A fine day - Marion Lake to Wichita

Somehow this captures Kansas scenery

100 km/62 mi

The last couple of days I had woken up to screaming winds, and I expected to again. This time I was looking forward to it: before those screaming winds would be crosswinds, but today they would be a glorious tailwind! But when I woke up, all was silent... Ah well, at least I didn't have a headwind, right?

I knew I didn't have to fuss with finding lodging because I'd be staying at my dad's, so I took my sweet time getting ready. I didn't leave until 10! That was pushing it a bit. On my way out, I discovered a working water spigot—wonder of wonders! Most of them are shut off at these campsites because of the chance of freezing, so I was a happy fellow: I could load up for the day without having to go miles out of my way.

I headed to Peabody in search of a late breakfast (muesli just ain't enough I've found). It was a nice little town. I headed to Pop's Diner. Not a warm reception when I came in, but my hair must have been pointing in all directions and I am pretty garish in my blue coat.

I had biscuits and gravy (yum) and then left. A group of people piling out of a minivan asked me about my trip and sounded impressed. They wished me luck, but warned me about the coming storm.

There's a name I haven't seen in a while. Thankfully...

Not a whole lot to say about the rest of the day: I kept a pretty good pace of about 12 mph most of the day until I ran into a slight headwind near the end of the ride. Getting into Wichita was no problem; I just followed Greenwich from K196 all the way in. 196 itself was a bit hairy: huge semis going way over the speed limit, with a fair shoulder completely covered by deep rumble strips (and thus unrideable). A couple of semis with wide loads forced me off the road a couple of times, something new to me (though I guess I'll have more experience with that as time goes on).

Now here I am in Wichita. I thought I'd be able to rest, but I have so much to do before I leave again on Monday!