The Rest of Day 18, and Some of Day 19

Wow, it's been quite a set of experiences since I last posted! Earlier in the day, I asked directions of a local to the bicycle shop and he commented that the owner "works with bicycles to stay sane" - A funny phrase, but I figured some sort of local comment. I can see how one might think that though. When I went to the bicycle shop, I entered a room full of bicycles, most of them looking rebuilt, with not a person around.

Wandering into the back, I found a radio playing and an older man working on putting it together. Trying to grab his attention, I said, "excuse me sir!", to which I heard only a mutter. This wouldn't have been a problem except he'd been muttering to himself before, so I wasn't sure if he'd heard me. After a few seconds, I tried again - he continued to mutter, but actually looked up and asked me what I needed. I was already concerned, because I hadn't seen any parts for sale in the "bike shop", but went ahead and told him what the issue was. He led me into a back room and started going through tires. None were what I was looking for, but a few would fit and work, so I figured I'd go with one of those.

Around this time, the phone George (the owner) had been carrying in his pocket rang. He answered it and was soon involved in a 10 -15 minute phone conversation about different refrigerants or oils or some such thing. I should also note that he had a fairly think accent, so I had to work a bit to understand him. After his phone call, he went back to figuring out where he'd put the tire and my wheel before the call, eventually finding them. He was a nice guy, but seemed more interested in checking out my bicycle to see how it worked than putting it together. Interesting chap! Still, after about half an hour, I was set to go.

Having spent a lot of time in the park of Ottawa, I had some time to make up. Pushing into the evening, I managed to make it to about a mile our two outside of Council Grove, KS. I set up camp, but after only a few hours sleep, woke up and felt wide awake. Figuring I could make good time, with it well past midnight and very little traffic on the road, I zipped into Council Grove to grab a bite to eat as I was heading into sparse territory. It was about 3 AM when I got into the city, and I ran into a police officer in the parking lot. We chatted about my trip and he told me I was in luck and that I would see almost no traffic at that time of night on the route (KS 177) I was taking.

The trip was great. The weather was nice and clear, with an almost full moon (one day off) hanging in the sky. Traffic was as light as the officer said - in 18 miles I saw one car, and that was near the very end of my route. Riding on a clear night also let me see the first shooting stars (two of them) that I had seen in a long time!

Once I was down to the US 50 KS 150 US 56 route, the sun was starting to come up. I made good time and the tire has held up great! I'm now in McPherson and will be looking for somewhere to nap (lack of sleep is catching up with me) as soon as I finish eating. It's 1:30 here, so if I get a good nap, I'll miss some strong sun and also be reading to ride again this evening. With luck, I"ll be able to cross the rest of Kansas in the next 3 days, putting me mostly through tornado alley.

Last night also saw me run across the kindness of strangers - I stopped at pizza hut to get some pasta for dinner and got to talking to a couple about my route as well as their children. They had been there before me ,and we had a good conversation before they left. As I got up to go, I was told that they had apparently paid my bill for me, without any warning. Experiencing this kind of kindness encourages me to be more like this to strangers, leading to a self-perpetuating system of kindness. It's a good feeling!

One thing I should note is that from this point on, it looks like my internet access may thin out, so I may be posting less often. We'll have to see. Now to eat and find a shaded napping spot!