We were awoken around 2:30 this morning in our nice little city park, to the feel of the wind howling, gusting, and trying to blow our tent over. We zipped up the rainfly, curled up in our sleeping bags and tried to go back to sleep. The wind was relentless, pushing at the sides of the tent and trying to knock it over. We checked the weather - 30 mph gusts and 15-20 mph sustained winds. Delightful. The winds continued gusting for the rest of the night. We didn't sleep much.
Dawn arrived, but we couldn't see the sunrise through the thick, stormy clouds. The winds were still blowing as we packed up our camp. 15 mph sustained winds from the East and a 55% chance of severe thunderstorms, increasing as the day went on. After much debate, we decided it wasn't a day for biking. Instead, we packed up camp and made a more elaborate breakfast: sliced oranges, a cheese danish, fried eggs, toast, and a cappucino (courtesy of the Kwik Shop around the corner). Yummy.
We were going to spend the day in Dighton, but first we wanted to make sure we had a place to hide from the storm. Hotel day! We got a very cheap room, $37, at the Heritage Hotel and it was really nice! Clean and spacious, in an old brick building off the main road. It even had a fridge and microwave so we could refreeze our freezie and make popcorn :)
We enjoyed a leisurely day and had a yummy dinner at the only bar and grill in town. We also saw our bicycling buddies that we last saw in Ordway. They had caught up due to our day of leisure.
We felt very satisfied with our hotel when it poured that evening.
7 July 2011
It was absolutely beautiful this morning!! About 70 degrees, cloudy and overcast. We were thrilled as we hopped on our bikes and headed east.
We biked for a little over 20 miles before coming upon a small town with a gas station where we snacked on donuts and gatorade. A white-haired man, 75 as he told us, came up and talked with us for a bit. He told us about his great grammy and great grampy that came out to Kansas in the 1800s to try to start farming. They ended up moving back to Missouri pronounced miz-or-a out here) but his grampy stayed and kept farming. We got a brief life-history and even some notes on his grand children, one of which was Miss Kansas Rodeo the other year, and that I (Emily) look like her. He was nice, if a little quirky, and gave me a dollar to get a cold drink at our next stop.
We were back on the road again, at about our 60 mile mark for the day we caught a break at a rest area off the highway. We took full advantage of the "rest" part, and both took naps on the picnic bench. The temperature was heating up, but only in the 90s at least. We biked through rolling hills, now dotted by intermittent streams and stands of trees. The plains were still primarily agricultural, grain and corn, but there were more cattle, and many calves, staring at us from the other side of the fence as we went by.
We passed by a bicycle oasis around 40 miles. We were very sad it was so early in the day. Elaine's Bicycle Oasis, Bed and Breakfast. You can see the sign below:
About 20 miles from our final destination we reached a crossroads and time to make a navigational route-changing decision. Did we want to continue on the Adventure Cycling route and start heading slightly south to go through southern Missouri, or stay at our same latitude and go to the Katy Trail** that we kept hearing about. In order to make the proper decision, we needed food for thought. Greg's Bar and Grill was the only food-serving business we could see - a very good choice, as it turns out. Over a mouthwatering 16oz cheese burger and two orders of burn-your-mouth fresh curly fries, and an Amber Boch served in an icy fish bowl glass, we talked it over and made our decision. Katy Trail was our new goal!
**The Katy Trail is a rails to trails bike path of crushed limestone that runs 225 miles from Clinton, MO to St. Charles, MO. It is only used by pedestrian, equestrian, and bicycle traffic. To learn more, google it and you can easily find the MO rails to trails park page. It looks like a beautiful ride.
After our delicious food and may glasses of ice water we got back on the road and cruised over to Great Bend, the largest city we've been to in Kansas (complete with a McDonalds, Walmart, Walgreens, and other generic stores). We picked up more sunscreen and a loaf of bread before heading out of town to Fort Zarah State Park. It was dusk by the time we arrived; we watched a stunning sunset on our way there. I don't think this park is normally a campground, but Chris had called the county sheriff and he had said we could camp there. It had picnic tables, big trees, and lots of grass. We startled some grazing deer as we arrived and were amazed at all the fireflies!! We set up tent and had a light dinner as the fireflies flew around, looking like stars over the grassy fields.
It was a very relaxing bicycle day, yet we covered 98 miles. I guess this evens out with our mileage of zero from yesterday :)
When we awoke the next morning there were rolley-polley bugs all over my bags and on the tent.
It was a very pretty park. Before leaving the next morning we read some of the information signs. Fort Zarah really was a fort, built to protect wagons from the Plains Indians, with who there wasn't any treaties. It was in use until 1869, before it was abandoned.
Location:Dighton, KS to Fort Zarah State Park, Great Bend, KS
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