Scott City, Kansas, to Ness City, Kansas -- 56 miles

We woke at 5 am Central Time and started biking at 6:15 am. The sun was just coming up and we navigated by the streetlights. As we were leaving town, the sign on the bank reported that it was 78 degrees. It was overcast, with little wind – comfortable for biking. As the sun rose higher into the sky it made for an amazing light show. Scott Krizek caught up with us, and we rode together and talked. After riding a short distance, we passed a huge field of bright yellow sunflowers that seemed to go on forever – it was an amazing sight.

In Dighton, we ran into Lou, the leader from the Adventure Cycling group. He said that they only biked 24 miles yesterday, in order to spend some time at the county fair. When we arrived in Ness City, we all had lunch at the Derrick Restaurant. When we were in line to pay for our meal, a couple asked us about biking in the heat. We told them that today was much better than yesterday. We told them we heard that it got as high as 106 degrees yesterday. She mentioned that she works for a construction company and on days when it is this hot, the pavement is between 130 to 150 degrees. She also mentioned that if there is no rain soon, the crops are going to die – especially the dryland crops.

Scott continued biking on to LaCrosse, to meet the Adventure Cycling group. It was getting very hot, so we decided to stay put and get into some air-conditioning at the Derrick Inn, the only motel in town. We watched the movie “Look Who’s Talking” with Kirstie Alley and John Travolta. When we left the room to get pizza for dinner, it was like walking into an oven. At 6:30 pm, the bank sign said it was 103 degrees.