Unexpected Cool

Wednesday, July 26. Rest Day in Newton, KS. Thursday, July 27. Newton KS to Sterling, KS.

Wednesday. 5:00am came much too early on Wednesday morning, and by the time either of us became conscious, it was already 7:30am and already in the mid-90's. We hadn't had a rest day since the Cedar Point Amusement Park, and it seemed like our bodies were telling us to take one today. We listened.

There were a few administrative tasks that needed administering, so Matthew took care of those, and then we were free to waste a day. Newton, KS, is not a big place, but it does have a movie theater, so we hopped on our bikes--sans trailers--and pedaled the 4 miles to the mini-mall. We settled on the movie "Cars"--an ironic choice, I guess. And even more ironic is the movie's message: it's amazing what you miss out on when you're going too fast. I doubt that the movie will create any substantial changes, but I'm hopeful that a new generation will be introduced to the "Route 66" song.

Thursday The unexpected rain began around 10:30pm Wednesday night, and it was still drizzling when we set out in search of breakfast. We set out for Sterling around 8:30am, a light drizzle still falling. The temperature was about 71, 30 degrees cooler than the day before. We were happy for some cloud cover and a cooling rain.

Today's route was mostly on rural highways, lightly traveled, but about half of the traffic was 18-wheelers. Throughout the entire day, though, trucks and cars gave us plenty of room when they passed. We rolled through Hesston and Buhler, stopping there briefly for a mid-morning snack. The next town we came to was Nickerson, where we had lunch at the Sunshine Cafe.

On the community bulletin board at the cafe were several posters announcing activities for "Clear and Nearly Day". An ice cream social, magic show and woodworking display were all on the agenda for the event. We asked Becky, our waitress, about the celebration. "Yeah", she said, "I had to ask about it too. When I first started coming here as a kid, it was always around the time of the Clear and Nearly Day." She told us that it's short for "Clearly Summer and Nearly Fall". It used to be celebrated in late August, but Becky said that in recent years it's celebrated earlier and earlier. This year, Clear and Nearly Day is July 29.

Since we were starting to dry out, it was time to get back on our bikes. The drizzle had continue while we were having lunch, and except for about an hour's break in the morning, the rain had been steady since we started. The forecast hadn't called for rain in this area; only the southwestern part of the state had been forcasted with rain. The landscape is really lovely today, including large fields of corn, millet, and cows. Today we also saw our first wheat fields, now just stubble since the wheat had already been harvested. We also saw our first sunflower fields. I had a hard time identifying them at first, since the flower heads were all turned away from us. I'll bet on a sunny day, those fields are stunning, but there wasn't a speck of shade on today's route so I was glad for the rain and clouds.

Once we left Nickerson, Sterling was just 10 miles down the road, less than an hour away. Not long after leaving Nickerson's "downtown", Matthew spotted 7 or 8 zebras in a field across the road. As we watched, 3 of them started running--wild animals. From our spot on the road, they were not high-contrast, black-and-white animals, but more soft, subtly-colored creatures. Their tails, legs and gait gave them away more than anything--except maybe the sight of camels in the next pen. I asked about the place when we got to Sterling; turns out that they are zebra and camel who live with other wild creatures at a B&B. (Presumably, the B&B also has rooms for humans, too.)

We also crossed both the Little Arkansas River and the Arkansas River today. (Pronounced "R-Kansas") I guess they're in something of a drought here, because we almost completely missed the Little river. Even the Arkansas River itself didn't look deep enough to support even a raft. In Georgia, these rivers might only warrant "creek" status.

Arriving in Sterling so early in the day was a little disorienting. The owners of the Sterling Inn are very gracious and helpful (like virtually every Kansan we've encountered), and the rain let up before we'd finished getting settled in. The evening is turning out to be sunny, but still cool enough to enjoy. We took a stroll through town, picked up groceries for breakfast, and had dinner at a recommended place called Paddy's.

Tomorrow we'll head to Larned, KS, a 54-mile ride with no services once we leave Sterling. The forecast is for temps around 100 degrees, so we hope to be on the road early enough to be in Larned before the heat gets to us.