Day 18- Liberal, KS > Dodge City, KS (84 miles)

 May 24

The route:

We knew that the day was going to be difficult when we got up, and my quote for the day will make sense...The Tatooist of Auschwitz is a must read book that contrasts the brutality of the concentration camps in Germany with the beauty of basic human decency: "We stand in shit, but let us not drown it". Today was going to be tough, and we just had to deal with it...I felt like Don Quixote tilting at windmills all day, and I lost. The good news is the weather/ride app was very accurate about the brutal winds today, and the bad news is that the app was accurate. I would definitely put today in a top 3 toughest ride day of my biking career...Stuart, Raff, and Bill concurred. We had 20-25 mph sustained winds as the predominate headwind with a bonus cross wind gusting at 35-40 mph. There were many bikes and owners that did not finish the ride today, but we would have finished no matter what...We truly felt like we were riding our bikes in a washing machine today. We have had tailwinds many days so the Bank of Karma was going to get us at some point, and today was the day. We rode a 4 man pace line much of the day and still averaged right at 13 mph...a very tough day. We decided that we needed a liquor drink after the ride, and you'll see a couple of pictures below from a local bar that reminded us of the Kansas version of Cheers - this is the stuff that makes a trip: finding adversity and rallying at a bar. A few of our photos from today's ride:

Beautiful views of wheat straw as we pedal along, but it is like the pine trees in south Ga...it goes on and on and on...

A little perspective of the large right of way along Hwy 54 that we have followed from Dalhart all the way into Liberal and towards Dodge City. Right of way got a little tighter 20 miles from Dodge City.

I did not have this photo of Raff and I when we hit the Kansas line when I posted my blog last night...

Photo taken in the Dalton Gang hideout tunnel, which we visited at the 40 mile mark of our torture session today. I was not in the mood for a tour as we had 44 miles still to suffer in the washing machine.

The Griffin boys getting their liquor drink after the ride today, and the bartender crowned Stuart within 5 minutes of our arrival. We had a great time at this very local bar...

I am missing some grandkids right now and will show a couple of pictures of them that make me smile and want to be home...Ashley and Will are torturing me with photos as Gina knows better!

Jane running with reckless abandon down a sandy road with filthy hands!

Judson talking to the angels...

Lyla and Homer stirring the pool at our house!

Tomorrow is more of the same...85 miles on flat terrain with wind as the variable. We did hear on the news that there is a chance of hail near Great Bend where we go tomorrow.. Stuart thought the news said basketball size hail, which had us a bit rattled until we realized that they actually said baseball sized hail - much better plus we wear helmets...

Talk to you tomorrow from Great Bend, Kansas!