July 20, 2016
Carolyn made us an amazing breakfast to give us energy for the last day. We left Girard and headed towards the Missouri line. When we got to the line we took pictures and as cars passed they beeped their horns at us. I never dreamed we would make it all the way through Kansas. Amazing! We rode back to Pittsburgh, Kansas to a McDonald's and waited for our ride to pick us up. Denny and Sandra Kleman drove the rental van from Lee Kinstle GM to pick us up. Thank you. We went 22 miles. While we were waiting at McDonald's a lady came in and offered to buy us chicken for supper. She said she does this for all the cyclist she sees. They have chicken wars around here that are on the Food Network and she said we really needed to try it but we told her we were done and ready to head home. There are so many wonderful and amazing people out there. You just need to stop and be aware and not be in a hurry to meet them. With Leah pushing us this year we went a little further had extremely memorable trip!!!! We weren't sure how it would go with her or if she would like it . She loved it and now wants to do the whole trip in one summer. She did absolutely amazing and we called her our little engine. I can never describe all the truly wonderful moments we have had! Thank you for all of your support and prayers! We went around 1,284 fabulous total miles this year! Until next year..... (More pictures to come) July 19, 2016
The Eastman's took us to a wonderful breakfast place and then we went to his church for prayer before we left town. They drove us back to their daughter's house to get our bikes before we headed out. We made plans to meet Tom and Terri on the Katy Trail next year. Of course it was record heat again. There were picnic tables in Shaw along a golf course so we stopped for a break. We ate a little and when Bob went to throw the trash away he discovered there was a restaurant. So we went to the restaurant and ate more. At Walnut we stopped to get some cold drinks. Earlier in the trip we had seen cowboy boots placed over the fence posts for miles. There was something on the fence post that was large. Bob said those are catfish heads! Weird! Tom had asked us to text him when we got to Girard so he knew we had made it safely. However before we made it, our phone went off and it was our pastor Clark from Van Wert. Tom was worried because it was getting late and he hadn't heard from us so he looked up our church and Pastor online. Pastor Tom had lined up dinner for us at the First Presbyterian Church with the Bible School. We had macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, fruit cup, cookies, cake, and punch. Then a lady came up and offered us place to stay at her home. What a blessing! God provided us air conditioned homes, during the worst heat, the last 3 nights of our trip! Carolyn and Steve Ahring were the Angels tonight. We went 50 miles today. July 18, 2016
Jean-Marie cooked us an amazing breakfast and sent us on our way. After leaving her place, two big white dogs came out at Bob and me. Luckily we were going downhill and out pedalled them. At this point there were quick Hills..... meaning up, down, up, down, up, down. 2 miles an hour, 20 miles an hour, 2 miles an hour, 20 miles an hour. Guess what?.... the heat index was above 100 again! As usual Leah was ahead of us again. We came to a turn in the road and we weren't sure which way Leah went so I tried her cell phone and there was no signal. I tried the radio and nothing. We lost Leah! We had told her to stay on 105 which turned right. We needed to go to Coyville which went straight. A young girl pulled up in a smart car and we asked her if she had seen a cyclist and she said no. We turned on to 105 which was hilly and went around the lake. Then a car came up behind us and beeped its horn. It was the same girl and she said I found your daughter in Coyville. I said bless you and thank you. We could have been hours looking for her but instead we only went 2 miles out of our way. We never asked this girl to do this. She just did it out of the kindness of her heart. We took a very short detour to go into Benedict to a convenience store. There was a sign on the door with a number to call because the guy was mowing. We had no cell service. It was like stepping back in time. He had an old radio playing. When we got there, we discovered we had lost the map. We could lose a lot of things but NOT the map. So we were trying to figure out when we looked at it last and thought it was probably 5 miles back. (10 miles round trip) Leah immediately offered to go back and look when two more cyclist rode up and the owner of the store walked up. We asked Quinn and Mike if they had seen a map and they had. Yay! And they said it wasn't too far back. The owner gave us free ice cream, something to drink and filled our water bottles with water and ice. Leah came back pretty quickly and had the map in hand. What a relief! Then the guy gave Leah another ice cream. When we got to Chanute, Kansas Leah was waiting for us at a convenience store. I was trying to call the contact to stay in the city park but they kept transferring my call. A gentleman came up and started talking to us. He was surprised to find out we were a family. He told us He is a pastor at a local church. Then he invited us to his home. Once again we had a bed, and air conditioning. We had a wonderful chicken meal with Tom and Terri Eastman. Then we are able to swim in their pool. How refreshing! Also another night with a shower! Later in the evening he made 3 minute ice cream. It was absolutely amazing! We had a nice time of fellowship before bed. Also we would like to say a big thank you to their daughter who let us park our bikes at her house because she lived in town. They then drove us to their house which was several miles out in the country which meant we didn't have to ride there. We went 44 miles. July 17, 2016
After leaving Eureka we saw Joe changing his back tire along the road. We stopped to help him and then said our goodbyes again because he is going north to the Katy Trail. We are probably going to do the Katy Trail next year because it is on an old railroad path that goes all the way across Missouri. This way we would miss the Ozarks/hills and be on only a 3 percent grade with shade and places to stop. Once again there are excessive heat warnings! Yuck! We made a turn as we were heading towards Toronto and then heard Leah yell. She was sitting, waiting on us as usuasul on the side of a building but we didn't see her. The building is actually a restaurant called Lizard Lips Cafe. We were debating whether to stay in Toronto or go to the next town which we heard the camping is not very nice. A lady started talking to us and we found out it was Jean Marie who the French cyclist, Matthew, had given us a card for. She was sizing us up and invited us to stay at her house. We said yes and decided to call it a day due to the heat. We had a wonderful Sunday lunch at Lizard Lips. Earlier in the day I was reaching for the two way radio to call Leah when my reading glasses flipped out of the bike bag and I ran over them and Bob ran over them and asked what did I just run over? I said, those WERE my reading glasses. As I was looking for reading glasses on a sunglass display John, who was at the cash register, asked me what I was looking for. He told me they didn't sell reading glasses but he had a pair he would give me. He said he had had cataract surgery and didn't need them anymore. I tried to pay for them but he wouldn't let me. We met Robin at Lizard Lips. She also hosts cyclist back in Eureka. She had heard of Jean Marie and wanted to meet her. I told her she had just missed her. After we finished lunch we headed towards Jean Marie's house when a car stopped and it was Robin. Bob had left his credit card at Lizard Lips and she chased us down to give it back. Thank goodness! (We aren't too hard to catch.) Robin joined us at Jean Marie's so she could meet her and ask her questions about hosting. Jean Marie has a cat named Tillie which Leah loved. Later John and Lorray came over to meet us. They are also recumbent cyclist. We enjoyed visiting with everybody this evening. We went back to Lizard Lips to pick up pizza for dinner. We enjoyed air conditioning, being in beds, and Jean Marie's wonderful hospitality! We went 22 miles. July 16, 2016
We set our tents up in a gazebo because they were predicting storms again. It never rained however there were trains going by every 10 minutes or so. They were Extremely Loud and none of us slept very well. This was a primitive City Park. Once again there are excessive heat warnings. We saw herds of wild Mustangs which was really cool. Leah was still taking pictures and Bob and I started riding. We saw another cyclist coming towards us and all of a sudden a dog came out and started chasing him. He had a slight uphill and by the time he got to us he was exhausted. His name was Matthew and he was from France. He said his adrenaline was really pumping. We waited on Leah and talked a little more and then proceeded on. Leah had her air horn out and ready for the dog. We really should video tape this sometime because dogs do somersaults trying to stop when they hear the air horn. Matthew had given us card for a lady that takes in cyclists and she is not listed on warm showers. Warm showers is a network of people who host cyclist all over the world . We got into Eureka, Kansas and found a Sonic for dinner. Then we went to the city park to set up our tents. They had showers there however they were cold but we didn't mind because we were sooo hot. We met Nate, who is a 19 year old cycling alone. His arms had scabs all over and we asked him what happened. While he was on the descent after Ute pass, a bolt came out of his front rack and sent him flying over the handlebars going 35 mph. A little bit later Joe came in on his bike. We had met him at Newton and stayed with him. Both Nate and Joe had started out the trip riding with a friend and both of their friends have dropped out. A week ago in Eureka, a tornado had gone through and damaged 100 homes. We had heard other cyclist talking about it. It was a hot and humid night to be sleeping in a tent. We went 35 miles |