I put in another solid day today notching off 94.7 miles. That's 187.5 miles in 2 days. Hopefully I can manage back to back 100 mile days before this trip is up.
I started out at 7.30am, walking out of my motel and into the restaurant next door. I don't think there was 1 patron under 75 years old. Once I had ordered my food people realised I wasn't local and the questions started coming. It was a nice start to the day. Everyone was very interested and wished me luck on my journey.
I was told to look out for Bison a few miles from town. I also overheard other tables talking about me. One lady said 'yes, he is very hard to understand' which made me laugh to myself.
I'm really glad I was warned about the Bison because when I first glanced over they looked like cows in the distance. On double checking I could see they weren't. I stopped to take some pictures but was frustrated that they were too far away to capture clearly. I was ready to move on when I noticed they were starting to make their way over to me with 1 leading the way and the others following almost in line. They wanted to check me out too which was a result.
Eventually they reached the fence that lined the road. We all stared at each other, open mouthed for a while. I wasn't sure how to speak to them. They didn't talk cow or horse so we didn't quite understand each other but we shared a moment.
The new road (Route 4) that I was so excited to turn on to yesterday also goes on for many hundred of miles it seems! I was told by 1 person that the Bike Across Kansas event uses this route but I haven't had that verified.
The scenery was really nice today but with little variation. It seems the farther I ride into Kansas the more the hills roll giving more and more character to the state. The weather today was decent too. Lots of sunshine and there was a slight headwind but really, really mild.
At the half way point today the road ahead was closed and there were signs for a diversion. I really didn't want to take this as I knew I was already stretching myself today. A diversion could have added many miles. Ignoring the road closed signs I carried on - the reason for the closure became apparent.
A bridge was down in a small town. I asked someone what the best way round and sure enough there was a route the locals were taking that was a much shorter diversion. It involved riding down a bumpy and dusty dirt road for a mile though. Still, this was much better than the other option so the gamble paid off. Soon after rejoining the original road I crossed another county line.
I now realise that with the bridge being down, road closure, riding the dusty, dirt road and crossing the county line that I was probably an extra in the Dukes of Hazard today. They are still making it aren't they? I think I just missed out of seeing a police chase, and a car breaking through the road closed signs and jumping the river with a makeshift ramp.
Maybe I will catch it tomorrow.
http://youtu.be/1D_A2sneZ9Q
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