Photo 1: A field of sunflowers on SR 19.

Photo 2: The sign says "Road Closed 1 Mile."

Photo 3: Accident scene on the road from Inman to McPherson.

Photo 4: Ray doing a 200 mile chain lube in the motel parking lot.

Started from: Larned, KS
Ended at: McPherson, KS
Distance traveled today: 168.1 km (104.5 mi)
Average speed: 24 km/h (14.9 mph)
Elapsed Time: 9.27.02 (hh.mm)
Max speed: 42.6 km/h (26.5 mph)
Staying at: Best Western Holiday Manor, McPherson, KS [tel. 316-241-5343 Rm 116]

Distance traveled so far: 495.1 km (307.7 mi)

Last Modified on 9/23/1999 at 21:55:49

Day's Narrative: Today was the loneliest day of the ride. The route goes East across from Larned to Sterling using SR 19 and there are no stores of any type for 60 miles. Connie was carrying my lunch, which I bought at Subway last night. If we missed each other, which was unlikely since there's no place to hide on this road, I would have only a couple of Power Bars to keep me going.

As I went to breakfast I met Jan and Bill Mark also leaving for Sterling, but going a different route. We wished each other a good trip.

After breakfast I got on SR 19 and started out. There was hardly any traffic. The wind was from from the Southwest as predicted by the weather channel and gave me a slight tailwind. In this part of Kansas one now sees clumps of trees with no house inside. Rain is becoming more plentiful here I guess, as we get further away from the Rocky Mountains.

Connie caught up with around 11:00 am as usual. In fact, she passed me and parked right beside a sign saying "Road Closed 1 Mile." See Photo 2. Connie drove ahead to see what had closed the road, and to see if there was a detour. When she returned she reported that the bridge over the Arkansas River was out and the detour went South -- many miles out of our way. We looked at the map and found a way to Sterling on county roads to the North if we backtracked 3 miles.

In Sterling we stopped at a convenience store for drinks, and then went in search of the county road to Inman. None of the county roads are marked very well around here, so we drove up and down the road looking for it until I stopped at Sterling College and asked.

That did the trick and we were off to Inman. This was again one of those roads with no stores for 25 miles. The temperature was into the mid 80s (about 30C) now.

The wind was now from the South and gave me no tailwind help. When I got to Inman I stopped at a convenience store and immediately drank a liter of Gatorade, and bought another to take with me for the remaining 20 miles to McPherson.

On the way to McPherson I came upon an accident (Photo 3) where a tractor-trailer had hit a utility truck turning left. No one was hurt, but it tied up traffic for a while.

Connie was at the motel when I arrived at 4:45.

We will be staying in McPherson tomorrow and going to Council Grove on Saturday. On Sunday we will go to Ottawa -- which be the end of the trip -- we think, maybe.

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