Thursday, August 2, 2007

A Grain Elevator & a Post Office

Cody met up with me in Hutchinson three days ago and we beat it out of town about 70 miles to a place called Great Bend, KS. Took care of some errands in town the next morning and lit out for Ness City. The riding was uneventful, save a few extremely rude motorists who passed too close and honked or flipped us off.

We have been talking about devising a method of retaliation. Our brainstorming so far has led us to seek out some sort of paint grenade that would allow us to mark the culprits. We've heard of riders taking steel ball bearings, taping them to their handle bars and whipping them at offending motorists. Evidently, they sound like gunshots when they strike the windows. Perhaps that would be a little too forward.

Many of the little towns we ride through are nothing more than a grain elevator and, sometimes, a post office and a cluster of houses. Other than that, you might travel 50 or 60 miles with nothing but cows and an occasional barn to look at. There really seems to be nothing to do and nothing to talk about except whatever the current crop may be.

Going to diners and cafes is sometimes a troubling experience. I've found that people are very narrow-minded and seem to look at cyclists as if we are walking around in pink frilly dresses. A few times we've been stared down by locals. This morning I reminded Cody to cool off because we have the last laugh - we're not going to die in Kansas.

Either way, we are set up for the evening at a youth hostel and are enjoying some time to relax.

All the best,
John