Day 24 finds me in Hesston Kansas, I've only moved 12 miles since this morning, and there is a good reason: WIND! This isn't your regular wind though. I'm traveling due west trying to keep a modest flat ground pace of 15 mph the wind is out of the SW at currently... 23 gusting to 29 mph. The result is pedaling downhill (yest there are long rolling hills in Kansas) in my smallest chain ring just to keep 6 mph its exhausting. I was able to make 98 miles yesterday but about 20 of that was with the wind. In addition I camped out in a city park through mid day till five pm to do the last 38 miles. So today I'm saying Fu** it. Heres the good new though, the wind is forecast to die out and come strait out of the South tomorrow and as I move further east may forecasts show a NE wind. All told this should make conditions much easier.
Aside from weather, Kansas has been what I expected, rolling plains of corn and wheat as far as the eye can see. girded roads every mile. At times to avoid unnecessary headwind I have gone off the route and cut through on country roads. Its nice to get of off the rout but the cost is riding on dirt/gravel country roads, the calculations have paid off every time so far though. I don't think there are many more instances where that is a possibility since the rout seems to stop making frivolous stops by towns just to say on pavement. Meh! pavement smavement.
I wish I could say that the wind in Kansas was the only bad weather I've had since my last post but the truth is getting out of Missouri was hampered by 75mph winds and 3.5 inches of rain in one hour. It was pretty crazy, I haven't seen rain that intense since Puerto Rico or Australia. I was hunkered down on a porch bivied under my rain fly peering out looking for a funnel cloud. Apparently everyone else in town had high-tailed it to their respective storm shelters but I calculated I couldn't dash without getting drenched. Apparently my calculation paid off. However when it came time to leave all the roads in and out of town were flooded making my westward press stalled for a few hours.
Anyway weather weather weather weather... I will persevere!
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