I’m loving life here in Kansas! I’ve actually really enjoyed everyday in this flat, basketball loving Midwest state. Yes it’s been hot, and yes it’s been windy but 99.9 percent of the people I’ve met are so nice! Hats off (or helmets off) to you Kansas!

I think my picnic table last night was the best yet, it was made out of that recycled plastic stuff, much cozier than the traditional, splintery wood. You wouldn’t believe it, but yesterday I ran into 5, yes FIVE other cross country bikers. Seems that the little town of Eureka is a hub.
I connected best with Larry, he’s 65, and ex marine and hates Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cause he thinks they’re communists. Doesn’t sound like my kind of guy right? Well he had some funny stories, like falling over five times because he couldn’t get out of his pedals and painful moments of sitting on a seat that “felt like sitting on an acorn for 8 hours” ouch!

He’d never ridden his bike further than 40 miles before this trip, and this trip wasn’t even his idea. His buddy set it all up, and four days into the ride, he busted his knee, leaving Larry all alone. But Larry being the tough guy he is, decided to stick it out. I don’t know if he’s having fun, but he’s determined to finished. Unfortunately Larry snores like a freakin lawnmower, kept me up all night (see video).

I hit some hills today, yeah, real deal hills! It was fun to mix up the terrain a little bit, flat for days gets a bit boring. I also went through some neat little towns too, but I can’t help but fear for these little gems when I see 50% of shops closed. I’ve never seen so many boarded up storefronts in my life. I blame it on the recession and evil chain restaurants moving in, putting the ma and pa shops out of business

I’m five miles from the Missouri border, yeehaa, get ready for a Happy dance tomorrow!

My final kansas video:

I woke up this morning with really sore quads, sore like I’d just run a marathon, or biked 1600 miles…I was considering staying and resting for a day in Wichita, but then I just got too darn excited to get back on my bike…I’m weird, I know.  I did take it easy in the morning, enjoying a nice breakfast with Rebecca as we watched the Today Show.

Yesterday was 107, and today a ‘cold’ front came through and cooled it down to a reasonable 90. I was loving the cloud cover, it was a very welcome force field between me and the sun. It actually even rained on me for about an hour, usually I don’t like riding in the rain but this was a very welcome shower, What a glorious feeling!

I met some other cross country bikers on the road today. Larry, an older man who has calves the size of Hercules, and Bennet a young guy who goes to school at Penn St. It’s always fun to meet other bikers and share stories from the road.

I’m camped out in a park in a tiny, run down town called Eureka.  The park does have plenty of playground games so I’ll be able to keep myself plenty entertained tonight.

I’m half way to DC, yeehaa! And in honor of this occasion, I’m going to guilt you into donating money to Community Cycles, see video.

It was ding dang hot today, 105! Record temps for this area, lucky me I did manage to cool off though in a small town called Garden Plain. There isn’t much going on there but they do have an amazing little drive in Frosty Treat! (Which was featured in the movie Twister). Can you guess what I got? A cold chocolate shake, and Limeaid to top it off.

So I’m in Wichita now, I was planning on skirting around this city to the north but I got a random call from a nice guy named Greg last night and he seemed excited to meet me. So here I am, with Greg and his wife Rebecca, a super cool young couple! Greg loves bikes, even though this town SUCKS for biking. He met me on the outskirts and safely got me to his home, a nice air conditioned home.

Here is today’s video…be sure to check the one below it as well.

And here are the kids!

And here is more proof that Community Cycles rules!

I’ve been warned about the impending humidity many times by many people. I knew it would come, just not overnight! Yesterday was a nice DRY 105, and today was a nice WET 95, what a difference. My clothes were soaked all day, and wet shorts creates extreme chaffing, Ouchie!

The winds changed direction too, the past two days it has been at my back, today it was either a crosswind or headwind all day. It was an unpleasant double whammy of heat and wind! No me gusta

I did have a fun surprise today though, my cameraman buddy Matt from a Fox station in Oklahoma drove up to film a little package about the ride. I think he’s gonna win a Pulitzer for it It was fun to see him for a short bit, but our time was cut short as he had to run back to film a Meth lab bust. Boo Meth, yeah bikes!

Oh, and next time I think it’s a good idea to eat an entire pizza by myself, please stop me. I thought I was gonna throw up all afternoon after our big lunch in Greensburg.

And guess what I found at the end of the day once again? A HUGE swimming pool! I love ending my days with a refreshing dip. And it doubles as laundry time, I just jump in with all my clothes on and PRESTO! Clean clothes…kinda

This morning was tough, not only did I have to say goodbye to Team Bobalicious, but I had to say goodbye to Boyer, my trusty riding partner for the past week. They all chanted ‘Ole Ole Ole’ as I waved goodbye and headed off, it pulled at my little heart strings. It’s tough not having someone on my side to ring my bell with and nobody to sing goofy songs to

So Kansas is flat, I had one hill today, maybe a 200 foot climb. My body needs the break though, the hills of NM just about burnt out my quads.

I really like it here, each small town has serious charm and lots of friendly people. And another thing I’m really beginning to like are all the community pools! It seems like every little town has one, and it’s a great way to cool off in this heat, it was 105 today, Aj aj aj!

I’m camped out in a little community park, right next to the swimming pool in a small town called Meade. For dinner I went to Bob’s Hamburgers and got a grilled cheese, two of them actually, and some Tater Tots and a chocolate shake, yum! And the best part about this park is that the picnic tables are extra long, my feet won’t hang off the end, Hooray!

Here’s a video with all the fun from yesterday’s Four State Extravaganza!

So my buddy Bobalicious and his lovely fiance Missalicious showed up last night with a truck full of ice cream and snacks. It was a much needed treat after a long and hot day on the bikes. And when I say he showed up with ice cream, I mean he showed up with like three gallons of amazing Boulder Ice Cream!

And another fun surprise, this morning I was informed by Bob that he’d be taking our trailers in his truck to Kansas! Yes! No heavy trailers to drag, awesome! Bob also said that he’d be joining us on the ride while Michelle drove the chase vehicle. Bob looks good in spandex by the way

He couldn’t have picked a better day for riding, it was SUPER easy. Downhill with a strong wind at our backs…all day long. I thought I was in a dream land, way too good to be true. We were averaging 19 MPH, not having the trailers probably helped quite a bit.

When Bob’s ass got too sore, he swapped riding duties with Michelle and as a team they made it to Elkhart Kansas no problem!

The landscape is no longer desert, I’m in cattle/corn/farm country now.  We actually went into three states today, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. We did some serious happy dancing as we crossed all the borders!

Today also marks the final day riding with Boyer   It’s been an honor to have him with me this past week. It’s not often that you get to experience something this unique and special with your favorite high school teacher. I’m a lucky boy! A big thanks goes out to his family for letting me borrow him this past week.  Daddy will be home soon Annika and Dale!

Check out the article in Today’s DailyCamera

Eating pancakes for breakfast makes my tummy a lot happier than eating an energy bar. I should start off everyday like this.

Anyway, As we left Springer today everyone warned us of the heat, the boring straight road, and no services. And for the first time ever, the locals were right in every way. Usually they exaggerate, but their tips were right on this time.

There was actually one lonely stop along the entire 85 mile road to Clayton, a little place called Gladstone. Gladstone consists of one tiny store that sells chicken fried steak, jelly, homemade cookies and lots of random antiques. Oh, and they have a gas pump outside so they must sell gas. It was an interesting place, I went for the homemade chocolate chip cookies but wasn’t impressed, I think they were baked last year.

The road was like ribbon candy, smooth up and downs all day long, and the wind wasn’t too ornery either. The heat played a factor though, since leaving Arizona this has been the hottest day, somewhere around 95. I felt bad for Boyer, he was melting. I dealt with the heat by unzipping my jersey all the way down, I feel like a dirt bag when I do this but the wind on my nipples feels so good

Now we’re in another charming little town and eagerly awaiting the arrival some great Boulder buddies, Bobaliscious and his lovely finance MissAliscious. I hope he brings ice cream!

And here’s a little video about my favorite little town in NM, Springer

We had one crazy night in Las Vegas…not really. Las Vegas New Mexico is quite a bit different from Las Vegas Nevada. It’s a quaint little town off I-25 with a cozy historic downtown, little old adobe houses and a great soda fountain with awesome ice cream!

And once again, we made some random friends. Kerrie, A nice woman with a sweet southern accent walked past us on the street and overheard that we needed a campground. She stopped, told us about Storrie Lake and off we went. Turns out, Storrie lake was more of a stanky puddle in the middle of nowhere. Luckily Kerrie had given me her number if we needed anything. I called, and within minutes she offered up a room at the artist compound where she lives.

Everyone at the compound was super friendly and we instantly felt at home. Staying here was about 10,000 times better than camping five miles out of town at a windy lake.

Today we made it to Springer, a cute little town about 70 miles from Las Vegas. I stayed here with my buddy Jeff three years ago when we rode home from Honduras. It’s a tiny little town but they have a great cafe with yummy green chile enchiladas.

life is good, but Boyer’s bootie is very sore, now he knows how I feel everyday

Today was a great day! It started off right as I slept in the most comfortable bed in the world (thank you Brian Hart). Brian also decided to ride out of town with us on his 60 pound sky blue New Belgium cruiser.

We rode on old route 66 heading east, got into the beautiful Colorado like mountains and had the wind at our backs!…..but then we turned left, into the wind! Do’h! The next 30 miles were a little tough but having Boyer along for the ride made all the difference in the world. I still can’t believe he’s here with me, I’m so excited!

Boyer even bought a brand new cruiser bike for this occasion and it’s sweet, he has 7 gears so I’m a little jealous.

Life is good, we have a great camping spot and we’re gonna eat some warm beans for dinner.

here’s a little video….

So my new buddies Seth and Jeff decided to help me ride out of town today. They even made a great breakfast beforehand, what kind of college kids wake up at 6am in the summer? These guys do! They are so cool!
They took me on some awesome back roads about 17 miles toward Albuquerque and then they ditched me on the highway. Jeff even rode a tall bike with an awesome sound affects machine (see video tomorrow)

The next 60 miles were great, even though I missed the companionship of my new friends. I had a tail wind and was cruising like I’ve never cruised before! Weeee! I deserved a little tail wind after yesterdays brutal head wind.

The 30 miles coming into to town were tough though, mainly because Albuquerque is a pain in the ass to ride a bike through. I got lost, went 15 miles out of my way and finally had to call in reinforcements. Brian, the New Belgium guy in N.M. came out to rescue me from the mean streets of Albuquerque.

Brian is the man! Not only is he housing me tonight but he took me to an amazing Mexican restaurant with the best green chile ever! He and his girlfriend Tori have to be the coolest couple in all this land! Once again, I’m super lucky to have found awesome people to hang out with.

Oh, and in other gigantic news, my favorite high school teacher, known to me as Mr. Boyer, came to town on a Greyhound, bike in tow. He’ll be joining me for the next week and I’m so excited to have him along for the ride. We’ll have a mean two man crusing team all the way to Kansas!