80.92 miles in 6:00 hrs...860 ft ascent....1447 descent....average speed...13.5 mph...max speed 34.7 mph....total trip miles....
The Hispanic guy at the tire shop a few blocks down from the motel got me all fixed up with his pump and pressure gauge, but I didn't stop by until after 9 am, so he would be open. I was on the road at about 9:30, dressed for the 80 degree day that we were supposed to have, even though it was in the fifties. The sun was out, the light wind was a tailwind, so all was good. US 54 continues to be just a fantastic road, if you don't mind truck traffic. The shoulder is really wide and smooth and clean in most places, but there are lots of trucks going from I-70 to I -40. I have never seen so many grain trucks, full and empty cattle trucks, organic milk trucks, National Carrier trucks ( which are carrying processed beef), and I was even passed by five double length trucks carrying arms for the windmills on wind farms. I passed through a few small towns, so I never feel like I'm in the middle of no where, and I can almost always see the huge grain silos which are the centerpiece of each town. Every inch of ground was either grass for hay, unplanted corn and wheat fields, fallow fields, or grazing land. There were three huge beef processing plants, in the bigger towns, like Guymon, and Liberal.
Liberal, was the halfway point of the trip, and I stopped at a Subway for lunch. Made the first 40 miles to get there in under three hours. See what properly inflated tires will do! Just kidding...the tailwind was perfect and I was cruising. It seems weird at first, but the faster I'm going, the less I'm working. It's those days when I'm barely moving at 8 mph that I'm working my butt off! Liberal also has a big tourism thing built around the Wizard of Oz, but none of the characters are exact replicas, so that tells me that they are not associated with Judy Garland and the original movie at all. I snooped around a little because they had Dorothy's house somewhere, but you had to pay to see it. I wanted to get a picture of the old lady who carries Toto away in her bike basket, but didn't see her at all. Oh well.
Once again, just like the other day, fluffy clouds started to turn into dark ominous thunderheads, and they chased me into Meade. This time though, I didn't get wet. It rained after I got into the room. I thought about riding the tailwind to the next town and getting 100 miles in because I had the time before it got dark, but the approaching chase clouds were running me down. There were tornado warnings and actual tornadoes lighting up all of Kansas for a few hours in the evening, but none real close to me. Tomorrow promises to be sunny and tailwindish again, with no rain forecast.
The day finished at the Moon Mist Inn, in a nice room, and a Pizza Hut supper.
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