Friday, August 29, 2014

Location: - Coffeyville KS Miles = 101, Ave MPH = 12.7 Cum. Miles = 2739

Wednesday  August 27

Quote of the Day:  "Who said Kansas was flat?"


This is one of the stately homes in Arkansas City (pronounced "Are Kansas") also called Ark City. While here I was interviewed by the local paper. I am pleased with the high number of small towns that have newspapers that are still printing at least 5 days per week.


This is Steve who stopped to talked to me as I came out of Ark City and made a donation to Soldier's Best Friend. Steve made a cross country trip on a bicycle when he was younger so he has an idea what is up. Thanks for stopping Steve:



A pause to eat a nectarine and read a bit of history:


It ain't flat folks:








I like the "bones" of this farm and would love to restore it:



This is Jon who I met a mile down the road and he told me of the history of the farm. The farm is on 400 acres and includes the "valley of the big bucks" which is a valley that hasn't been hunted in a long time:


 This Donald the chef at the Hilltop Restaurant in Cedar Vale. Donald is a Vet and came to the area from St Louis to work with the vets in the area. Donald - thanks for dinner!!


The Hilltop has a daily saying:


It's kind of hard to see it but as I was to get back on the bike and head to Coffeyville 47 miles down the road, the thermometer was at 100F and that was in the shade:


I made a water stop at Jolene's house and Tom came up on his bike. He invited me to "come down to his place and have a few" but I pressed on:


When I finally reached Coffeeville I showed Kristina the photo of the sub built by Daisy in Harper - she would not be outdone:






About Soldiers Best Friend ..... If you have been following along you already know that I am trying to collect donations for the charity called Soldiers Best Friend. This is a charity that provides service dogs to Vets that are suffering from PTSD. These dogs can literally be life savers for these men and women.

My blog averages approximately 175 hits per day. I think that suggests folks are interested in the trip and hopefully are being informed and entertained. I am at the half-way point of the trip at 2151 miles. I consider this my job for the summer of 2014. I am putting in the the "blood, sweat, and gears" to steal a phrase - so would you consider a donation to this very worthy cause?

I've done the math for you .... My entire trip is going to be approximately 4200 miles long. Do you think you could donate $.006 per mile (like about slightly more than 1/2 cent per mile)?? If so then that would be a $25 dollar donation to SBF. Or better yet could you afford to donate at $.012 per mile (1.2 cents per mile) then that would be about a $50 donation. And so on ....  give what you can - I know this sounds like a Nation Public Radio fund drive but come on - what a worthy cause!!

Please follow the link below to donate and include my name - just "Neil" will do or "Neal" if you like that spelling better:):)


It's time folks please.......
  
And finally please remember the cause -   soldiersbestfriend.org  I will go into this in more detail and perhaps some level of haranguing later on, but for now here is the link .... and an additional link for donation   SoldiersBestFriend - Donate Please :):)   Oh and I would be a lot more comfortable if you use the "honorarium" option vs the "memoriam" option - you'll understand when you click on the link:):).   

As you donate please enter my name in the "In Honor of Spot" so the folks at SBF can tally the results to encourage me and let me know WE are getting something done TOGETHER. I recognize we are really trying to honor the Vets but this is the only way SBF can tally the results of this drive (tour).

Location: - Winfield KS Miles = 51, Ave MPH = 10.9 Cum. Miles = 2638

Tuesday August 26

Quote of the Day: "The definition of the sweetest water is best conjured up by the thirstiest man."

People in this part of the country often apologize for the taste of their water. I'll tell you what when you are out there in this heat it tastes sweet no matter what. It doesn't take any time to get hot as the air flows over the bottles in their cages. What works pretty well is iced tea - when it gets hot it tastes like well .... tea.


I wish I had taken photos of all the unusual mailboxes I have seen:


The village of Danville has about 20 homes and only 50% of them actually occupied but still a church and the required grain silos:




Pipeline installation just west of Argonia - one of the locals suggested it was for oil transport:


This is Terry a resident of Argonia and a Viet Nam Vet. Thanks for your donation Terry:


Terry took me on a tour of Argonia - this home is under restoration and was the home of the first female mayor in the US - Susanna Salter:



I'm starting to see more windmills that are still working to pump water - so many elsewhere are idle:



From Pueblo the roads have been very good - mostly smooth and with wide shoulders. From Wellington to Winfield that changed. The road was smooth, in fact it had just been resurfaced, however there was zero shoulder. This coupled with hills that hid me from the drivers and an incredible volume of traffic made the riding extremely dangerous. After seeing in my rear view mirror several driver's hoods dive down as they hit the brakes just as they popped over a hill and saw me, I was ready to look for an alternative. The alternative was this pickup driven by Kurt. Kurt was pulling out of a side road and I asked him for a ride to Winfield. Kurt was happy to help out and so I road about 10 miles in the bed of the truck with the bike. Thanks Kurt - I was scared to death!!


Interesting architecture in Winfield:


The building of the newspaper where I was interviewed:


Tomorrow I head south for a while to Arkansas City for another interview and them back to heading east.


About Soldiers Best Friend ..... If you have been following along you already know that I am trying to collect donations for the charity called Soldiers Best Friend. This is a charity that provides service dogs to Vets that are suffering from PTSD. These dogs can literally be life savers for these men and women.

My blog averages approximately 175 hits per day. I think that suggests folks are interested in the trip and hopefully are being informed and entertained. I am at the half-way point of the trip at 2151 miles. I consider this my job for the summer of 2014. I am putting in the the "blood, sweat, and gears" to steal a phrase - so would you consider a donation to this very worthy cause?

I've done the math for you .... My entire trip is going to be approximately 4200 miles long. Do you think you could donate $.006 per mile (like about slightly more than 1/2 cent per mile)?? If so then that would be a $25 dollar donation to SBF. Or better yet could you afford to donate at $.012 per mile (1.2 cents per mile) then that would be about a $50 donation. And so on ....  give what you can - I know this sounds like a Nation Public Radio fund drive but come on - what a worthy cause!!

Please follow the link below to donate and include my name - just "Neil" will do or "Neal" if you like that spelling better:):)


It's time folks please.......
  
And finally please remember the cause -   soldiersbestfriend.org  I will go into this in more detail and perhaps some level of haranguing later on, but for now here is the link .... and an additional link for donation   SoldiersBestFriend - Donate Please :):)   Oh and I would be a lot more comfortable if you use the "honorarium" option vs the "memoriam" option - you'll understand when you click on the link:):).   

As you donate please enter my name in the "In Honor of Spot" so the folks at SBF can tally the results to encourage me and let me know WE are getting something done TOGETHER. I recognize we are really trying to honor the Vets but this is the only way SBF can tally the results of this drive (tour).



Location: - Harper KS Miles = 95, Ave MPH = 13.4 Cum. Miles = 2589

Monday August 25

Quote of the Day:  "The wind in Kansas would make make me mad - I mean at first mad and then finally insane."

I stayed in Greensburg last night. If you live in tornado alley you will not need to be reminded of the devastation that occurred in Greensburg in 2007. For those who don't remember I have included the next several photos that show the affect of an F5 tornado on  this town. Winds were in excess of 215mph and the base was 1.5 miles wide at one point. 95% of the town was destroyed  and there were 12 fatalities.








There was a brick church behind these steps:


In the next photos  - demonstrations of the resiliency of people's sense of humor in the face of terrific adversity:



The Big Well Museum - This is the largest hand dug well in the world. It was a museum prior to the tornado and now serves as a dual museum of both the well and the story of the tornado:


Helen explained the details of the tornado and it's results:


A new green and "tornado proof" designed home:


New government buildings:


New school:


There are a good number of city blocks that are still empty:


Main Street:


New Art Center:


Mutt and Jeff:


This is Sam from the local hardware store. I asked him if he was feeling creative and he jumped right in to help with a problem I was having with my compass. It had been reading Northeast regardless of which direction I was traveling due to being located too close to the metal of the bike:


Sam helped fabricate this new mount at no cost - Thanks Sam:


Rode on to Pratt with some significant challenge to keeping hydrated:


Had a great lunch at the Uptown Cafe and Grill in Pratt:


Photo of fried apple dumplings in a martini glass. Of course this wasn't on my table:):)


I don't care how old you are sitting next to each other at dinner is a good thing:


I have found my new favorite type of road - a road not yet open to traffic. I was able to ride on this for 12 miles on the way to Kingman KS. I was a good thing that the road was so good and no worries regarding traffic as I mis-calculated my fluid requirements in the 100F heat and ran out of water 10 miles before Kingman:





Shot of the main street of Kingman:


I arrived in Harper at 9:30pm:


Daisy of Casey's Sub Shop built me a sub - she should be proud of this baby:


In Harper I was hosted by the Mennonite church - I had nice discussion with Weldon in the morning (sorry no photo - what was I thinking?)

Re the quote of the day: Honestly the wind hasn't been as bad as it could be in Kansas, as it mostly hasn't been in my face. I am going primarily east and the wind has been out of the south blowing me from right to left.


About Soldiers Best Friend ..... If you have been following along you already know that I am trying to collect donations for the charity called Soldiers Best Friend. This is a charity that provides service dogs to Vets that are suffering from PTSD. These dogs can literally be life savers for these men and women.

My blog averages approximately 175 hits per day. I think that suggests folks are interested in the trip and hopefully are being informed and entertained. I am at the half-way point of the trip at 2151 miles. I consider this my job for the summer of 2014. I am putting in the the "blood, sweat, and gears" to steal a phrase - so would you consider a donation to this very worthy cause?

I've done the math for you .... My entire trip is going to be approximately 4200 miles long. Do you think you could donate $.006 per mile (like about slightly more than 1/2 cent per mile)?? If so then that would be a $25 dollar donation to SBF. Or better yet could you afford to donate at $.012 per mile (1.2 cents per mile) then that would be about a $50 donation. And so on ....  give what you can - I know this sounds like a Nation Public Radio fund drive but come on - what a worthy cause!!

Please follow the link below to donate and include my name - just "Neil" will do or "Neal" if you like that spelling better:):)



It's time folks please.......
  
And finally please remember the cause -   soldiersbestfriend.org  I will go into this in more detail and perhaps some level of haranguing later on, but for now here is the link .... and an additional link for donation   SoldiersBestFriend - Donate Please :):)   Oh and I would be a lot more comfortable if you use the "honorarium" option vs the "memoriam" option - you'll understand when you click on the link:):).   

As you donate please enter my name in the "In Honor of Spot" so the folks at SBF can tally the results to encourage me and let me know WE are getting something done TOGETHER. I recognize we are really trying to honor the Vets but this is the only way SBF can tally the results of this drive (tour).