Thursday and Friday, September 1st and 2nd Chanute to Windsor and Windsor to Pilot Groves with a few towns in between
Chanute was a hoot! Patsy was gracious and fun loving as a host. We couldn't resist but to ask if we could check out her soap shop before leaving in the morning. What a treat! I'm sure that more than one child around the age of two has picked up a bar of her yummy looking soaps to take a bite out of it. Hundreds of kinds of soaps! Patsy even had a real neat story about how her soap making ventures began. Thank you Patsy for the beautiful stay, friendly conversation, fun stories about your life and encouraging words of wisdom. You added a nice chapter to our epic adventure.
It's more fun riding on a trail together that you can't get lost on. Haha. So after the usual packing up routine, we set off for Sedalia. Once in Sedalia, we would park at a trailhead and bike toward Pete and Betsy. Pretty slick....we took off on the Katy Trail in a happy go lucky mood. It was a lovely day. After 9 miles, we came to a town sign and decided that we'd better check the map as Pete and Betsy should have met up with us by now.
Waiting for a train in Sedalia. Lisa checking it out up close!
Speaking of said adventure...after buying some awesome soap from Patsy and saying our last goodbyes with a hug for good luck, we sagged a few miles up the road. Patsy told us the route we chose was going to be a beautiful ride and she was right! Pete, Lisa and I took off from a golf course. The road had little to no traffic on it so we were delighted! There are a lot fewer fuel pumps in this part of Kansas we've noticed. The fields are smaller. The crops look greener. Hills are beginning to be part of our riding experience again. At one point we saw a Llama herding cattle. That was interesting! Lisa just had to stop in the town of Walnut to play with some goats. Lisa is like that. She loves animals. I picked up a turtle and put it on the other side of the road. Lisa says i saved the turtle. I'm not so sure about that...you'd have to ask the turtle. Betsy met up with us and we rode together for a while. It's always nice when we can all ride together. Again, the road had little to no traffic all morning and we were feeling good about the day's ride.
Let's talk about that. There is nothing quite like not worrying about traffic. You can day dream, zig a zag, sing la la la all day long. It is freeing. Your mind wanders. You stop and pick up or save an animal. It's all good. It is mind blowing awesomeness. Keeping track of traffic on the other hand is tedious and irritating. It can also rattle your nerves. I think I have a mild case of PTSD from riding on roads with no shoulder and truck traffic. I noticed however that different riders react differently. I squeak when a truck goes by...now Betsy, on the other hand, she seems as cool as a cucumber. The other day when I was gripping my handle bars and squeaking, I was a ways behind Betsy. It was blazing hot and we had several miles to go in not great conditions. At one point Betsy reached back with her left hand and grabbed a lip balm out of her jersey pocket. She apparently applied the lip balm, but what I want to know is how did she get the lid off, screw the little screw thing to get the lip balm out, screw it back in AND put the lid back on while riding a bike??? One handed! And in heavy traffic. Then, one minute later, she took her kerchief out of her right pocket and blew her nose. So evidently, she is ambidextrous to boot. Maybe that's her way of not stressing out. Maybe she sets her mind on other things. Hmmm...Another cool trick I saw her do was to reach in her back pocket, grab her phone, open it, take a picture and a video...and then put the phone back. OMG. I stopped riding yesterday, got off my bike in order to get my phone out to take a picture and even using both hands to hold on my phone, it flipped up in the air and landed face down in the grass. Glad it didn't shatter. How does Betsy do that?? Maybe I'll ask her to show me how she does that when we are on a trail with no traffic. Stay tuned for that chapter.
Until then, let's catch up with Girard! With almost no traffic, we arrived happily in the little town of Girard just in time for a late breakfast at the East Side Diner. While we were eating we were approached by a nice lady who wanted to know about our adventure. After a few minute discussion, she wished us luck and said goodbye. We were wolfing down our food when two minutes later she came back and told us our breakfast had been payed for. Again Kansas, such kindness abounds in your state! Thank you! And thank you kind lady!
After breakfast, Pete decided to sag for a section of the trip. Betsy, Lisa and I set off for Pittsburg. We were feeling like Superwomen, (as Sue Sister predicted we would after coming down out of the mountains). We were tearing down the road full of confidence and breakfast food when half of a mile into our journey, we were joined by a nice young man named Johnny. Johnny told us about some of his biking experiences and travels as he accompanied us for about 6 miles. Another kind soul from Kansas. Good luck with all of your endeavors Johnny!
Next; Pittsburg, Kansas. Once in Pittsburg, Pete joined us and we biked together across the border into Missouri! Wow. Another state down. Superwomen! And Pete! Another experience coming up...
Uhhh...are you sure this is the right road?
Check out the gas prices on the sign!
Several miles later we came to a major highway and had to sag to the beginning of the Katy Trail. We will be on the Katy Trail for the next few days. This is great because I feel like you can't get lost on a trail like you can on a road. Right? Stay tuned...
Once on the trail we did 16 more miles which added up to a 60 mile ride for the day. When we arrived in Windsor, we were tired,hot,dirty and just a bit silly. Somehow things got weird literally feet from our destination. 1. Pete's phone died. 2. Lisa's phone kept telling us to "go back." Like..."Danger Will Robinson." My phone skills are not up to date so basically we were in a vortex. We somehow miss communicated with Betsy and the lodging was several more miles away. We could not contact Betsy and she did not know where we were. It's all a little blurry. But somehow Betsy came to our rescue. The plan from that point: Margaritas and dinner. We had an excellent meal in town with a piture of Margaritas. Then we drove to the caboose which was our lodging several miles away in the countryside. Lisa and I were having a blast in the back seat. The Margaritas were kicking in. Thank goodness Pete was driving!
When we arrived at our caboose, it was dark and we were tired enough to not want to do much more than shower and sleep. So that was the end of our day!
Bonne nuit et beaux reves!
September 2nd
We had a leisurely beginning to our day. We enjoyed the surroundings of the caboose. Nice grounds and a pond. Breakfast outside. Discussing the plans for the day, I decided to sag with Lisa.
Well, not for nothing, we'd gone in the wrong direction. Argy Wargy. And here I thought being on a trail would be less confusing. Ugh. Well, we hauled it back to Sedalia. In no time we met Pete and Betsy. By then it was time for lunch. We found a great spot to eat and were pleased to not eat too much. With that in mind, the dulceria across the street seemed like a fine idea for desert. Unfortunately after that fine idea, we all felt a bit bloated...no worries, we will ride off that ice cream in no time.
Pete and Betsy finished their day riding the rest of the way to Pilot Grove. Lisa and I drove to Pilot Grove and unpacked the car at the BnB in town. Another cute place! Our host Jerry was awesome! He made us chocolate covered strawberries and a cocktail! You mean people in Missouri are as nice as people in Kansas? We have a few more days in Missouri, so we will let you know. One thing is for certain: riding on the trail and back roads is dusty in these parts. But there are no 18 wheelers bearing down on us so all is well.
Pete cleaning our bikes in Windsor
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