Data: 85 miles Riding time 4:58 (17.1 mph avg)
Today's story is not our bike ride, but the weather. Right now I am writing this in our evacuation area of the hotel in Great Bend, due to a tornado warning. I was able bring computer with me. We can hear the rain POURING hard on the roof, and see the lightning and hear the thunder, continuously.
Last night a tornado hit Greensburg, a town only 30 miles southeast of Dodge City and 9 people died. (We had been riding our bikes on Hwy 54 ever since Tucumcari, NM, for three days across four states, and turned north yesterday just 35 miles from Greenburg which is smack-dab on Hwy 54.) The tragedy was the top of the national news and certainly all the local news. The storm followed exactly our bike route today, but lucky for us, it was about six hours behind us.
NOTE: The following was cut and pasted from a Wikepedia account of this infamous tornado event in our country's history:
"The May 2007 Tornado Outbreak was an extended tornado outbreak that started on May 4, 2007, affecting portions of the Central United States. The most destructive tornado in the outbreak occurred on the evening of May 4 in western Kansas, where about 95% of the city of Greensburg in Kiowa County was destroyed by an EF5 tornado. The supercell killed at least 13 people including 11 in Greensburg and two in Pratt County by a separate tornado. At least 60 people were injured in Greensburg alone. It was the strongest tornado of an outbreak which included 25 other tornadoes reported across Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota that occurred on the same night. The outbreak did not end there; a total of 84 tornadoes were confirmed reported on May 5 in the same area."
Here is a photo of motel guests crowded into the "safe zone" during the tornado threat.
Some of the bike riders took the opportunity of sitting out the tornado warnings in the motel safe zone by catching up on some much-needed rest. Here's Iain napping.
We had side winds all day, at about "2 o'clock" for the first half (therefore a headwind), and at about "4 o'clock" for the second half (so, a tailwind). I was WAY overdressed this morning, thinking we'd have rain. I dressed in my full rain regalia, but it turned out to be very warm and the wind played havoc with my open jacket and my helmet cover. I finally stopped to remove the helmet cover, but waited until the 36-mile rest stop to remove the jacket, shoe covers, leg warmers, and full gloves. I felt so much better after that.
In Garfield, Andrew (from England) and I arrived in town JUST as their Santa Fe Trail Days parade was to begin, so we were re-routed around the main street. Others in our group arrived earlier and later, in both cases getting to ride right down the main street in front of all the spectators and wave to them as if they were celebrities.
The scenery today was flat and green, with a few more ranch homes (with big front porches) to view compared to previous days. The first rest stop was at a big sign noting that it was exactly the midpoint between New York City and San Francisco.
Coming into Great Bend, only 0.5 miles from the hotel, my roommate Phil and I passed an ice cream shop and decided to have a sundae. Yum. We learned later that virtually everyone did the same thing.
As for tomorrow, we're going to play it by ear. The tour leader said we would just wait here until he'd release us to ride, based on the weather forecasts. It could be that we won't ride tomorrow. It's supposed to be 129 miles, about 75 mi eastward into a strong headwind, and then 55 mi north with a strong tailwind. Here's a shot of our nightly "rap" where we go over the next day's route and plans.
Note: I bought a new camera today! There's a WalMart next door, and they had a camera very similar to the one that broke on the first day, so I don't need to learn how to work it. Here I am walking back to the motel with new camera sagging in my pocket and cellphone in hand.
Here's a sign hanging at our Applebee's restaurant for dinner. Ain't it the truth!
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