Sunday June 30:  Topeka, Kansas to St. Joseph, Missouri
Distance:  84.8 miles
Total time:  6 hours 56 minutes
Riding time:  5 hours 30 minutes

That's right Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.  And I take back all the nasty things I said about Kansas - now that we're in Missouri, I miss it.  This morning's ride through eastern Kansas was very hot and muggy, but it was also beautiful and enjoyable.  Yesterday's choppy up-and-down hills flattened out into long, gradual uphills at a civilized gradient, followed by long reasonable downhills where you could hit 30 miles an hour without scaring yourself to death.  I remember the great marathoner Frank Shorter saying that when you're in great shape and running well, a marathon seems like it takes 45 minutes.  That's what we felt like today.  The 25 mile run from the first SAG stop to the Missouri border seemed like it took a fraction of the 90 minutes it actually took to cycle.

Then there was Missouri.  Those long rollers turned into sharp, steep climbs one after the other.  It was impossible to gain momentum and with the heat they sucked the life out of us.  By the second SAG, at 65 miles, my legs were shaking and I thought I was having serious heat issues.  A long rest and a gallon of fluid brought me back to life but I'm not at all sure about Missouri.

Everyone has a favorite riding jersey, and this is Ray's.  I have to say I covet it and would almost be willing to trade my "Old Farts Cycling Club" jersey even up.

The first SAG stop today, at 32 miles, was at a gas station in eastern Kansas.  It was air-conditioned so we all hung out inside for 15 minutes to cool down.  Here you see Sean from the UK coveting Michael's cream-filled donut with icing.  I'm happy with chocolate milk.

We hit the Kansas - Missouri border at 57 miles.  Well, almost that is.  It seems the Missouri River has been in flood for six weeks, and the Missouri side of the bridge at Atkinson was under water.  So we had no choice but to load the bikes onto the vans, drive 20 miles north, cross at the next bridge, and then drive 20 miles south to near the point where we would have originally crossed.  We ended up losing about 4.5 miles of the original route, so today's prospective ride of 89 miles ended up being 84.8.  Here we are loading the bikes onto the van.  That's Magic Mark the Mechanic on the roof doing all the dirty work.

Allan from the UK took advantage of the 45 minute van ride to quietly contemplate his performance thus far.  He insists that he was not asleep, and I believe him.

And here we are downloading the bikes in Missouri.

That's me receiving Michael's bike from Mark on the roof, as Michael, um, looks on.

Here are Michael from Ohio and Mike from Alabama sharing a moment during a water stop.  Let's hope Mike was imparting some much-needed wisdom.

So we've stayed in 27 hotels over the last 29 days.  Not surprisingly, they vary tremendously in quality and service.  We've stayed in Best Western, and Western; Super 8, and 8.  But Drury's Hotel here in St. Joe is the best so far.  Happy Hour runs from 5:30 to 7:30 and the food and adult beverages are free.  Here are Allan, Chris and Sean making the most of it.

Michael's wife Katie is visiting from Ohio.  She brought us Subway sandwiches en route each of the past two days, and surprised the Brits with proper homemade scones at breakfast.  Here she is with husband Michael and Allan.

Life is good.  We went from Happy Hour to a delightful and caloric BBQ dinner next door at Bandanas.  I'm not sure what happened to the lighting, but here we are.

But the highlight of the day, and of the trip so far, happened this afternoon.  Zach from Spokane flew in his girlfriend, proposed to her, and she accepted.  It was an elaborate affair that Zach has been planning for a long time.  He arranged for Stephanie to fly in, of course, but also his and her parents.  She didn't suspect a thing.  Michael's wife Katie just "happened" to be strolling in the park where Zach proposed, and recorded the event on her phone.  It couldn't happen to a nicer couple.  Congratulations guys.

Tomorrow is our third rest day here in St. Joseph.  Bike store, pharmacy, laundry and relaxation.  Oh, and a couple cups of coffee.  Since it's a diuretic I drink only a half cup of coffee every morning, and I miss it terribly.  So I load up on the rest days.  Unless something remarkable happens on Monday I'll be back on Tuesday.

Saturday June 29:  Abilene, Kansas to Topeka, Kansas
Distance:  107.3 miles
Total time:  9 hours 1 minute
Riding time:  7 hours 25 minutes

Today was the hardest ride we've had since the start.  It had all the elements.  It was our fifth "century" or 100 mile-plus ride; it was very hilly, and our total climbing elevation rivaled some of the days in the Rockies; but more than anything, it was brutally hot.  We rode through a small town early in the ride, a little before 7:00 a.m., and the bank's thermometer registered 86 degrees.  By midday it was probably about 100.  We all suffered, and had to stop frequently to refill empty water bottles. 

Because we knew it would be hot we were up very early and off before 6:30 a.m.  Here we are in the dim early morning light, getting ready to roll out of Abilene.  Left to right that's Andy, Sean and Chris from the UK, and Michael from Ohio and me.

While our previous days in Kansas have been pancake flat, the geography changed dramatically today.  The terrain was rolling from the start, and rolled up and down for 107 miles.  Sometimes the change in topography is welcome, because it can be boring to cycle on the flat for a long distance.  But the heat made the climbs extra tough.  The road stretched out in front of us in an unbroken chain of hills all day long.

Here Michael and I stop for water as we contemplate the next hill.  Some of the downhills were steep and we rode as hard as we could to get the cooling breeze in our faces.  I hit 34 miles an hour on one downhill.

The Run in the Sun continues.  26 days of cycling and a total of 20 minutes of rain.  But we found ourselves wishing for rain, or at least some cloud cover, or at least some shade from roadside trees.  But there was no relief today.  Here we are filling water bottles in an unlikely spot.

For some reason this part of Kansas was full of roadside folk art.  There were hex signs on barns, just like you see in Pennsylvania Dutch country.  I saw a couple of quilts for sale, draped on fences.  And then there were a lot of wood carvings, like this.

And this.

This farmer obviously has some time on his hands in the long winter months.  Ok, so Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man are obvious.  I guess that's Dorothy in the ruby slippers but he might want to take another crack at that one.

And this, which was my personal favorite. 

The game today was to keep your head down and keep moving.  Here I am cycling through one of the tiny towns that characterize this part of Kansas.  These prairie towns don't appear nearly as prosperous as the towns we cycled through in Colorado.

At about 60 miles we entered the so-called Flint Hills.  For us, it just meant the rolling hills got taller.  But the landscape also got greener.  No more wheat and corn fields - it was grassland until we reached Topeka.  It looked like this.

At the 70 mile mark, which coincided with our second SAG stop of the day, we passed the 2,000 mile mark.  Yes, we have about 1800 miles to go but it feels good to have that many miles completed.  Tomorrow we reach another milestone - we'll finally leave the great state of Kansas behind and cross the Missouri River into the Show Me State, Missouri. 

Here are the Three Amigos commemorating the 2,000 mile benchmark.

We were on the road for just over nine hours today, though our riding time was under seven and a half.  We took more water stops than usual, spent more time resting at the SAG stops, and I got two punctures which cost us some time.  Magic Mark the Mechanic fixed one, which happened just as I rolled into the second SAG, and Jamie was kind enough to fix the other.  Thanks guys.  I'd still be out there otherwise.  This picture gives you an idea of how long the day was - the lengthening shadow tells all.

Tomorrow promises more of the same.  Mercifully it's "only" 89 miles, but the course is even hillier than today's and the heat promises no respite.  Since we head northwest towards St. Joseph, Missouri, we may get a tailwind for much of the day, which will help.  Tomorrow is the last ride in this third segment of the trip.  On Monday we have our third rest day in St. Joe.

Friday June 28:  McPherson, Kansas to Abilene, Kansas
Distance:  63.9 miles
Total time:  4 hours 43 minutes
Riding time:  Unknown

Today's ride was one of the most pleasant and least stressful so far.  The distance was short - 63 miles - the road surface for much of the way was as smooth as a baby's bottom, and the wind was cooperative.  We actually rode north for about 40 miles, so the wind from the south that's been nagging at us recently was at our backs all that way.  If you look at a map of the United States you'll see that we have a lot of northbound cycling yet to do if we're going to hit the Atlantic Ocean in Rye and not in Delaware.

Because of the short day and favorable conditions we took a luxuriously late start - 7:30.  Here are Doug from Petaluma, Leonard from Ohio and Ray from Denver shaking out the cobwebs and getting ready to ride.

Diamond Dave from Walnut Creek is always anxious to beat the heat and get moving.  He also hates to stop and often bikes straight through.

Our Fearless Leader Jim hates to open the van early for packing the luggage.  When he says 7:30, he means 7:30.

It's finally time to load.  That's Andy from the UK and Diamond Dave in the foreground.  Steve from the UK signs in - we have to sign in when we load, at each SAG stop, and again at the hotel so that the organizers know everyone is accounted for.

Once we headed north today the scenery changed a bit.  Rather than huge agro-business fields it looked more like the family farms we're accustomed to back home.

At the 23 mile mark we passed the halfway point in the entire journey - 1930 miles to that point.  We took some time for self-congratulation and pictures.  Here's a self-satisfied selfie.

The three amigos marked the occasion as well.

Here are the Brits - Chris, Andy, Allan, Steve and Sean.

It's an America by Bicycle tradition to celebrate the halfway mark with half cookies, in appropriately patriotic colors.

But the euphoria never lasts for long on the road.  After the high of passing the halfway mark, we suddenly ran out of road.  This part of Kansas has been inundated by rain for the last few weeks, and this section of the highway got washed out.  So not for the first time we had to portage our bicycles and jump across the chasm.

And here Chris from the UK leans over to peer into the abyss.

After the hard work of passing our bikes across the gap, and mindful of the near-100 degree temperature, we all stopped for refreshment at a general store.  Leonard, Doug, Sean and Mike share a laugh.

We got to the hotel in Abilene early enough that we had time to go to the Eisenhower Presidential Library.  Ike grew up in Abilene, and is buried on the grounds of the Library.  It's extremely well done and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  Here is Ike's boyhood home, which has only original artifacts and furnishings inside.

And here I am with the great man.

I promise if you visit you'll like Ike as well.

A thought on being halfway home.  I wondered if I'd feel like "I'm only half done", or if I'd feel like "wow, we're already half done."  It turns out it's the latter.  My wife Kristin used to say about raising kids, the days are long but the years are short.  That's how I feel now - the days are long, but the weeks are flying by.  I'm very conscious that anything can happen, but now I feel like we can do this.  But I'm still looking forward to the Kansas - Missouri border.

So, everyone is worried about tomorrow.  It has the potential to be the toughest day of all.  It's over 100 miles, it's hilly, it's brutally hot, and the wind doesn't appear to be in our favor.  We'll try to get an early start and power through it.  And we pick up another milestone - 2,000 miles since we left our hearts in San Francisco.

Thursday June 27:  Great Bend, Kansas to McPherson, Kansas
Distance:  63.3 miles
Total time:  4 hours 51 minutes
Riding time:  4 hours 22 minutes

Today could have been much worse.  It was very hot - 88 when we rolled into McPherson at midday - and the wind was an annoyance all day.  At times the gusts blew me from the shoulder into the traffic lane.  But it was short and it was flat.  For most of the day we had the Crosswind of Perpetual Vexation, but the for the last ten miles we confronted the Headwind of Delayed Gratification.  Tomorrow we turn north towards Abilene, so maybe this southerly wind will finally do us a favor.

This evening over beers in the hotel bar everyone was waxing philosophical.  As I mentioned yesterday, this is a week of milestones.  Today we reached the halfway point in total days - 26 of 52, and surpassed halfway in riding days - 24 of 47.  Tomorrow early in the ride we pass the halfway point in total miles, and Saturday we'll cross the 2,000 mile mark.  But there's still a long way to go.  I'm just looking forward to seeing the Missouri border.  I love and respect Kansas, but it's time to move on.

Like most days we started early today, with breakfast at 6:00 a.m. in a restaurant next door to the hotel.  Here are Andy and Sean from the UK, and riding mate Jamie getting ready to inhale calories.

Here's Mike from Alabama ready to load our bags.

Once your luggage is on board, you do all the little things you need to do to ensure that your bike is ready for the day ahead.  Here Chris, Allan, Sean and Mike get ready to mount up.

At the other end, at the next hotel in the next town, our bags are unloaded and placed in the hotel lobby where we collect them and take them up to our rooms.

Some hotels are marvelously organized.  We walk in, state our name, get our keys, and go up to the room.  Others, like today's, seem surprised to see us.  You want rooms?  Here?  Today?  Oh my, let me see what I can do.  Not what you want to hear after six to nine hours on the bike.

Besides a shower the other immediate need is food.  Michael had scoped out a BBQ joint across the street from our hotel, and we stopped there on the way into town.  Woody's - if you're ever in McPherson, don't go anywhere else.

And after a shower and food, the other priority is laundry.  I try to do laundry every day so that I always have clean riding clothes.  I don't like putting the Lycra in the dryer so I look for a place to hang it out to dry.  Today the fence around the pool worked just fine.

Tomorrow is another "short" day of 63 miles.  If the wind cooperates, as it should since we'll be riding northward much of the day, it will be a lark in the park.  But the final two days of this segment, Saturday and Sunday, look to be giant sea monsters.  100+ and 90+ with lots of climbing and forecast headwinds.  We're going to need Monday's rest day in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Finally, I've been having trouble posting videos, but here's one from last night.  It's an inside joke between the American riders and the UK contingent about trying to puncture each other's tires.  Rustic quality but maybe the gist comes through:

Wednesday June 26:  Dodge City, Kansas to Great Bend, Kansas
Distance:  93.3 miles
Total time:  6 hours 44 minutes
Riding time:  5 hours 47 minutes

I suppose everyone's blog will begin the same way today, but I'll go ahead and say it:  This morning we got the hell out of Dodge.

Actually I was sad to say goodbye.  Dodge City was one of the few places we've stayed so far where we had time to be tourists, and where there was something to do.  But it was back to the galley oars, and we rolled out of town just after seven a.m.  The breakfast chatter had been all about doing 92 (it turned out to be over 93, but who's counting) miles with the fierce prognosticated headwind.  The great thing about low expectations is that they are easy to exceed, and exceed them we did.  In fact the Dreaded Forecast Headwind of Unwavering Fury was the Pussycat Wind of Constant Variation That Seldom Impeded and Often Assisted.  We made good time and at times were sailing along comfortably between 18 and 20 miles an hour.  I'll take that any day.

Have I mentioned the wind in this blog?  Well, since you ask, it turns out that Kansas is second in the nation in percentage of power generated by wind, at 36 percent.  Early on in the ride we saw wind turbines ahead, as we often do.  The wind farms we see usually have about 20 turbines.  The wind farm near Speareville, Kansas went on for over 10 miles and must have well over 1,000 turbines.  Magic Mark the Mechanic, who is an engineer when he isn't on cross country bike rides, said that one revolution of one turbine will power one house for one day.  This picture doesn't do justice to the wind farm near Speareville.

This shot by Jamie is at least more artistic.

Our Run in the Sun continues.  25 days of riding and we've ridden for about 20 minutes in the rain.  Again, we know that punishment awaits, but we're going to ride this horse for as long as we can.  Rain threatened for about half the ride today, and lightning was visible in front of us for a long stretch, but I never felt a drop.

Usually on long rides the goal is to minimize the stops and make good time, so we're not out on the road literally all day.  But one of today's SAG (service and gear) stops was on the grounds of Fort Larned, one of the key U.S. Army outposts that was built to protect the settlers moving along the Santa Fe Trail.  We couldn't resist, and in fact the fort is in almost pristine condition.  It still sits out on the prairie, still in the middle of nowhere, and it's hard to imagine what the troopers did besides play cards and drink bad whiskey.  Here are some shots of the perfectly preserved fort.

And here's a picture of our bikes hitched to the hitching post, with Jamie on the steps of the Officers' Quarters.

There was lone park ranger overseeing the site.  When he spotted us he sprinted over - someone to talk to!  I think he was as lonely as the former garrison, and just as desperate for company.  Maybe he'll get transferred to the Washington Monument next.

Michael pondered the virtues of crossing the country in the stagecoach, but I prefer our bicycles.  At least they have air in their tires.

The other SAG stop today was at a little museum in Kinsley.  They claim to be the halfway point between San Francisco and New York.  Maybe so, if you're driving on the Interstate.  Not for us, not yet.

This is a big week of riding for us.  Tomorrow, Thursday, we reach the halfway point of the ride in terms of time - tomorrow is the 26th out of 52 days.  On Friday we pass the halfway point in terms of miles - 1900 and something.  And on Saturday we'll cycle our 2000th mile of the journey.  Lots of milestones to keep us motivated.  Let's hope the Run in the Sun continues!