Another beautiful day in this part of America's Breadbasket
Yesterday was my birthday. We had a wonderful cake (chocolate on chocolate with some more chocolate) and ice cream. The tour directors do an wonderful job of taking care of us. The hotels are very nice and the food is plentiful and tasty each evening.
Today's ride: Dodge City, KS to Great Bend, KS: 86 miles, ~400 feet of climb
Linda finished the Doctor Who scarf for our son's girlfriend.
She held a brief fashion show in the hotel parking lot before we left.
The scarf is beautiful and got a round of applause from the riders. She is going to ship it home, so now she has lots of room in one of her bags.
Had a little rain as we pulled out of the hotel which provided wonderful views along the horizon.
We are riding through a number of wind farms.
Our first stop today was in Offerle, KS. A local store owner shared the county allows 3 windmills per section (1 square mile). The land owner receives a annual payment of $15,000 to $28,000 per windmill. The spread of the negotiated rates surprised me. The current farmer with the most windmills has 25.I love how folks in small towns know all the inside information and share it readily. Full disclosure: I have no idea if any of this is true, but it certainly helps pass the time as we wait for the bathroom.
There are grain silos managed by Co ops or Associations about every 8 to 10 miles. Our group's best guess is, when they were built, 10 miles was a long way to haul your grain.
The riders also agree that when you can first see grain silos in the distance, you will pass them in 6 miles. Yes, we have a bit of time on our hands as we ride.
This mural was also in Offerle, KS. Although difficult to see, the border has all the local brands of the farms and ranches. Some dating back to the mid-1800s.
We hit the middle of the country, if we were traveling from San Fran to NYC. Since we are not, we will hit the middle of our ride sometime on Monday.
Today's ride: Dodge City, KS to Great Bend, KS: 86 miles, ~400 feet of climb
Linda finished the Doctor Who scarf for our son's girlfriend.
She held a brief fashion show in the hotel parking lot before we left.
The scarf is beautiful and got a round of applause from the riders. She is going to ship it home, so now she has lots of room in one of her bags.
Had a little rain as we pulled out of the hotel which provided wonderful views along the horizon.
We are riding through a number of wind farms.
Our first stop today was in Offerle, KS. A local store owner shared the county allows 3 windmills per section (1 square mile). The land owner receives a annual payment of $15,000 to $28,000 per windmill. The spread of the negotiated rates surprised me. The current farmer with the most windmills has 25.I love how folks in small towns know all the inside information and share it readily. Full disclosure: I have no idea if any of this is true, but it certainly helps pass the time as we wait for the bathroom.
There are grain silos managed by Co ops or Associations about every 8 to 10 miles. Our group's best guess is, when they were built, 10 miles was a long way to haul your grain.
The riders also agree that when you can first see grain silos in the distance, you will pass them in 6 miles. Yes, we have a bit of time on our hands as we ride.
This mural was also in Offerle, KS. Although difficult to see, the border has all the local brands of the farms and ranches. Some dating back to the mid-1800s.
We hit the middle of the country, if we were traveling from San Fran to NYC. Since we are not, we will hit the middle of our ride sometime on Monday.
The winds changed quite a bit today. Most of the day we were headed NE.
We started with a quartering tail wind, which changed to a cross wind, which changed to a head wind. All in about 4 hours.
I have never had weather play such an important role in my life before. We all check and compare/discuss the predicted weather at dinner as we wind down the day, and at breakfast prior to rolling down the road. We have one guy from Minnesota who is remarkably accurate with his predictions. Unfortunately, he is always right about the headwinds........hopefully he will be wrong about tomorrow, as they are predicted to be in our face all day at "only" 10 mph (I can't believe someone would use the word only when discussing headwinds.
OK - you've apparently you've made it down from Rockies the without any blowouts. Whew!
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on achieving the half way point. The biggest climbs are behind you, Guys. I am proud of you 😎
Now you check weather like Greg does. It has always played a significant role in his work. You guys are awesome!
ReplyDelete