Hello Friends, after a long and strenuous 7 day stretch through the farmlands of Kansas, we have made it to Kansas City, Missouri and are taking a much-needed rest day. With our bodies in shape from the difficult mountains behind us and the relatively flat terrain of Kansas, we were able to fly through this state with an average of 92 miles a day. Our introduction and first day into Kansas began on June 23rd with our “Longest Day”, a 120-mile trek into our fifth state. We had to wake up at 4:30am just to have enough daylight to be able to complete this day and sure enough all 12 riders went the distance! At the 100-mile mark we reached the Kansas state sign and for the last stretch, rain began to fall. Determined to finish, we biked through the rain and made it to our destination exhausted and wet. The small church in Sharon Springs where we arrived gave us bologna sandwiches which we all happily ate and slept peacefully. The next day proved more difficult when we faced a strong headwind that blew loud and strong into us, and a long gravel road that vibrated our already sore behinds. After the day, we all agreed that today was more difficult than the 120-miler the day before.
The next day, June 25th we completed another 100-mile day and stayed at a local scout cabin in Osborne and met a local bike shop owner who gave us free equipment and helped fix one of our bikes! The next day there were hundreds of small toads jumping along the road in the morning. To stay entertained, Jake York put a small green toad in his bike bag and carried him along. At stops, we all played along and turned his bike bag into an entire terrarium with grass, rocks, insects, and water. Jake biked with the toad the entirety of the day, 90 miles into Miltonvale. Also, during that day we stumbled across the world’s largest twine ball in Cawker City and each got to add a string of twine to it. That night we stayed at an EMS/Fire station which provided us with much needed laundry. Our hosts joked that if in the middle of the night the siren went off it was on us to answer the call of distress. The following day, we biked another 90 miles a little past Manhattan, KS and had the opportunity to stay at the Kansas State FIJI Chapter House. We enjoyed meeting the hosts and exploring the history and memorabilia throughout the house. That night, we enjoyed a local Chinese buffet (who definitely lost money that night). Finally, on our last day in Kansas we were 2/3rd of the way done for the day when a flash flood warning hit and we had to cut the day short. We are all excited for Missouri next!
