Kansas lives up to its name

Kansas really lived up to its name today. Apparently the name comes from the Kansa tribe which used to live here, which meant "people of the south wind". The wind came from the South all day while we rode West all day. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it takes more effort to keep the bike going straight with a side wind. The biggest factor, though, is that being on the North side of the road, the wake from the trucks passing us is blown toward us and hits us really hard. Strangely, we all noticed that the tanker trucks' wind hit us much harder than that from even the biggest box-style semis. Must be something about aerodynamics.

Early this morning, we passed this odd farm scene. At first it just appeared to be a junk yard or a storage area for a bunch of equipment. Then I noticed a goat standing on top of a pile of dirt, and I looked closer, and I saw that there was a herd of sheep scattered among the junk and equipment. I guess that's an efficient use of space or something.

Later I saw one of those high-rise tractor things in a dealer's yard, so I had to stop and see if I could ride under them. Answer: YES! So cool. Apparently they are sprayer trucks, and they have a big armature thing on each side that folds out for a total width of 120 feet! They have such a crazy high ground clearance so they can drive over full-height crops, probably like corn, without damaging them. Of course they are made to spray pesticides and chemical fertilizers, so they are probably not relevant to organic farming. Sigh. I guess I can save the $250,000 they cost.

This is a typical view we had after the cloud cover broke up today. Flat land, straight roads, strong winds, and a whole lot of sky.

I was really excited to see this Modoc sign, but then I realized the spelling I was looking for was "MODOK". Oh well, sounds the same.

Then finally, about 10 miles before our final city for the day, Tribune, we passed this lovely sign. So I am now in my destination time zone. Woo-HOO! So all you California people, I'm one hour closer to you today.

Tonight, thanks to Dave's persistence, we are sleeping in a local school gymnasium. We did check out the local motel, but the bed looked like it might have had bedbugs. Not for sure - I'm no expert - but I did find some suspicious signs when I looked at the bedding. After our bedbug experience in Chicago, I wanted to be really sure to avoid them.

I may be as few as 4 days from Denver, if my previous calculations are feasible. If it works out more like Dale suggests, it might be 6 or 7, and I'll spend next Tuesday in Colorado Springs riding the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. That sounds like fun. Maybe I can visit Garden of the Gods too, that's a cool spot. I don't know how fast I'll be able to go from Pueblo up to Denver, because it's off the Adventure Cycling route maps and has really significant altitude changes.