July 11 - Scott City, KS to Ness City, KS

Gloria

The best thing about today was having Carol Pandak, the Manager of Rotary International's PolioPlus Program, along for the ride.  Ten years ago, Carol rode my bike while I SAGged. This time Carol rented a road bike and a bike rack in Wichita.  She rode the entire 55 miles! Fantastic riding, Carol!

Two other great things about today was having Steve, Carol's husband, as our official photographer, and Michael as our SAG driver.  Excellent work Steve & Michael!

Carol's comments about today's ride:

"The first day riding with Gloria and Eric, with awesome SAG provided by Michael and photography by my husband, Steve, brought back so many memories of the ride 10 years ago with Bob. I'm riding the almost exact same route. Same restaurants, hotels, beautiful countryside and big rigs! Looking forward to tomorrow!"

I don't think Carol & Steve were prepared for our early rising hour, but they were troupers, and we were on the road by 5:19.  It was darker than our previous early mornings...probably due to the fact that we have crossed over into Central Standard Time.  Leaving early was necessary due to the threat of a temperature of 105!

Once the sun comes up, Kansas is not a very scenic place.  Mostly cornfields, cow feeding farms and oil derricks, with the occasional lavender field thrown in.  We are being forced to be creative with the few pictures we take.  Eric is having fun taking lots of pictures of his flathead art figures.

Today we found out that one of the bikers we kept running into broke his clavicle yesterday. We had met him on the road after he had a fall.  He told us he thought only his finger would be affected.  That was not the case.  Last night in 98 degree weather, he and his traveling companion (who rides a recumbent similar to Bob's) had to walk over a mile to the hospital to find no one there.  After waiting for some time, he was able to get an x-ray that revealed the broken clavicle.  He is on his way back home to is wife in Washington, DC.  Sad.  Could've happened to any of us~

We arrived at our hotel around 11:15.  Bob, Carol and I stayed at the Derrick Inn in 2007.  Here's what Bob had to say about the place:

"The Derrick has an oil theme, as you might have guessed. It may have seen better days, but Gloria and I enjoyed the sauna and swimming pool."

No question about it - the Derrick Inn HAS seen better days.  It was better in 2007.  Now it looks like a construction site.  The pool and sauna are empty.  There seem to be no attempts to maintain the lobby.  We decided to leave for lunch by using a side entrance and found an old toilet sitting there.  Our rooms aren't terrible, so it will do for the night.

We had lunch at another 2007 haunt...the Cactus Club.  We once again ran into the travel companion of the guy who broke his clavicle.  Easy to do when there are only a couple of restaurants and one is closed.

Side note about other cyclists:

In 2007 when I came on this ride with Bob, one of my stipulations was no camping.  Glad I did it then, and glad I'm doing it now.  A so-so hotel beats the city park or a church basement hands down!  Most of the cyclists we meet are on a tight budget.  They never know when they might get a decent shower, or even where they'll be staying from night to night.  They roll into a town, go to a convenience store or library (if they're open) and hang out there to escape the heat.  If they're lucky, a church will put them up...if they're 
not, they go to the sheriff and get a permit to camp in the park.  Works for them, but sorry...not my idea of a 
vacation.

Tonight we were hoping to go out for Mexican food (the other restaurant in town).  We found out from hotel management that it is closed on Tuesdays.  After some discussion, we ended up eating at the Cozy Tavern...so-so at best.

Life is still great!