The Road Home

 July 6th I left Denver at 7 am heading east on I-70 for about 65 miles.  Once I was past the exit for the airport the traffic thinned out to almost nothing.  Once I turned south heading for Kansas it was all 2 lane 65-70 mph road through the farms.  On this route I had a headwind and I misjudged the gas and almost ran out.  It seems when planning gas stops you should always calculate based on a much lower mpg than normal.  My range has been 38-50 depending on the direction of the wind.  I had 2/3 of a tank of gas and didn’t see a station or town for 150 miles, so things were getting a little close but with 20 miles to go in the tank I found gas.

You are surrounded by western history just riding down the road.

Unfortunately Kit Carson was a dead town.  I didn’t see one business open.  But still it was a pretty ride down to Syracuse, KS for my next stop.  Syracuse had one pub and one nice motel so I was all set.  I planned on eating dinner at the pub but nature intervened and with torrents of rain falling it was Hot Pockets in the motel for me.

I had to go to the office to find out what time it was.  My computer said it was 6 PM and my phone said 5 pm.  It turns out that is a frequent question since the Central and Mountain time line is 100 yards from the motel.  So there is one little slice of KS that is in Mountain time that includes the motel.

It was supposed to be clear, warm with chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon on Wednesday.  So I planned on getting up early around 5 am and getting my miles in to Wichita.

Rain and fog, yuk!  So I had to wait an hour for the fog to lift.  Well, a mile down the road the fog hadn’t lifted and it was pea soup for 20 miles, I hate riding in fog.

I by-passed my planned trip to a salt mine since thunderstorms were moving in and the temperature was rising but I still hope to get a picture of the Keeper of the Plains.  Probably an evening ride into town.  Tomorrow I am off to MO!