Day 12
Perrrrrrrrrrrfect

RIDE OVERVIEW:  Boy was I sleeping hard when Barbara kicked me out of bed this morning...the first full day back in my time zone and I'm finally back to sleeping well...so well, I hated to roll out this morning.  We had a fairly late load in anticipation of a relatively easy day...even easier than yesterday since we were still expecting tailwinds and the mileage was the shortest on the trip...82 miles.  That's just a club ride!  Our first challenge was the weather...it was pea soup outside when we left...probably lucky to have a half mile visibility which made seeing much of Kansas hard to accomplish.

Speaking of interesting folks, shortly after departure, I always stop in a little store in Plains Kansas.  Every year the same guys (left) are sitting in the store drinking coffee when I come in...it's like we've planned a reunion every time I come through.  They get me all up to speed on how the crops are doing and what's been happening since I came through last time.  I get a kick out of them too as they are always kidding back and forth about what we are doing.  This morning while we were all talking about the crazy weather they've had this year, one of them asked his friend, "Can you imagine wanting to ride a bicycle across the country?"  His friend said, "I wouldn't drive a car across the country.  I guess you've really got to want to do it."  I guess it's all in how you look at it.  We see it as a way to see the country and challenge ourselves and they see it as taking time from their socializing I guess.  Great to see them again and I guess I'll see them again next time we come through, stay well fellas.

From there it was catch up with the group before they left lunch.  I put it in time trial mode for the next 15 miles to the Dalton Hideout where we had set up the lunch SAG.  The winds were quartering our rear which helped me make up some time but everyone was anxious to get to the turn north toward Dodge after lunch...there the winds gave them a kick for the last 20 miles where almost everyone reached speeds they were unaccustomed to.  That should change before we get out of Kansas...hope not.

About half way to lunch we passed a bridge that was an engineering marvel when it was built in the late 1800s.  The early fog made it hard to see unless you knew right where to look (the photo left was from last trip).  But I'll tell about it anyway.  Many Kansas towns grew as potential railroad centers.  Arkalon was just such a town that sprang up at the Cimarron River crossing of the Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska railroads.  City lots were cheap and the population flooded into the area in the late 1800s and the plan was to make it a profitable marketing point.  Two problems:  The sandy soil in the area made it almost impossible to get horse drawn freight into the area, and secondly, the major railroad was along the Cimarron River which flooded on occasion.  The railroad diverted the rails to the present location (thus the bridge called "The Sampson of the Cimarron") to bypass the flood area.  It also bypassed the town which pretty much led to the demise of Arkalon by the 1930s.

We passed several other historical places on our ride today.  We had lunch beside the Dalton Gang's hideout and secret tunnel in Meade Kansas.  It's interesting to try to imagine what it was like in the late 1800s when they were being chased by the law.  I can't believe the law had such a hard time finding them, there's signs all over the place (left) directing people to their hideout...duh.  Furthermore, if the law would have just put up the required $5, the curator of the museum would have shown them where the secret tunnel was...I can't understand why they couldn't figure that out.  And from what I hear, the Dalton's weren't the smartest crackers in the wrapper.  The lady, Deb, at the hideout shared the story of their demise as a ruthless gang.  Seems they thought it would be a smart idea to rob 2 banks at the same time...in the same town.  Since they knew the layout of Coffeyville, their home town, why not rob those banks?  Seemed like a good idea at the time...they knew the terrain, the people, and the banks.  But they didn't consider a couple important things like everyone in the town knew who they were too.  Plus, there was some street repair going on the streets leading to the banks that required them to park their horses about 8 blocks from the banks.  This allowed several of the townsfolk time to easily recognize them by the time they walked to the loot.  You guessed it, the locals gathered at the town mercantile and armed themselves to the teeth.  A shoot out erupted and the members of the famous Dalton gang were gunned down in their hometown as they tried to get to their getaway transportation grazing 8 blocks away.  I guess they should have stuck to robbing trains...less local people carrying guns out near the tracks.  They would have gotten the "DID I REALLY DO THAT?" had they'd been riding with us at the time.  Karen said they should have been the DUHlton Gang.    

It's kind of neat coming into Dodge City...we ride right down Wyatt Earp Boulevard which was basically the heart of the wild west town of 1800s to get to our motel.  Dodge city has an interesting history that I'm sure you've studied in your youth...from lawless cattle town to being the center of commerce in the 1870s.  The picture at left is of "El Capitan," a statue of a steer that represents the many longhorn cattle that came through this town on their way to the Santa Fe railhead.  The longhorn cattle were descendents of cattle brought into this area in the early 16th century by the Spanish.  Shortly after the civil war, 1875-1886, over 4 million longhorns passed through Dodge on trail drives to northern markets.  Very close to El Capitan, you'll also find the famous "Boot Hill" cemetery and Long Branch Saloon where in the summer you can witness wild west gunfights and a variety show that belies belief...no kidding.  We once had a rider that described the show was like watching an elementary school play that your kids weren't in.  As far as the cattle are concerned, not much has changed except instead of cattle drives across vast prairies and through Indian territory, now thousands of head are hauled by semis through the streets of Dodge to the feedlot situated just outside the city limits.

Except for about a 14 mile stretch where the road turned eastward, the winds pushed them pretty briskly all afternoon.  The final 20 miles was directly downwind into town and I think everyone was glad to see it.  Since everyone got in early today, the riders spent the rest of the afternoon sightseeing or cleaning their bikes behind the motel.  This is quite a change since last week when it was tough to get everyone in before 6:00 or 7:00.  This is a good time to rest...we may have some tough times ahead with the winds before we get out of Kansas, but for now we'll enjoy the push.  I've never crossed Kansas without at least one day of headwinds...and they are blowing pretty briskly right now out of the south.  You can sure tell which way the wind blows around here...just look at the trees, they all lean to the north (right).  Tonight we are expecting some severe storms and it looks like we will be in a volatile area for a couple days...hopefully we can "Dodge" the bad stuff.  Hope you've enjoyed reading our adventures...tune in again tomorrow and see if we get the whole flock out of Dodge.