What's Fred Up To Now?: Day 18 - Wednesday June 6; Scott City, KS to Eads, Co (111 miles!!!)

[Updated 6/7/12]

I covered 111 miles today which is two planned days of riding. My original plan was to ride 50 miles to Tribune, KS and camp in the city park. Before Tribune I passed into the Mountain time zone so it was only 11:00 AM local time when I arrived. The wind had been out of the ESE most of the morning and after looking at the city park and eating lunch I decided to go at least as far as Sheridan Lake, CO (another 37 miles) where I had arranged to stay at a church. I reached Sheridan Lake around 3:00 PM and after a quick refreshment left word with the pastor of the church that I was going on to Eads which was to be tomorrow's destination. The wind remained pretty much ESE the rest of the day and at times the gusts pushed me along - along with large trucks. I arrived in Eads about 5:15 PM local time. I found out that the assisted living center no longer offers use of their pool and shower for $4 and that the public pool had already closed for the day. The woman supervising the assisted living center was very kind and let me wash up in their public restroom. That worked out pretty well and I had one of the nurses aids inspect the restroom after I'd cleaned it up. I always try to leave things at least as nice after I'm finished. I was able to wash out my bike shorts and went to the local laundromat for a $0.25 dry so now, thought not clean, my clothes are at least dry for tomorrow. There is one local restaurant where I ate dinner then went to the city park to set up my tent. Setting up a tent in a 20+ mph wind is a bit of a challenge, but I got it up without anything blowing away. The park is next to the public library where I'm sitting on the steps updating this blog.

People I met today;

(1) Alec from England who started in Los Angeles, CA and rode to San Francisco, through Death Valley to Las Vegas, Zion National Park, north rim of the Grand Canyon, through Pueblo and headed east to Washington DC and New York.

(2) I ate lunch in Tribune with Bob, a local cyclist who has been on the road for a few days traveling to the start of the ride across Kansas that starts next weekend. He has cycled about every part of Kansas and knows the roads very well. Bob is quite a character and I enjoyed his company during lunch.

I ran into John O'Leary again as he was leaving the restaurant in Tribune just as I was getting there.

Ed Devlin passed me not far before Sheridan Lake. We chatted a bit then he was off. I caught up to him, and who else but John, at the convenience store in Sheridan Lake. When I arrived in Eads for the night, Ed and another cyclist, Jack Henderson were camping in the city park. I didn't talk to Jack much but he is from Boone, NC. Ed is from Farmville, VA and is riding the TransAmerica route east to west. He is going way faster than me and apparently doesn't stop for much. He rode 175 miles Tuesday and 125 miles today; 300 miles in two days!! This makes my personal record of 111 miles look like child's play. Go Ed! I believe Ed teaches and has to be back home in early August.

Tomorrow I'm off to Ordway, CO; about 61 miles with few services. I'll eat breakfast at the local restaurantin the morning then buy a couple of bottles of Gatorade at the convenience store before leaving town. It is supposed to be super-windy tomorrow with gusts to 40 mph. I think it is supposed to be from the S/SE so as long as I can hold the bike on the road, I'll be fine. I reserved a room at the Ordway Hotel since I doubled up today and tomorrow should be challenging.

Some photos from the day follow.