Beautiful Day
I forgot to add this to yesterday's post. We sat, with many vehicles, for 30 minutes (1.8 miles from the hotel) while this train moved forward and backward, either loading or unloading grain cars.
Today's ride: Liberal, KS to Dodge City, KS: 83 miles, not enough climb for a number.
The flat may have gotten flatter. This is what we saw most of the day. Beautiful.
Our SAG stop at 40 miles was at the Dalton Gang hideout. A fun museum with an enjoyable host.
The gang built a 95 foot tunnel from their sister's house
To her barn
To stay out of sight from the neighbors.
The host told us the gang's goal of their last day on earth was to rob 2 new banks, directly across the street from one another. 3 minutes total in the banks for each of the 2 teams of 3, then ride out of town.
At one of the banks, the manager informed the robbers that the vault was on a timer and didn't open until 9:30. It really opened at 8:30. One of the robbers was standing by a clock that read 9:40, asked how long until the safe opens? The manager said 10 minutes. The robber said "We will wait".
In the mean time, the town's people hid along the main street and in the alley where the robbers hid their horses. When the robbers exited the second bank after 13 minutes, the town's people opened fire and killed 5 of the 6 and captured the 6th a bit out of town.
The Dalton Gang's career lasted 2 years.
In the museum, there we all kinds of wanted posters that prove your nick name was picked for you back then.
A few days ago, when we were in Oklahoma, a gentleman from OK Dept of Transportation explained the panhandle of Oklahoma was called "no mans land" because it was a lawless area that neither Kansas or Texas wanted. Hence it ended up with the OK Territory. Full disclosure: 3 times the gentleman said OK was the 50th state in the union. As another rider said later "this is where the grain of salt comes in".
The road surfaces were excellent today, the wind was a nice quarter tail wind. A quarter tail wind: think the bike is headed at 12 o'clock and the wind is hitting our hip at ~4:30 or ~7:30. We made good time. At the hotel by 2.
Today, ~22 miles out we stopped at a gas station to gets us a boost to the hotel. One rider likes Monster Energy Drink. After he drinks it down, he says "I gotta go, these things have expiration date on them." Meaning: I have to get to the hotel before the kick runs out. I work diligently to hit the wall shortly after I reach the hotel room and am standing close to the bed.
When I think of people from Liberal, Kansas, one of the first words to come to mind will be patience.
Today's ride: Liberal, KS to Dodge City, KS: 83 miles, not enough climb for a number.
The flat may have gotten flatter. This is what we saw most of the day. Beautiful.
Our SAG stop at 40 miles was at the Dalton Gang hideout. A fun museum with an enjoyable host.
The gang built a 95 foot tunnel from their sister's house
To her barn
The host told us the gang's goal of their last day on earth was to rob 2 new banks, directly across the street from one another. 3 minutes total in the banks for each of the 2 teams of 3, then ride out of town.
At one of the banks, the manager informed the robbers that the vault was on a timer and didn't open until 9:30. It really opened at 8:30. One of the robbers was standing by a clock that read 9:40, asked how long until the safe opens? The manager said 10 minutes. The robber said "We will wait".
In the mean time, the town's people hid along the main street and in the alley where the robbers hid their horses. When the robbers exited the second bank after 13 minutes, the town's people opened fire and killed 5 of the 6 and captured the 6th a bit out of town.
The Dalton Gang's career lasted 2 years.
In the museum, there we all kinds of wanted posters that prove your nick name was picked for you back then.
A few days ago, when we were in Oklahoma, a gentleman from OK Dept of Transportation explained the panhandle of Oklahoma was called "no mans land" because it was a lawless area that neither Kansas or Texas wanted. Hence it ended up with the OK Territory. Full disclosure: 3 times the gentleman said OK was the 50th state in the union. As another rider said later "this is where the grain of salt comes in".
The road surfaces were excellent today, the wind was a nice quarter tail wind. A quarter tail wind: think the bike is headed at 12 o'clock and the wind is hitting our hip at ~4:30 or ~7:30. We made good time. At the hotel by 2.
Today, ~22 miles out we stopped at a gas station to gets us a boost to the hotel. One rider likes Monster Energy Drink. After he drinks it down, he says "I gotta go, these things have expiration date on them." Meaning: I have to get to the hotel before the kick runs out. I work diligently to hit the wall shortly after I reach the hotel room and am standing close to the bed.
Bill, i am really enjoying your narrative. Looking forward to reading about Dodge City tomorrow- i'd like to visit it someday.
ReplyDeleteStill enjoying your trip via your comments, Bill. I'm right there with you. I think I've even lost a couple pounds.
ReplyDelete