Night Rider

During the day, Kansas is hot.  Triple digits.  Each night we sleep outside we need to look east to make sure there is a barrier, to protect the tent from turning into an insufferable sauna the moment the morning sun peeks malevolently over the horizon.  For a northerner like myself, the idea of being outside during the hottest hours, 2-6pm, is anathema.  I have developed a sympathy for Dracula.

 

The past few days we have ridden 20-30 miles until noon, and then we find somewhere to hide, such as a library or church, until six.  Then we continue riding late into the night.  It is peaceful.  It is cool.  It is quiet.

 

I do not mean that there is any less noise.  There is still the whistle of wind past my face, the occasional rumble or cars and trucks, the small noises of animals.  I cannot explain the silence of standing still on a night-flat road, surrounded by a cathedral of stars.  I can only describe the sounds that shape that silence, the soft subtle murmurs that are lost in other places, other times.  The sound of a determined wind making its uninterrupted way across an endless field.  The small harsh grate of gravel shifting underneath a foot.  The hush of lungs expanding with air.  The creak of a rear wheel.  The rhythm of your own heart, inaudible and pervasive.

 

Isn't it curious that the less light there is, the further we can see?  Last night I oriented myself to the galactic disk and realized I was, relatively, creeping down a vertical cliff.  Over long hours I watch the big dipper scoop up a piece of Kansas.  Shooting stars track across a trackless sky and I make my steady way toward my destination, a glow on the horizon, 20 miles away.  

 

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Oh, and for those of you who weren't able to send a care package or a letter the first time, here's another address!  We'll probably be there in about a week and a day.

Oliver Mednick
General Delivery
Fairplay, CO 80440

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So far I have gone 2887 miles and am writing in the Jordon Library in Larned, KA.

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 Highlights of the last few days:

• Seeing my first armadillo... almost hitting my first armadillo
• Seeing my first prairie dog, and then immediately seeing twenty more
• Taking a zero day in Newton with a very nice family from WarmShowers
• The next day, being treated to lunch and later dinner by two separate Kansasians.
• and a Pre-Highlight! 
• Today we are going to make a second attempt at 200 miles in 24 hours.  At 6pm we will head out and aim to make 140 more miles before 9:05 am.
  

Evidence of my grandfather's ruffian years

Kansas is hot.  This is also where I found my first cactus

We found a kitchen and made banana bread, yeast bread, dozens of cookies, and pancakes.

I made it to the bike shop on a wing and a prayer before my tire completely blew

Lastly, I don't know if this will work like it's suppose to,
but it's a photosphere of the Viaduct in NC