2011 Kansas Reunion #4

Thursday, 5-19-11

This has been an interesting time in Kansas for us.  We came early so we could get aclimitizede to the weather (figured to be much warmer than Oregon) and ride the Kansas roads.  So far, nothing has worked out as we imagined.

First of all, the weather.  Outside of the first 3 days, it's been more like Oregon than Kansas.  This week, rainy and cool (in the 50's some).  And the wind is always there.  Yesterday we rode to Kensington again.  Wind out of the east.  Took 1:45 going into the wind (16.5 miles) and 1:07 coming back with the wind.  Figured the wind at about 20 mph.  Not many days without winds over 10 mph, and more with winds in the 15-20 mph range and gusts to 25-35.  I am going to expect head winds almost every day during the ride across Kansas.  Days without that will be a bonus.  And, everyone says the heat will come, but we've only got about 2 weeks to make the transition to warmer, dry days.  Actually, the cool is better to ride in, but 70 would be better than 50.

I, also, figured the hills would be a problem for us as we didn't have much training on anything more than "rolling" hills in Oregon.  So far, we've ridden one day with some more substantial hills (last Monday when we rode to Stockton & back - just under 50 miles) than what lie just east of Phillipsburg.  I am now confident that we will be able to get up and down the hills, at least in western Kansas.  We may not be fast, but we will get there.  I've had warnings about the hills in eastern Kansas, as they are at least steeper in general, and more of them.  We'll see.

We didn't ride today (Thursday) and will not tomorrow as we will be out of town.  But my sister-in-law has a ride planned for Saturday morning (meet at 6:30 am) and ride south to Hays (about 60 miles).  Weather is supposed to be 10% chance of rain, 8-10 mph winds, and in the 70's.  It will be a challenge for Rita and me.  We have ridden the first 25 miles (to Stockton) last Monday, but there are some long hills leaving Stockton, and the next town, Plainville.  This will be our second 60 mile ride since getting here, and probably the last.  I think we'll be ok if we keep riding our 20 and 30 milers during the week.

We haven't done much interesting in the way of food except for the night we ate at the Kensington Legion hall.  Kensington is a small enough town that there isn't a regular restaurant/cafe in town.  There are 2 gas stations, and one of them serves meals.  The Legion hall isn't open every night as a restaurant, but is on Fridays.  So we (Rita, my mom, my brother Russ, and Russ' father-in-law, Fred) met Joan (Russ' wife) and 2 other women that rode their bikes the 15 miles from Phillipsburg to Kensington for supper at the Legion hall.  Hamburgers, sandwiches, and salads are on the menu, along with some specials.  That night lamb fries were a special.  Feeling adventerous, I ordered the lamb fries.  So did Fred, mom, and Russ.  None of the others wanted to even taste the fries.  They were good.  Now I'm ready for calf fries or Rocky Mountain Oysters.  Kind of wish we were going to be in Clayton, OK where there's a place that specializes in calf fries.

Monday, 5-23-11

Well, time to finish this.  Rita, Joan, Michele, Charlene and I rode our bikes to Hays on Saturday - about 60 miles.  All of us are going to ride the Bike Across Kansas in June, so this was a tune-up for that.  On the preceeding Monday, Rita & I had ridden to Stockton & back.  That's the first town on the way to Hays - about 23 miles.  Left here at about 7 am and got to Stockton, had a short break, and headed for Plainville - about 15 miles - and another break.  Left Plainville and headed to Hays - about 23 miles.  (I know that doesn't add up to 60, but it's close.)  About 5 miles outside Plainville Rita took a nasty spill.  Broke her helmet, scraped her elbow pretty good and made everything else ache.  Riding close to the edge of the pavement she ended up in the dirt to the right, and when she tried to come back on the pavement, the pavement was about 4" higher than the dirt, and her back tire kicked out and down she went.  I was too close and I almost ran over her (still don't know how I missed - she kind of sprawled out in front of me), but then I went down, too, except I fell in the soft roadside dirt and was just fine.  I guess a learning point of that is to fall in the soft dirt, it doesn't hurt near as much as the asphalt.

The local doctor thinks Rita had a mild concussion, nothing severe.  She's feels below par and probably won't ride her bike for a few days.  Hope this doesn't impact the ride in June.

The other thing going on now is all the severe weather in the midwest.  Joplin, MO got hit by a tornado yesterday (up to 116 deaths so far).  And so did Topeka, KS and Minneapolis, MN.  Seems like every day a line of severe storms are being followed by all the local TV stations.  We were in Grand Island, NE on Friday and drove through 2 patches of very heavy rain on the way home.  And then on Saturday, just as we got back from the bike ride to Hays, a storm cloud NW of town blew through town about 30 minutes after we got back.  Rained real hard for about 5-10 minutes.  It's the kind of rain that will add up to 2+ inches if it stays around for 30-45 minutes.  The most rain close to here was last week, 4+ inches about 40 miles east of here.  I think we got about an inch from the same storm.  Today has been pretty nice and warm.  No bad weather here, at least right now.


The weather channel is showing tornado warnings in Oklahoma, Indiana and Pennsylvania for today.  And strong storms a lot of places.  Large hail, damaging winds and flooding.  Midwest through the Ohio river valley through to the east coast.  And tomorrow will be no different.  Right now the death toll in Joplin is over 115.  That's the most deaths for a tornado in a very long time.  Hope the big ride doesn't get hit by bad weather.   The ending town, LaCygne, is about 90-100 miles north of Joplin.  So, bad weather on the eastern third of the ride would not be out of the question.  Not much you can do if you're out in the open on your bike if something like that would happen.  We'll have our cell phones and my brother Russ will be tracking our route (along with the ride organizers) and the weather.  If anything happens, we should know about it in advance - we hope.



When Rita & I were in high school here there weren't any deer or turkeys around.  Well, at least there weren't hunting seasons for them.  But now, they're all over the place.  Brother Russ came by yesterday afternoon to show us the 2 turkeys he shot just earlier - probably around 20 pounds each.  He's gone out hunting a few times since we got here, this was the first time he got any shots off.  Glad he got to clean them.  He says most people only keep the breast meat.  There's not much else on a wild turkey.  The drumsticks are pretty small.

I guess that's it from storm central and the emergency room.

2011 Kansas Reunion Trip #3

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,

Where the deer and the antelope play,

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

     Chorus

        Home, home on the range,

        Where the deer and the antelope play;

        Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

        And the skies are not cloudy all day.

"Home on the Range" is the state song of Kansas. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (1823-1911) originally wrote the words in a poem called "My Western Home" in the early 1870s in Smith County, Kansas [that's the county just east of Phillips county, where our hometown of Phillipsburg is]. The poem was first published in a December 1873 issue of the Smith County Pioneer under the title "Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam." The music was written by a friend of Higley's named Daniel E. Kelley. Higley's original words are similar to those of the song today but not identical. The song was adopted by settlers, cowboys, and others and spread across the USA in various forms. During the early 20th century, it was arranged by Texas composer David Guion (1892-1981) who is often credited as the composer. It was officially adopted as the state song of Kansas on June 30, 1947, and is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West.

Well children, that's today's history lesson.  The test will follow...

We've been home for 8 days now, and have seen highs in the mid-90's (last weekend), and highs in the mid-50's (today & tomorrow).  Even had some rain a few days ago.  Rain here, as opposed to the Mississippi river valley, is needed.  The wheat looks good to Rita and me, but according to the locals it will all depend on how much moisture we get.  Apparently, the wheat south of Kansas was being written off a while back, but now it looks like it will be worth cutting (harvesting).

I was trying to get some of the local farm reports.  You know futures for lean hogs, frozen pork bellies, feeder cattle and live cattle, wheat, soybeans, oats, barley & corn, but I can't figure out how to read them.  You know you're in the midwest when the local news report goes to reading all that stuff.

We have been able to ride our bikes quite a bit this last week.  We both got about 160 miles in this week.  The highlight was Thursday when we rode to Smith Center and back (about 62 miles) - the longest ride we've ever had.  Was a bit windy, and it took us a bit longer on the way back.  So we didn't ride on Friday and then rode to Kensington & back today with my brother's wife (about 32 miles) and that was a real treat!  High of 55 degrees (thought we were back in Oregon - but it wasn't raining), but the worst was the wind.  Don't have the numbers, but it had to be blowing 25 mph with gusts to 35.  Going out was not so bad since the wind was out of the NNW, so we got a bit of a push from it.  Took us an hour and 16 minutes to do 16.5 miles (about 13.25 mph).  Coming back we got the benefit of a headwind and it took us an hour and 40 minutes (just over 10 mph).  Never thought we'd get back.  Don't want to do that again any time soon.  But, we could have been riding north - right into the teeth of the wind.  Might still be out there trying to get home!

We've been mostly riding east & west.  Most of the wind this week has been out of the north or south, and that's kept us from riding north & south where the bigger hills are.  Monday looks promising as the weather report is suggesting winds only at about 11 mph.  Early in the day will be less than 10.  That would be a walk in the park compared to today.  By Tuesday it will be up to 15+ and stay up there the rest of the week.

When we ride across Kansas in June, my brother will drive our motor home from town to town.  He's a bit nervous since he hasn't done that before, so we are thinking we'll go the the local high school parking lot tomorrow afternoon and let him have a try at doing some maneuvering there.  Another time we will drive on some roads out of town.  I don't think he will have too many problems, you just have to have time in the driver's seat.  Hopefully, when we go to the starting town for the ride (about 200 miles) he will drive at least half of the way.

Tomorrow morning I will make Aebelskivers for breakfast.  Got my pan from mom last year.  Had to promise to bring it back this year.  If you don't know what aebelskivers are, they are Danish pancake balls.  The pan used has 7 half sphere in it where you put the batter.  You use something sharp and narrow (I use a wire cake tester) "stick" to turn the pancake a little bit at a time so the end result is a round ball pancake.  You can use syrup or powdered sugar with them, but the tradition is to break them open and put some kind of jam/jelly/preserve in the middle, put it back together and then eat them.  Very good.

Well, that's about it for now.  We're having a good time.

  rod, rita & lucy

2011 Kansas Reunion Trip #2

We can honestly say this trip has been interesting from the start.  First, the dining room side awning, and iffy weather (snow in Bend about every morning and so-so weather in Wyoming until last Monday).  So we stayed 5 nights in Bend and left for Boise on Saturday morning.  All was well and we stayed 2 nights, saw my cousin and husband, got a bike ride in on the Boise Greenbelt walking/running/biking path Sunday afternoon, and left for Evanston, WY Monday morning.  Well, not really morning.  Had to stop at Camping World and Sierra Trading Post first, so we didn't get out of the RV park until almost noon.  Drove late that night to get to the Evanston WalMart by 10 pm or so.  Drove to Cheyenne the next day (Tuesday), and then on into Kansas to see our old college friends in Hoxie (Wednesday). 

Today, 2 more interesting things happened.  First, just after crossing into Nebraska on I-80 we came upon a wreck (police, fire truck & ambulance already there).  It was a motorhome laying on the drivers side, front axle dangling away from the chassis.  Couldn't see any signs of injured people (think it had been a while since it happened), but that sure makes you think about what can/could happen to you and your motorhome.  I thought it might have been broken up some, but appeared to be pretty much together - would guess it was totaled though.

And the weather provided the impetus for the 2nd interesting thing.  The wind has been blowing for the last 2 days.  All the way across Wyoming (pretty much at our back - didn't seem to help the mileage) and again today, but more out of the northwest, at first.  So I tell the GPS to plot me a course to Hoxie, and it sends me east on I-80 and then cuts down through eastern Colorado on HWY 385 to I-70 and then east into Kansas.  Seems straightforward enough, so we leave Cheyenne going east.  Today I can tell the wind is more from the north than yesterday, but we should be getting a "push" from it just the same.  When we head south on 385 I can tell the wind is mostly from the north now, but that's ok cuz we're going straight south.  So we get to I-70 and we head east.  Did I say we drove through the front edge of a rain storm/system just north of I-70.  Well, we did but the rain was light and didn't affect us much at all.

So we get to I-70 and head east.  Oops!  That northerly wind that was at our back is now blasting us from the drivers side.  I cut the speed back to 55 from 60.  Doesn't help the motorhome but feels better and I'm ready to go to 50 if I feel it's needed.  Then I begin to hear this thumping, not all the time and not loud, but I can hear it.  After about 7-8 miles I adjust the driver's side mirror up so I can see the dining room slide awning (about the last half of it) and it's trying to unroll!  The gusts of wind (my estimate of steady 35 mph and gusts up to maybe 45) are trying to lift the awning up, up, and away (as the 5th Dimension would say).  I cut the speed to 35, turn on the flashers and start to think.  No place to pull over and get out of the wind, no exits in sight.  Pretty soon a Kansas weigh station appears, with a large parking area behind.  I pull in, swing the RV around so the wind can't get at the awning and begin thinking.

There were 2 solutions.  1) stay there until the wind dies down (whenever), and 2) get the ladder out and put some more turns on the awning spring so it will hold the awning rolled up.  Since we were trying to get to Colby, KS for dinner with our Hoxie friends, we decided to try the old "put 2 more turns on the awning spring" fix.  Rita ran the slide out far enough so I could turn the arm 2 turns.  Bolt the arm back on, and we take off.  It's working, but I can see the awning trying to unroll just a bit.  Needs 2 more turns.  Luckly, another exit just a mile down the road and we pull off into the town of Kanarado, KS.  Repeat the previous fix, and we try to leave again.  This time, no wiggle, and we're on our way again.  Fortunately, the wind has died down a bit, and the travel is better that it had been.  We eventually catch up with the storm, but the worst of the wind is gone it seems.

We meet Ralfe and Lorena and Lorena's mom for dinner at a really good Mexican place in a Motel restaruant, of all places.  We ate there last year, too.  After dinner, on about 40 more miles to Hoxie and we park at Lorena's mom's house and plug in to the garage.  Don't need the sewer & water hookups, and we get wifi from the hospital across the street.  How nice is that?

Everywhere weve been people have been complaining about the late spring (well, almost late winter).  Every morning was cold, and there was snow on every peak that we could see from Bend to Cheyenne.  On the pass east of Laramie (8,650 elev appx) there were large patches of snow at road level.  What we could see of the Rockies in Colorado were magnificent.

It was 70 here in Hoxie today, and is supposed to be 80 on Friday.  Whoopie!  Warm weather and sun at last.  We can finally relax, and not have to worry about how many layers of clothes we will have to put on.  We are looking forward to the sun.

Bike riding has taken a back seat to the traveling.  It was too cold most of the time in Bend to ride, except on Friday, and I did that by myself.  About 15 miles out towards Tumalo and then back on OB Riley road to Bend.  A couple of hills in the first 7 miles were real challenges for me, especially the one out of Tumalo State Park (pretty much up for a mile), but I made it up and finished the ride back to Paul's house.

Rita & I rode the Boise Greenbelt path.  It is a beautiful setting.  Right alongside the Boise river.  The river was really high, some spots just 18" or so below the path.  And since it was Sunday and a nice day, most of Boise was on the path.  Couldn't get much of a ride in with so many people on the path, but enjoyed the time back on the bike.

We will leave Hoxie on Friday for the short drive to our hometown.  Once there we should be able to get back into a bike riding schedule.

That's about it for now. 

  rod, rita & lucy