Kansas---"By the way, I loved you in the Wizard of Oz."

I could hear the wind during the night and I kept hoping that the forecast would be wrong...I wasn't looking forward to another day of crosswinds and headwinds. I wanted to get started by 6 a.m., but 6:30 was the best I could manage. The sunrise over Coldwater Lake was beautiful. Karen and I headed east on Highway 160 over some rollers...a lot of rollers. I told Patty to come and find us in an hour or so...we would know by then just how hard the day was going to be.



The storm that was coming was supposed to bring high winds with it and get to us by 3 p.m. I could be finished by then...shorter stops for food, less time off the bike, and an average of 13 or so.

Kansas was pretty. The terrain was the same most of the day...rollers and more rollers. We had 3 miles near the end of the day where we had a tailwind...you come to appreciate those.

We passed an historic Catholic brick church near Attica that I thought was pretty cool...built in the 1800's. We also passed a house that I'm pretty sure was Dorothy's...





Patty and I saw a sign in Sharon that said it was the birthplace of Martina McBride...I love her!


I finished the day with 100.2 miles, an average of 13.08, and about 1600' of elevation gain.
Flat Stanley learned a little about oil wells today...he is a great traveller...


I rely a LOT on Karen and Patty. They take most of the pictures that I'm posting on this blog. My photography skills are minimal, and both of them have a great eye. I so appreciate that. They have been great support for me.





We headed south to Ponca City and then east to Kaw Lake where we spent the night. The campground is an Army Corps of Engineers campground and we were elated about our site right on the lake with a view of the thunderstorm to the west. Patty wasn't going to put her rain fly on.."I'll risk it...". Well then, I'll risk it too. We had another hearty meal of pasta, broccoli, carrots, rice, beef brisket and micheladas, and got ready to call it a night. The wind started blowing about 50 m.p.h. "Is that rain?". Patty asked. "No," I answered, "It's wind." We decided we had better put the rain flys on...but it was a lot harder now with the wind. We hunkered down and were in the middle of a major thunderstorm, texting each other from the warmth and shelter of our itty bitty tents. Crazy.



maybe you can't...because you won't...