Bed, breakfast, and exotic animals

June 25: 127 miles from Ness City, KS, to Nickerson, KS

It's hot in Kansas! The temperature was 100 on Wednesday and 104 yesterday; the high will be within that range again today, and we've moved into the more humid regions of Kansas. We've been leaving early to ride as much during the cool hours but the afternoons are boiling. After a few hours, my water bottles begin to heat up and warm water/Gatorade isn't the most refreshing.

We thought that a restaurant existed in Bazine, which would allow us to get in 10 miles before breakfast, but unfortunately there were no restaurants until lunch. It's a good thing I bought more pop tarts in Tribune. We ate in the farmer's co-op, where one of the farmers joked that I could get hash browns and pancakes from the vending machine. The wheat harvest is going on right now, so these guys are pretty busy and there are lots of trucks, often hauling farm equipment, on the roads.

We made it to Larned for lunch, just as it was really starting to heat up. After eating, the restaurant kindly cleaned out our water bottles and filled them up. It was broiling hot on our 60-mile remaining ride to Nickerson. The route took us on a "scenic byway" that looked more like a bug-filled swamp. The flies were vicious! We ran into some 2009 JMU grads on the way, though, who had good things to say about the areas ahead.

We are staying at the Hedrick's Bed and Breakfast, and exotic animal farm. We're in the llama suite. Ostriches greeted us on our arrival, but we were a bit too tired to explore the other crazy critters. We did explore some air conditioning.