Kindness from Strangers in a Rain Storm

Stats Thursday, September 2 – El Dorado to Fort Scott, KS. Day distance 126; ride time 7 h 19 m; ave speed 17.2; total climb 2112; total miles 2,216.4

After breakfast we said good bye to Brock and Paul. Since we are still in Kansas we have wind. But today it seems it has shifted a little coming out of the southwest instead of directly from the south. This is good. We are able to pick up our speed.

The scenery and the smells have not changed much. Hay, manure, oil wells, and road kill. There is a lot of road kill on the shoulders. Rabbits, snakes, birds, possums, raccoons. Kansas has the most road kill we’ve seen.

Our goal today was to get into Missouri. But that was preempted by a late afternoon rain front. Checking the weather in the morning we knew the probability of getting caught in a storm. A good sized front was coming through all of the plains area. It would change our wind and drop temperatures.

Stopping at a convenience store about 20 miles from Fort Scott, Kansas a guy had his computer on the weather radar map. Sure enough, there was a rain cell about 30 miles back right where we had been earlier. And it was tracking our way. Could we outrun it? We were going to try.

For the next 14 miles we watched to the north at a cloud bank that was running parallel with us yet also drifting southward to intercept us. And we looked back frequently at dark clouds getting ever closer from our rear. Six miles out or Fort Scott the wind all of the sudden shifted. Strong, cool, cold gusts from the north. The sky was dark. Rain spitted on us. We wanted to get to Fort Scott but we were not going to make it. On top of that my rear tire felt mushy.

We stopped at a house alongside the road seeking shelter. Banging on the door there was no response. A metal outbuilding was a few feet from the house. I ran over there to see if we could get inside. Then a man came to the door. He was elderly. We asked him if we could take shelter in the enclosed breezeway between their house and the garage. He let us in. But his wife seemed a little nervous. After a few minutes, “Roy” came out and visited with us as we changed the flat tube in my rear tire. He took us out to the metal outbuilding which houses a number of old military pickups and trucks along with souped up lawnmowers his sons build for “lawn-mower pulling contests.” Hey this is Kansas!!

Roy’s wife’s anxiety seems to lessen a little as she makes us peanut butter sandwichs.

After an hour the rain lets up. We head out. But the roads are wet. The last 6 miles into Ft Scott are cold and damp. Especially after a couple of 18 wheelers with cattle trailers pass us. One oncoming and one which passes us from behind. Think and feel the spray of now moistened cow manure! Woo hoo!!

We definitely need a shower tonight!