Today’s Highlights:
Outside the hotel this morning, it was a comfortable 70 degrees, the higher humidity felt nice after being in the desert climate for days, and the sweet aroma of cow manure hung thick in the air. Ahhh, Kansas. Our ride was a short fifty miles today, so we started one hour after sunrise. After riding a few miles through the business district on US 50, we were surrounded by farmland all the way to Dodge City. There were a lot more large fields of green or gold, more farm houses, more livestock, more activity, etc. Simply, there was a lot more life than we had seen in the previous two hundred miles. That was refreshing.
The terrain is still very flat, but with occasional rolling hills to break it up. We had an easy ride today with the wind in our favor for most of it. Thin clouds early in the morning shielded us from the sun and created a colorful sky even ninety minutes after sunrise. The road was in good condition, but I am looking forward to getting off the highways and onto country roads a few days from now.
The highlight of the day came halfway through our ride when we stopped in the town of Cimarron for a special treat at the Clark Drug Ice Creme Parlor. It is a charming old pharmacy where you can sit on stools at the counter and have an ice creme soda or other treats. Every rider stopped there. The ice cream was awesome, and the people serving us were very gracious and interested in our adventure.
I crossed into Dodge City at 11:00 am, and arrive at the hotel about fifteen minutes later. The Dodge House Hotel is decorated with western memorabilia, some nice, some corny. It’s fun to have a change from the chain hotels once in a while. It is supposed to reach 104 degrees today, so it was nice to end early. We will deal with the heat on tomorrow’s longer ride.
Pictures Of The Day:
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