Monday, July 13, 2009
28: The Trail We Blaze
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| Stoker's Log Day Twenty Eight |
| 7/13/09 |
| From Iola, KS |
| To El Dorado, KS |
| 92.4 miles |
| 12.2 avg mph |
On a theoretical level I was excited to be traveling to El Dorado, since it offered various opportunities for me to quote one of my favorite animated movies, The
Road to El Dorado
Unfortunately our day began miserably. We got a late start because we were trying to wait out the rain, but eventually we gave up and ventured out into the wet and the cold. We started arguing about what to do about the weather and when to stop, and for the rest of the morning every conversation we began seemed to end in mutual irritation and silence. We eventually resolved to hit reset on the day and leave our quarreling behind us with the rain, which had been replaced by blazing sunshine. Unfortunately, our surroundings refused to improve with our mood. In fact they refused to change at all. If you'd like to experience our bike ride through Kansas for yourself, hop on a stationary bike, turn up the heat in your house to blistering, and stare at this photograph for about 9 hours straight.
Occasionally a herd of cows would start walking in a long line, and every few hours we'd see a dead armadillo on the side of the road, but that was the extent of the visual variety. We devised new alphabet games: "Things I'd Rather Be Doing Than Biking Across Kansas" and "Places That Are Hotter Than Here." We also made bets on how far away a given landmark was (and by landmark I mean one of the Flint hills, since as I may have mentioned there was nothing else to see). Our guesses were short by as many as fifteen miles, so eventually the game became too depressing to play.
Kansas also gave us a new riding rule: Stop under every shade-giving tree available, because it may be the last one available for hours. I think at this point we had a shaded tree *and* a view of walking cows; you can imagine our elation.
What I really wanted to see were the famous giant sunflowers that were supposed to take over miles of fields throughout Kansas. So far this small field of equally small flowers is the best we've seen, but under the circumstances I was pretty excited:
Then it was back to fields and cows and brush and fields and cows and brush and fields and cows and brush and ooooh look some hay bales! and fields and cows and... I would say "you get the idea," but honestly I think it's impossible to convey the extent of the openness and nothingness and the effect that it has on your mental and emotional state, especially when you're watching the prairie and fields pass by in slow motion from the seat of an exhausting bicycle. Any break, especially a building with cold water and a bathroom, was cause for major celebration. We knew that a rest area was on our route today, but I was still overwhelmed with relief when we saw that it was indeed right where the map had promised it would be. As a bonus there was a very nice couple in an RV at the stop, the first people we had talked to since the early morning. Pat and Butch gave us bottles of water and granola bars and enthusiastically asked us all about the bike and the trip. They were headed to El Dorado as well, and even offered to let us stay the night in their RV. We already had a hotel plan -- and figured at a hotel we could take the long showers we needed without using up all of the hot water available -- but really appreciated the offer. As we all get ready to leave, they asked if there was anything else they could do, and I managed to keep from asking them to drive a hundred miles down the road and wait for us so that I could have a bathroom and sun cover when we made it that far.
We expected to see essentially nothing until we reached El Dorado, and for the most part we were right. But then, deep in the midst of hot, boring, barren nothingness, we spotted an oasis. I actually worried that I was hallucinating, but there it was, nothing visible around it for miles and miles: The Lizard Lips Grill and Deli.
As you might have guessed from the sign, this grill and deli was also a gas station, a convenience store, a movie rental place, a license center, a bait and tackle shop, and the county junction. It clearly operated on the general store model: multi-functionality squeezed into a building not much bigger than a two car garage. As we waited for our sandwiches we noticed several interesting signs: an advertisement for peacocks for sale, an intimidating number of "Don't Bother or Complain to The Cook" warnings, and a prominently displayed board listing everyone who had tried to pay with a bad check. I was also distracted for quite some time by a hummingbird just outside the window who refused to stay still for a photo.
It was hard to leave the Lizard Lips oasis, but it became instantly easier when we realized that a strong tail wind was blowing. We jumped on the bike and felt the wind carry us along as the miles sped by. After a while we saw a series of signs with picnic benches on them, and thought that our luck was getting even better since they must mark another unexpected rest stop. Unfortunately we were wrong -- it was literally just a turnoff with a collection of picnic benches and nothing else, something that would only merit signs in Kansas -- but so long as the wind was carrying us along we didn't really care. Flying on a tail wind is always an exhilarating feeling, but in the middle of empty Kansas in the middle of a grueling cross-country trek the feeling is nearly indescribable. As we pulled up to the hotel, I realized that today was the first time on the trip that riding made me happier than finishing, the first time that I would have eagerly climbed back on the bike after we had reached our destination for a fun jaunt around town. I can't believe that it happened in Kansas, but it did. We even called Dave to get a weather and map report, to see if we could ride the tailwind all the way to the next town, but when it wasn't feasible we found we were also happy to check into the hotel, enjoy long showers, and go out to dinner at the vibrant Mexican restaurant across the street.
Playa Azule was delightful, and we returned to the room very content. Then I checked my email to discover that I had been offered an interview for a community college teaching job that I definitely wanted. It killed me to have to write back that I was currently in the middle of Kansas and wouldn't be making it back to the east coast in quite a long time. They don't do phone interviews, and I highly doubt the position will still be open when we return. This trip is eating up a good deal of our funds already, and now I'm turning down a job opportunity for it...the physical sacrifices were bad enough! I really hope that we make it across and always feel like the journey was worth it, because we're going through and giving up a great deal to get there.
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| posted at: 01:16 |
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