Day 23- Topeka, KS > St Joseph, MO (85 miles)

 May 30-

We had some friends (Josh K and Jim N) and family (Bert O, Pam O, and Brett O) meet us in Topeka for laughs and dinner...Raff and I appreciated seeing these folks so much. 

                                               

A guy in the lobby of our hotel actually asked me if Josh was my son. I laughed, and Josh vomited.

Quote of the day comes to mind from breaking bread with old friends/family last night. It is less of a quote and more of a thing referred to as Sobre Mesa - this is something that Gina and I learned by living in Madrid. Sobre Mesa is the time well spent at the table with friends and family. The operative word is WELL spent...this means relax, laugh, and stay longer at the table. If you have eaten in our backyard, you've seen the sign below. If you have not, please make a reservation.

Oh yeah - Happy Birthday to Brendan...I am either a day late or 364 days early depending on how you want to interpret it...hope you ate a bunch of cake and told my sister that you were the boss for the day.

On to cycling stuff...Most importantly, Elvis has left Kansas.

The route:

We have definitely entered the land of rolling hills, and while it was pretty country heading out of Kansas, we had bad roads for cycling. Yesterday was magical and today's roads were pretty awful - very busy and zero shoulder, so you had to dance on the white line. We had some obnoxious drivers in large rigs, and have learned that tonnage has it's privileges; yet, we still place a curse on the drivers and their children and pets when they buzz us with their horns blaring...Yesterday was great, today sucked - The Verve said it well in Bittersweet Symphony. 

On the extremely positive side, we have done an amazing job of not saying the 'F' word in several days. This has been something that we have all worked on since the trip started. As you will recall we had several days where the 'F' bombs were flying like crazy. I am not sure when we last said it, but it seems like a week ago. Stuart and Bill have decided to put sealant in their tubes to avoid the 'F' word and Raff just keeps talking to his little Jesus to keep the 'F''s away. I have not struggled with this word because Senoia Bike shop convinced me to go tubeless. I will be taking them a surprise when I get home. 

Some photos from the day...we did not take many pictures because the roads were not suitable for it, and there was a bad looking storm rolling into St Joseph, so we decided to get there quickly.

Ok, this was crossing the Missouri River, and we did this for all of our friends in Kansas...especially Josh K, Jim N, Bert O, Pam O, and Brett O. I will try to explain the jersey to Ian later, and I am truly humbled yet very excited to have signed my first NIL deal. Stuart, Bill, and Raff signed a smaller deal, but they are good flag bearers. Also, I was willing to wear this jersey because the Chiefs have never beaten the Ga Bulldogs...

We escaped Kansas...

We have another 'normal' distance tomorrow at 87 miles to Chillicothe, MO.