I don’t think I was camping where I was supposed to be last
night and got a couple of odd looks by the locals walking around the park. The
park was west of town at a secluded city park with a lake. As I
was heading south out of town this morning I noticed an area that better
matched the description given me by the city clerk yesterday afternoon. Anyway, no one bothered me
and I practice “leave no trace” so no one would ever know I was there. A
thunderstorm passed through around 3:00 AM as predicted. I had my ear plugs in
because there was a high volume of train traffic on the other end of town, but
I did wake up briefly when it started raining hard.
I woke at 5:45 AM and it was pretty much clear as the sun came up. I was out of the park by 6:30 AM and, after a brief stop at a Casey’s on the way out of town, was on the road by 6:45 AM. It was a relatively cool start and KS52 was a joy to ride on; nice and wide, recently paved and pretty much traffic-free. I passed through Mound City about seven miles later. There is a mound that you have to climb but it wasn’t bad. A few miles out of Mound City was a pretty good climb but comfortable enough in granny-gear. I probably didn’t really need granny-gear, but it’s there so why not use it? I saw a coyote pass in front of me during the climb, but it was gone before I could get a photo. After the climb the roads were pretty flat the rest of the day. I passed through Blue Mound at about mile 22 and was hoping there would be a convenience store for a drink/snack but there was only a run-down tire shop with a coke machine out front. I passed oand on by and stopped along the road a few miles later for a breakfast bar and water. At mile 30 I passed through Kincaid then a mile later turned south on US59 which was great riding; very wide, three foot wide lane outside the white line and hardly any traffic. Five miles south on US59 I passed through Mildred which had a small grocery just off the highway, but Moran was only eight more miles and I was sure there would be something at the intersection of US59 and US54 so I kept going. I reached Moran at 11:30 AM and stopped at a convenience store for a lunch of fried chicken, chips and soda. While there, a local guy was telling me that the forecast for tonight calls for more thunderstorms with the possibility of hail. I’m not sure what large hail would do to my tent. Plan A for today was to stop for the night and camp at an RV campground that had tent sites and showers in Iola, KS which was only 13 miles away (55 miles for the day) to the west on US54. Plan B was to continue west on US54, if things were going well, to Yates Center. There are a couple of relatively inexpensive motels there. When I started west from Moran there was a very nice tailwind and I averaged about 17 mpg over the 13 miles to Iola. It was only 12:30 PM when I got to Iola and, not wanting to waste a good tailwind and given the time of day, I pushed on another 20 miles to Yates Center. US54 was pretty comfortable to ride on from Moran to Iola. It had an 8 ft. paved shoulder most of the way but when approaching Iola the road changed from two-lane to four-lane with only an 8’ gravel shoulder. Traffic volume was moderate but most drivers were very good (though there’s always that one!). After a quick sip at a convenience store in Iola, I was off through town and on to Yates Center. Early afternoon traffic was moderate but there was a decent shoulder and the terrain was flat.
With the tailwind I reached Yates Center in what seemed like no time at all. I had another quick sip at a Casey’s then checked into the fancier of two motels ($44/night vs. $25/night). The room is a little small and outdated, but it is clean. I asked the owner if there was a guest laundry and he said for me to bring my clothes back to the office and he’d do them for me. You can’t beat that. I put my gear in the room and cleaned up, which felt terrific given last night I had no running water and was pretty grimy after two days of cycling. I took my laundry bag to the office then hung my tent out to dry. There is Subway around the corner where I plan to eat dinner then just relax a little. I am only about 13 miles from the TransAmerica route where it turns west onto US54 so my cross-country routing from the Katy Trail in Clinton, MO to the TranAmerica route is essentially finished. I’m looking forward to just following the Adventure Cycling maps from here to Walden, CO where I turn towards Laramie, WY then down to Ft. Collins, CO for the last days of this trip.
There wasn’t much to photograph today. Except for the climbs described above around Mound City the terrain was what I would consider very flat. There were lots of fields and pastures and Kansas farmers haven’t yet cut down all the trees so it was pretty scenic. There are quite a few wheat fields and this must be harvest time as I saw a number of farmers combining their wheat. I didn’t really see anything of particular interest to me today so there is only one photo of a small stone house that looked sort of neat. I’ll be riding through what is called the Flint Hills section of Kansas tomorrow and hopefully there will more things to photograph.
I woke at 5:45 AM and it was pretty much clear as the sun came up. I was out of the park by 6:30 AM and, after a brief stop at a Casey’s on the way out of town, was on the road by 6:45 AM. It was a relatively cool start and KS52 was a joy to ride on; nice and wide, recently paved and pretty much traffic-free. I passed through Mound City about seven miles later. There is a mound that you have to climb but it wasn’t bad. A few miles out of Mound City was a pretty good climb but comfortable enough in granny-gear. I probably didn’t really need granny-gear, but it’s there so why not use it? I saw a coyote pass in front of me during the climb, but it was gone before I could get a photo. After the climb the roads were pretty flat the rest of the day. I passed through Blue Mound at about mile 22 and was hoping there would be a convenience store for a drink/snack but there was only a run-down tire shop with a coke machine out front. I passed oand on by and stopped along the road a few miles later for a breakfast bar and water. At mile 30 I passed through Kincaid then a mile later turned south on US59 which was great riding; very wide, three foot wide lane outside the white line and hardly any traffic. Five miles south on US59 I passed through Mildred which had a small grocery just off the highway, but Moran was only eight more miles and I was sure there would be something at the intersection of US59 and US54 so I kept going. I reached Moran at 11:30 AM and stopped at a convenience store for a lunch of fried chicken, chips and soda. While there, a local guy was telling me that the forecast for tonight calls for more thunderstorms with the possibility of hail. I’m not sure what large hail would do to my tent. Plan A for today was to stop for the night and camp at an RV campground that had tent sites and showers in Iola, KS which was only 13 miles away (55 miles for the day) to the west on US54. Plan B was to continue west on US54, if things were going well, to Yates Center. There are a couple of relatively inexpensive motels there. When I started west from Moran there was a very nice tailwind and I averaged about 17 mpg over the 13 miles to Iola. It was only 12:30 PM when I got to Iola and, not wanting to waste a good tailwind and given the time of day, I pushed on another 20 miles to Yates Center. US54 was pretty comfortable to ride on from Moran to Iola. It had an 8 ft. paved shoulder most of the way but when approaching Iola the road changed from two-lane to four-lane with only an 8’ gravel shoulder. Traffic volume was moderate but most drivers were very good (though there’s always that one!). After a quick sip at a convenience store in Iola, I was off through town and on to Yates Center. Early afternoon traffic was moderate but there was a decent shoulder and the terrain was flat.
With the tailwind I reached Yates Center in what seemed like no time at all. I had another quick sip at a Casey’s then checked into the fancier of two motels ($44/night vs. $25/night). The room is a little small and outdated, but it is clean. I asked the owner if there was a guest laundry and he said for me to bring my clothes back to the office and he’d do them for me. You can’t beat that. I put my gear in the room and cleaned up, which felt terrific given last night I had no running water and was pretty grimy after two days of cycling. I took my laundry bag to the office then hung my tent out to dry. There is Subway around the corner where I plan to eat dinner then just relax a little. I am only about 13 miles from the TransAmerica route where it turns west onto US54 so my cross-country routing from the Katy Trail in Clinton, MO to the TranAmerica route is essentially finished. I’m looking forward to just following the Adventure Cycling maps from here to Walden, CO where I turn towards Laramie, WY then down to Ft. Collins, CO for the last days of this trip.
There wasn’t much to photograph today. Except for the climbs described above around Mound City the terrain was what I would consider very flat. There were lots of fields and pastures and Kansas farmers haven’t yet cut down all the trees so it was pretty scenic. There are quite a few wheat fields and this must be harvest time as I saw a number of farmers combining their wheat. I didn’t really see anything of particular interest to me today so there is only one photo of a small stone house that looked sort of neat. I’ll be riding through what is called the Flint Hills section of Kansas tomorrow and hopefully there will more things to photograph.
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| Neat little stone house between Iola and Yates, KS |
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