Sheridan Lake, Colorado, to Scott City, Kansas -- 76 miles

We woke at 5:30 am and began biking just after 6:30 am. After 15 miles, we crossed into Kansas and, of course, we stopped to take pictures. After 30 miles, we stopped in Tribune to buy Pepsi and fruit. The route was flat, and we were biking from one grain silo to the next!

After 50 miles, we stopped in Leoti and ate lunch on a bench by the grocery store, out of the sun. According to the sign on the bank, it was 98 degrees. We ran into Scott Krizek from the Adventure Cycling group – he had gone off on his own to spend a few days in Boulder, CO, and now he was going to catch up with the group again. We continued another 25 miles – it felt like the wind was coming at us from all directions. Lorraine was getting exhausted and had difficulty coping with the heat, so we decided that in the coming days, we would attempt to get off the road by noon. We reached Scott City by 2:30 pm. The time changed from Mountain to Central time when we entered Wichita County so we set our watches ahead one hour.

We checked into the Chaparral Inn Motel and relaxed in the air-conditioned room. We went to the grocery store, and as we left, Lenny asked the clerk to recommend a restaurant. She said the bowling alley had some of the best food and certainly the biggest burgers in town, so we walked 8 blocks to go there. The cook was telling us about her sons who are in the service, one in Washington state and one in Cherry Point, NC. When she visited North Carolina (having lived in Western Kansas her whole life), she said, “There were so many trees, I couldn’t see the countryside!” She said she would like more trees in Kansas, but not that many. It was an interesting perspective that we never would have considered. We found out that the temperature reached 101 today and may hit 105 tomorrow!