RecumBum

Sunday, June 8, 2008 - 63.65 miles, 04:29:11, 14.19 MPH average

During the night, the strong and gusty wind never let up, flapping the tent fly and making it difficult to sleep. But eventually I managed, and work up around 6am. After packing up and getting some breakfast, we hit the road about 7:00am, bucking a stiff wind and heading east for another day on US-36, 62 miles to Norton. The wind was from the north, perhaps 15 MPH, with gusts making is difficult to keep a straight line sometimes.

The hills started immediately, not steep, but long and gradual. With the early start and the overcast sky, the first few miles were dim, though the clouds soon began to break up, and patches of sunlight raced across the grasslands around us as we pedaled.

Early Morning Hills East of Atwood

Lunch was scheduled for Oberlin, but it was only 9:30am when we arrived, so we skipped the food and visited the Last Indian Raid Museum, which told the history of the last Indian raid in the state of Kansas, which occurred in 1879 while the Northern Cheyenne were fleeing from reservations in Oklahoma, back to their ancestral homes in the Dakotas.

Last Indian Raid Museum

The ride from Oberlin to Norton had some scenic sections, some flat sections, and some more of the long hills.

The pace today was comfortable — not too hard and not too slack. The countryside offered a few long, scenic views of rugged pastureland, as well as fields of wheat and newly-planted corn. There was evidence of recent rain, and the grass and fields were green, but the soil appeared bone dry, and most of the ponds (of which there were very few to begin with) were only half full, and few creeks were running.

Still, the land in northwest Kansas is far more inviting than the land in southwest Kansas, where the predominant color is brown, and cacti and thorns are common.

Throughout the day, the northerly wind never let up, though it was thankfully just a crosswind and not a headwind. The miles ticked by, with a few well-placed SAG stops along the way, and we rolled into Norton around 1:00pm.

Norton, Kansas

After tent set-up and showers, we took in lunch at a Chinese restaurant, joined by Jason from Clearwater (one of the overnights on BAK 2006), who was enjoying his first bicycle tour.

Libations followed at the local pub, then we rode back to the school, attended the nightly meeting, and enjoyed ice cream from the Dairy Queen up the street. Once back at the school, we hit the tents quickly as the sun was setting and the mosquitoes were coming out.