Saturday, September 19
Started out a bit on the cool side but
warmed up by about noon. Was able to
downgrade from my jacket to a fleece.
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Came out of the hotel today to music that
was loud enough to be heard throughout the town. It was coming from a gas station on the corner
of the next block. Thought it was some
kid who just got a whopping stereo system installed and wanted to let everyone
know it. Well, according to the mail
carrier, it is a yearly fundraiser for some charity that is held at the gas
station….and the music is part of that.
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Didn’t do much today and yet we did a lot
today.
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Don’t know exactly how big an
acre is visually, but since we have about 13 acres by our house, I do know what
the size of that looks like. So, I’m not
exaggerating when I say we rode through thousands of acres of sorghum fields
today. Ten days ago, I didn’t even know
what sorghum was and now I can identify it from a distance by its color…as it
ripens, the seed head becomes rust colored.
In earlier stages of growth, it’s green and in that case, I have to be
closer to identify it….it looks like short corn stalks. Anyway, Kansas is a flat state and the rusty
colored fields extend to the horizon in some areas. In some areas along 160, the sorghum crops
share the landscape with cornfields and open plowed fields. Colorado, has a
fair amount of sorghum fields in the southeast corner of the state, too.
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*Google search…..
Earl walks with a cane and the woman at the
gas station asked if I remember an oil rig explosion a few years ago….that’s
how Earl was injured. I didn’t know what
explosion she was talking about. Turns
out it was a natural gas rig explosion in Cleburne, TX, in 2010. I did a Google search with the words I knew…Cleburne,
TX…explosion…2010. This is an excerpt of
a Wall Street Journal article from June 8, 2010:
CLEBURNE, Texas —A big natural-gas pipeline exploded
outside this North Texas Monday afternoon, killing one person, injuring several
others and sending up a geyser of flame that was visible from miles away.
The blast
occurred on a ranch in rural Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, in an area
honeycombed with natural gas wells and criss-crossed with transmission lines.
One man who had
been missing earlier was found dead, reported the Associated Press. Eight
people were taken to local hospitals, said Bob Alford, the county sheriff. Most
are believed to be employees of a contractor and were replacing power-line
poles when they hit the pipeline.
Kim and Earl talked a bit about
it on the way to Dodge City. Earl had
spent 63 days in a burn center, had skin grafts, 9 operations and due to a lawsuit
became a wealthy man. He hires men to do
odd jobs for him, mostly to help them out.
Wind picked up a little bit
again today, but, then again, we were in the wide open plains area of Kansas….though,
for all I know, maybe the whole state is a flat plain. Anyway, as we’re cruising along the Kansas
portion of Hwy 160, we encounter several large plowed up fields. And, up ahead, I can see a dust devil moving
from right to left. Twice that happened…and
each time, I was hoping that it would be over on the left side of the road by
the time I reached that area. Thankfully the big swirl of dust did move left
of me but I was still treated to a little bit of leftover ‘dusting’. L
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Seems I’ve been using misleading terminology
in describing our travel goals. On my
vest patch, there are 22 states west of the Mississippi River and, as of today,
we’ve ridden in all of them. BUT, there
are actually 24 states west of the Mississippi, as Alaska and Hawaii are west
of it. So, technically, we have one more
to go…Hawaii. But, I’ve been thinking in
terms of continental U.S…..so I’m saying the ultimate goal of The Final Four
bike trip, riding in all states west of the Mississippi River, has been
achieved. Now onto the Northeast...but
first we gotta go home and rest. J
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Our elevation has changed over
the last day, but other than coming out of the Raton Pass into Colorado, I
haven’t noticed a downward tilt to our ride.
Elevations of the route we’ve
ridden the past 36 hours….
The Raton Pass, NM: 7834 feet
Trinidad,
CO: 6025 feet
Kim, CO:
5690 feet
Springfield, Co: 4360 feet
Dodge City: 2579 feet (current location)
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Kim has dragged his heels in
every state we’ve been in so far…literally, dragged his heels. I can usually see the smoke and smell the
rubber burning. Why does he do it? I don’t know
but it’s a little game he’s been playing ever since we’ve ridden together…maybe
longer.
*Google search:
Passed two huge tractors today,
each driven by a young kid/teenager.
First one waved, second one gave me the ‘hang loose’ gesture instead of
a wave. It hit me as comical that I, a
middle woman on a bike, had a young man in a tractor telling me to ‘hang
loose’. So I wondered about that
gesture...if I had it correct and what was the history of it. Wikipedia has this to say: The shaka sign, sometimes known as
"hang loose", is a gesture often associated with Hawaii and surf culture. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding
the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting
the front or back of the hand; the hand may be rotated back and forth for
emphasis. The shaka sign was adopted from local Hawaiian culture and customs by
visiting surfers in the 1960s, and its use has spread around the world. Hawaiians use the shaka to convey the "Aloha Spirit", a concept of friendship,
understanding, compassion, and solidarity among the various ethnic cultures
that reside within Hawaii, lacking a direct semantic to literal translation.
The shaka can also be used to express "howzit?", "thanks,
eh?", and "all right!" Drivers will often use it on the road to
communicate distant greetings and gratitude.
Today’s
mileage: 158 miles Total mileage: 2910 miles
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