The day started off kind off rough, we wasted 7 miles of riding by heading in the wrong direction out of lodging and turning around and back tracking to make a different turn out of lodging. It wasn't that much riding but I was already not feeling as cheery as usual and 7 miles on top of the 105 for the day was just annoying. Once we got on the right section things went smoothly, I rode with Evan and Cameron, it has been a while since I have ridden with either of them so I was very excited for the day. It was definitely one of the best conversation days I have had so far. We had a wide shoulder for a lot of the day so we could ride in a 2 wide pace line and easily talk. The miles just melted away as the day got hotter and more humid. I avoided looking at my odometer all day because it sometimes just makes it worse to know, but when we got to the crew stop before lunch Cam asked what mile we were at and we assumed around 40 but turns out we were just over 70, very nice surprise. Kept up the conversation and had a great ride until about 20 miles out we hit a stretch of insane gtass hoppers, they were jumping on us every minute, the shoulder of the road was covered with them. It got to the point where it was dangerous because they would jump up and get stuck on our leg or hit our arms and face which would cause us to swerve and slow down so Evan decided to ride on the edge of the road to avoid the grass hoppers. No more than a minute later a crew guy drives past us and we get ted flagged. He was mad at us for riding 3 wide with Evan in the road, apparently we should have all gotten over with him or cam and I should have dropped back more but to us it was a safe position and only temporary to avoid crazy Kansas grass hoppers but nonetheless Evan got racked and Cam and I had to finish the last 17 miles without him and the whole way a little frustrated with the situation. That last bit was annoying too because the road had rumble strips that went across the entire shoulder that you could only avoid by riding really close to the edge of the road to the traffic lane. Finally we get to lodging, shower and make our local coffee shop run to Java Cat which was great and had really comfortable couches that I fell asleep om for a quick nap.
Dinner was really fun amd layed back, the local Kiwanis club and a chapter nearby hosted us and provided a ton of food pot luck style with just as much dessert so we were so full amd met ao many people. They have been hosting since the first year the trans route started. To top it off they also had a local massage place come in and we all got full body massages, back, neck, shoulders, legs, arms, feet. It was incredible, i feel so much better and ready for the 70 mile day tomorrow to Topeka.
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