Day Twenty-four

Vending machines at the rest stop on US 50. So are they worried people will actually steal them or are these just "bad" machines in rehab?

Riding by these feedlots is creepy like riding by the condemned. Larry even got nasty today and said "See you at McDonald's". Robb just kinda speeds-up and looks ahead. By the time we get out of Kansas I'm wondering if the 111 Chophouse will be renamed the 111 Veggiehouse?

Michelle said this should be a $100 bill.

Wyatt woulda looked very cool on a carbon Trek and Gerry H. could have fit him.

18 year old Wade really hopes his mother doesn't see this.

Had your Phil yet?

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe...ALL ABOARD!...We're gettin' the heck outta Dodge.

I Shot the Sheriff

So the answer is “yes”.

Inevitably we talk to non-riders about long distance riders they say something like “doesn’t your butt hurt?”…usually in more graphic terms but you get my drift. In fact our butts do hurt but so do our legs, our backs, our eyes from the sweat dripping into them, our necks, our lungs, etc, etc, etc. Some people tolerate pain better than others I guess but yes our butts do hurt.

Easy 50 mile day to Dodge City with a couple fun stops. The first was in Cimarron at a soda fountain where Oprah stopped and they have an “Oprah Smoothie”. Imagine being so desperate for tourists that you have to promote something like that. What the heck does Oprah know about ice cream? From now on I expect they’ll promote Clark’s in Cimarron as the place Scott stopped.

Second stop was to look at the wagon tracks where they cut into the mud on the Santa Fe Trail. Are you serious!! They expect us to believe that these are actually ruts from the late 1800’s. Weird Al Yankovich couldn’t make this stuff up.

It gets better, if you ever get to Dodge City you’ll learn that no one is buried at Boot Hill anymore, in fact, Boot Hill hardly exists. But they do have a bunch of fake store fronts and every night they “shoot” a guy and have a can-can show in the “saloon” where you can order sasparilla in a souvenir bottle and Bud or Bud Lite in a plastic cup (except they were out of Bud tonight). There is a lot of cool history but you can save yourself a lot of time and money and just read it on-line.

Today’s ratings: (the higher the better or easier)

Scenery: 5

Road conditions: 8

Grunt factor: 9