June 9, 2006 – It’s the day before the official BAK start, and I had trouble sleeping last night – nervous anticipation, I suppose. Going over everything in my mind, hoping I hadn’t overlooked anything in my packing or preparation. I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to be in Lenexa by 6:00 to check in and load my bike on the truck and my bags on the bus.

To pack the bikes as tightly as possible in the trucks, the organizers required pedals be removed. I wasn’t sure how to take off the pedals, so I’d taken the bike to a local shop yesterday and had them show me. (For future reference, pedals tighten in the direction the pedals are used – at the top of the revolution, the pedals are moving toward the front of the bike. Therefore, to remove the pedals, they are loosened the opposite way. Looking at the left pedal, the wrench turns clockwise to loosen, counter-clockwise to tighten. Looking at the right pedal, the wrench turns counter-clockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten.)

The buses left Lenexa at about 7am, with two nearly full buses and two moving trucks to carry the bikes. We stopped in Lawrence, Topeka, and Manhattan to pick people up. There was an early lunch in Salina, then a long ride to the edge of Kansas. We stopped in Dodge City to stretch our legs and restock with drinks and snacks, then arrived in Johnson City at about 4:45pm.

After registering, I had a choice of sleeping indoors or outdoors. I chose to set up my tent, figuring it’d be easier to sleep away from others. It was hot at that time, but soon clouded up. Our bikes didn’t arrive until some time later — too late to make a run for the border. So I put my pedals back on and headed downtown for a very good all-you-can eat buffet at a local restaurant. Brisket, ribs, sausage and sides for $8 – a good deal and good food. I resisted the urge to stuff myself.

I turned in at around 9:00. It was quite windy, and even rained a bit during the night. Luckily, I had set up my tent so that the door was away from the wind, so I could keep the door open, but not get wet. It did get quite cool during the night, and I was glad I’d brought an extra blanket. Probably should have brought the sleeping bag. I did have to close up the tent door once to prevent sprinkles from blowing in.