winds and flatter riding, well a little flatter. Arriving in Pittsburg after 71 miles we rode again to a city park where we have a nice camp site next to the local baseball field, so we are treated to a ball game each night.  We are staying over on Friday for a rest day and will head out again on Saturday. Thursday a friend of Deloris, who is on our ride, showed up with a nice dinner for us and it was good to get a home cooked meal.  This lady (Terry) rode with Deloris last year on an ACA ride. Thanks Terry!

Well it is now Friday and laundry is done, a really good breakfast is over and here I sit in the Library (air conditioned) doing the blog thing and catching up on other computer stuff.

Below is a picture of the Five Amigos

From the left are Sjef from Holland, Jason from London, myself, Terry from Moab, UT, and David from England. This is the group that plays cards every evening, creates a little havoc in camp and we all tend to ride somewhat together and watch out for each other.

On across Kansas, Life is Good      Bobo