TransAm Day #23 Golden City, MO - Chanute, KS
TransAm Day #23
June 17, 2018
Golden City, MO - Chanute, KS
92 Miles
Ride Time 6:46 Hours
Tour Total Miles 1679
Last night I slept in my hammock slathered in Deet, with no silk bag or insect netting until late in the night, when it got chilly. At 3am we were all rudely awakened by teenagers playing basketball in the adjoining pavilion. Becky was up before any of us, incredibly irritated yet achieving a new personal wake-up time record. Steve and I were on the road shortly after 5am. Becky packed up her things and headed over to Cooky’s, which opened at 6am.
Last night Becky told us about another TransAm cyclist who had been hit by a motorist. Apparently he’s in pretty bad shape with numerous severe fractures. Stories like these cut me to the bone.
There was a colorful sunrise to our backs as we rode towards the Kansas border. Our breakfast stop was a thirty mile ride to Pittsburg, the first town across the state line. It was my sixth state crossing of the tour, and my sixth tagged state sign. This one was quite high off the ground, and I had to use my bike as a platform.
The pavement changed from black to red, and the Kansas highway signs feature orange sunflower shapes. My one signage complaint, is that the 76 bike route signs ended at the border. I met TransAm east-bounders Claude and Diego, from São Paulo, Brazil. I told them about Cooky’s cafe and warned them about the dogs in Kentucky. They told me that Pittsburg would be the largest town I’d pass through, until Pueblo, CO.
Pittsburg is indeed a good-sized town. It boasts a 12-story building and numerous stop lights. The downtown has beautiful architecture from the early twentieth century, including a handsome movie theater. Some cities have public art cows and others have pigs. Pittsburg has Gorillas on every corner.
I went to Harry’s Cafe, a very popular establishment on Sunday mornings. My waitress was way over her head, and service was poor. The food was fantastic though. I had eggs, sausage, pancakes, toast, orange juice and coffee. Steve later joined me and had the exact same thing. After breakfast I rode another ten miles to Girard, where TransAm map number nine ended, and number eight began. I stopped at a Casey’s General Store for ice cold drinks, and to flip the maps on all my devices in the comfort of air-conditioning.
By 10am, it was already in the nineties, and there was a fourteen mile an hour wind out of the south west. When I’m heading north I can go twenty miles an hour easily. But when I’m going west I have to work to get ten miles an hour. The plan was to go ninety miles to Chanute, and it was pretty challenging the last thirty miles.
The wind was strong and would vibrate my fenders. I relished when clouds passed over me casting cool shadows. The highways are perfectly straight and I can see grain elevators in the distance for miles. I passed about ten eastbound racers today, including the first racer female racer I’ve seen. The height of the corn stocks here is well over my head.
Today is Father’s Day and I’ve thought about my father quite a bit during this tour. He enjoyed riding his bike and I think that he would have been very pleased and excited about my doing this trip. I’ve noticed that a lot of houses around here have big rock slabs out in front with the family name cut into the front. I’ve begun to see oil pump jacks in the fields. It doesn’t seem like they’re still functioning.
The next oasis was the Walnut express convenient store, which had a stack of tractor hydraulic fluid in five gallon buckets next to the cashier. There was no phone service or WiFi. A television was tuned to a show about natural disasters, and I asked the clerk if there were twisters in these parts. She replied that this was tornado alley, and she continued with a pretty chilling story. I think Steve and I secretly want to see one while we’re here.
I crossed a railroad track that wasn’t indicated on the map, which was strange. Crossing tracks on a bike can be tricky, and it’s important to cross perpendicularly. As soon as I had crossed, the bell began to ring, and the gate lowered. I was in the middle of nowhere, and this huge event was imminent. It was thrilling! I quickly sought a way to document it, and rummaged through my handlebar bag for a coin. I quickly set a nickel down onto the rail, as the conductor blared his horn at me. The train was somewhat long. Steve showed up on the other side and had to wait for the train to get across. I looked everywhere afterwards, but couldn’t find my squished nickel.
I got a father’s day call from Caleb and paused under a tree to talk with him. Steve went flying by, and I didn’t catch him again until Chanute. The last ten miles going west were tough with the blistering heat, and the cross wind. I just kept counting my miles. There weren’t many features or road markings that corresponded with the nondescript grid on my map. Finally I took a right on Elk road for the last five miles, heading north with a tail wind. I pedaled twenty miles an hour, and got to the Knights Inn right after Steve. We deserve a good night’s sleep after last night, and I was excited about the swimming pool. I ran to the store for some well deserved beer, and guess what? They don’t sell beer in Kansas on Sunday. Oh Kansas. I’m worried this is going to be a long difficult crossing.
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