We know that, by having a support vehicle and staying in hotels rather than bike-packing and staying in campgrounds, we are not paragons of limited environmental impact on his trip. That said, we are getting frustrated that most of our hotels that serve breakfast do so with paper plates/bowls and plastic cutlery. In some cases, the plastic is bundled into a fork/knife/spoon package wrapped in plastic which you must open even if you only need one of those utensils. This has especially left an impression on Brad and Sue who’ve lived their lives in the Uk and France where there is a far stronger reduce/reuse/recycle ethic than in the US. Halfway through a 52 mile section of the previous day’s route that our cycle map had warned us had zero services, a remote house had a sign “free bottled water for cyclists” next to a Coleman Cooler. This was so thoughtful, and appreciated, but we didn’t stop as we were prepared with plenty of water and didn’t want to generate more plastic waste.
On the wildlife front, we passed two buzzards doing their part of the circle of life on a dead rabbit in the road. They would flee the scene as we approached, then be back at the corpse within seconds of us cycling past, looking beautiful and graceful in flight.
The Kansans continue to be very friendly/helpful in spite of the fact that many of the remote towns we ride through clearly are struggling to maintain population. I’ve been listening to Hillbilly Elegy the last two days and some of the brain drain issues cited there are present in Kansas.
On the lighter side, we went to a Sonic drive-in for milkshakes and sodas after our ride and felt like we had been transported into the “and then!” scene at the Chinese takeout restaurant from “Dude, Where’s My Car”. Tammy was driving so did the ordering and had to repeat every single thing she said, sometimes more than once. Let’s just say the speed of service was sub-Sonic.
Finally, we got very excited as the last third of our ride brought a return of varied terrain – trees, rollers rather than dead flat roads. In the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, our Adventure cycling Association maps had elevation profiles with big, but relatively gradual ascents and descents, plus many squiggles in the roads. The Kansas maps have straight roads that would make Roman road builders jealous and don’t even bother with an elevation profile. The upcoming terrain profile for Missouri looks like the back of a Stegosaurus. And, believe it or not, the state with the highest average elevation gain per mile we will encounter on this trip is….. Virginia, due to the many short, steep hills in the Appalachians.
Today we are taking a rest day in Wichita, back in the saddle tomorrow.