A short ride to Kansas

Rode 40 miles from Guymon, OK to Liberal, KS; one of the shortest days on tour. That changes tomorrow.

It is still flat and beautiful. I can't believe how far these folks drive for toilet paper.

No climbs to speak of, like a couple of days ago.

This was early in the climb a few days ago. I can tell because Linda has not yet passed me. I love when she rolls by. She is the climber in the family. The other night on the phone, Rachel said "You even climbs stairs fast Mom."

First stop was Hooker, OK.  A 90 year old woman ran the store at the Chamber of Commerce. As you can imagine, they sell many funny tee shirts.

One rider asked her if the town is named after the Civil War General. She took a deep breath and said "No Dear...(insert long pause)........he fought for the other side."  

Hit Kansas

Took a wrong turn :)

And ended the short ride in Liberal, KS. A fun town.

Was where Dorothy's home was in the Wizard of OZ.

Fun tour

Back in the day, they would collect scraps of cloth from the clothes they made, bag them, and send them to Chicago on the train, where a rug would be made and shipped back.  

Saw the first Instapot

The tour guide said these were a bit dangerous.

What it looks like when the bikers come to town. Not exactly the Wild Bunch.

"Dorothy" told a neat story about how the first Oz book got its name. Allegedly, Frank Baum (author) had the title as "The Wizard of (TBD). He was staring at his filing cabinet and found his answer.

Water was scarce in the mid 1880s, so most people did not share their water with travelers. The sign above describes the legend of how the town got its name.  

Interesting that Coronado was in Kansas. 

I think I forgot to mention that there was a Civil War battle in Pecos, NM. There is some good reading when you are not in a hurry.

During today's ride I hear the knitter extraordinaire yell out "Sheep". This beautiful sheep dog left the sheep to bluff charge and then yell at us to get off his yard.  

We have had a number of dogs chase us, but I think they only see bikes once a year and are a bit out of shape. 

I am dealing with an infection on my right buttocks for the last 3 days. Had a doc look at it and got antibiotics and now use a heating pad to bring white blood cells to the site to do their thing. 

When I showed it to him, he said WOW. I knew that had nothing to do with my saggy 63 year old excuse for a glute. (Linda: they are definitely not saggy ;-))

I thanked him for fixing me and he opened the door and said "you are not out of the woods yet." Then he texted me some other bad things that may happen this evening. 

We ride tomorrow and we see what course this takes. I am really glad this doc is on the tour with us. He said this was the first house call he has made in 3+ decades.