Dodge City, Ks - Day 24

Hi from Dodge City, Ks!!!
This was a super day for me – everything just seemed to go right – after two very long days, it was very nice to be able to sleep in an extra hour – breakfast at 7 and load at 8 and only 51 miles to ride!! Breakfast was a Belgian waffle with peanut butter and syrup, yogurt, a small omelet, oj, and coffee –I can’t begin to eat more than that!!!

It was quite warm as we started out and three angels appeared to help me for the first 22 miles – they either rode beside me to block the wind or in front of me to pull me. Chuck in this picture was beside me unless he had to drop back due to traffic – we had some big trucks that when passing each other on the two lane highway created quite a suction.


Zero rode beside me too and we had a great chat – he is training to do an Ironman and his raising money for a Korean culture center in Chicago.

Chris rode in front of me and pulled – he is the one with the blog – Chris-pedals-for-pete.blogspot.com



All of these guys are a lot faster and stronger than I am, but were kind enough to stay with me today on this shorter day. We had a rest stop at mile 22 and then the shoulder became wider and was more comfortable to ride even when the big cattle trucks came by.



This area is interesting for those who have no experience with farm life – there are many feed lots where they fatten the cattle for market. It was interesting at one point there were signs about an overlook ahead and I was anxious to see what they would show – this is what I saw!!! Then I gave a lesson to some of the “city people” who didn’t know the difference between a cow, steer, and bull. We passed many many fields with acres up acres of corn at all different heights – eventually the corn will be big enough to hide in!!


This picture is for those of you who have done this ride before – can you guess where we were!?!?!?

If not, look at the next picture and you will be sure to have fond memories of the delicious milkshakes from Clark’s Drug Store. I had an “Oprah” orange sherbert smoothie myself!!!




This was a much more successful stop than our promised Dairy Queen (that was closed yesterday). It was doubly successful for me because they actually had “Bag Balm” and I bought a can – yes, it is used for cow’s udders, but we are using it on our seats now.




We rode another 16 miles into Dodge City and are staying in a great hotel with a pool, volleyball net, laundry, bar, restaurant and all kinds of amenities. A couple of us had lunch at the restaurant and we met the local sheriff, US Marshall appointed by President Bush. He is standing here with John and Charlie gave me a card and told me to contact him when I get home so he could send info. for classes at school. Bike repair at 4:45, route rap at 5:45 and dinner at 6 at Montana Mike’s.

After dinner several of us went to the variety show at the Long Horn Saloon – yes, Ms. Kitty and all – we had lots of laughs and took pictures afterward.



In this picture, Tom Terrific was throwing Sean (our mechanic) out of the bar!!!! Tom has been waiting for quite some time to throw someone out of Dodge!!
It has been a great day for me – tomorrow another long 85 miles – hope it isn’t too hot!!!




Today's hurrah goes out to my friend Linda and her husband, Ken, and all of the other farmers in this country for the incredibily difficult job that they do in working on our farms!!

Thank God for the safety, health, and energy!