Sterling to Larned, KS

I find myself appreciating Kansas and the prarie landscape a lot more than I thought I would. There can be a lot of variety in prarie landscapes. I guess it is just commercial farming that makes the plains monotonous. This first shot shows how the flat prarie is naturally variegated. Different grasses and forbs (plants that aren't trees or grasses (new word for me!)) grow in a mix or in clusters, interspersed with the occasional tree or small stand of trees. The overall effect was quite beautiful, I thought.

These white papery flowers were very nice too. I suppose maybe they are a type of poppy?

I took this next photo to show these white-topped grasses. The seed-heads were stark white, which made a great contrast with the leaves and surrounding plants.

I even saw pelicans today! These white pelicans were flying over a salt marsh wilderness refuge. Actually all the photos today are from this refuge. Not all of the refuge is salt marsh though - in fact all these photos are from the prarie parts of it.

This bigger photo of the pelicans just looked cool with the clouds and sunbeams. Same birds.

I don't know what these last birds were, but there sure were a lot of them.

Today was not hot, unlike many days on this ride. The clouds you see in the photos were representative of much of the day's ride. Unfortunately they were accompanied by a near-constant strong wind. Not a perfect headwind, but even coming at me a bit less than 45 degrees from the side, it was enough to slow me down considerably. The side-load of the wind is also tiring in its own way, because it makes balancing take a lot more energy and attention.

I have realized on many mornings that if I was writing this diary at 7am every day, it would sound very different. At that time, I have spent an hour or two cycling in cool near-darkness and an hour or two in the sunrise, watching the landscape come alive around me. It really is a beautiful time to be out there. Every day though, by the time I arrive at my destination I have cycled a number of hours more, fighting wind or heat or traffic or hills or boredom, and those end up coloring my thoughts about the day much more than the early morning bliss. Anyway, it's nice that today I remembered the morning enough to write about it. I suppose those morning feelings are what really make this trip seem worth the trouble.

According to my calculations, I have 7 more days of cycling before I arrive in Denver. I will be glad to arrive somewhere familiar finally and not cycle much for a few days.