June 27, Day 27

June 27, Day 27
McPherson to Abilene, KS
Mileage: 64.8
Temperature: Comfortable in the high 80's

Dear All,

Well today we left McPherson and on our way to Abilene we reached the half way mark of our journey. Not half way across the US (we passed that a couple of days ago) but half way from San Francisco to Portsmouth. As we left McPherson we came upon a Buffalo buffalo which we had to take a picture of. McPherson has a number of them scattered around town.

As we prepared to depart this morning the skies were dark and the lightning was flashing all around. We expected a soggy and uncomfortable day. BUT, those of you who have been praying to the weather gods seem to have forced them to overcome their initial thoughts and within an hour the sky lightened and the weather was great. Indeed, we had 25 mph tailwind for a good part of the day which meant that the effort on the bike was really minimal.

Before we go any further, we need to correct a statement from the other day when we suggested that it might well make sense to sell KS. The route today found a corner of KS that was lovely. Tree lined road with no traffic. It looked a lot like the country lanes outside of Buffalo or some of the wonderful roads in PA around Lancaster County. So, if the US decides to put KS on the market it should exempt from the sale County Road 304 around Canton, KS.

OK, on to today. We hit the half way point and had our picture taken by Forest, a great guy from Maryland. At the SAG stop the staff had put together some cupcakes and as you can see they were in the shape of ½.

At this point we guess it might make sense to give you some of the statistics that Gary, an accountant from Illinois came up with for the first half of the trip. You should note that some of these numbers are based on a WAG (wise ass guess), but they are interesting in any event. Note that we have not attempted to verify any of these numbers expect that the number of miles ridden is just about right.

>1,854 miles
>550,000 pedal strokes
>120 hours in the saddle
>61,783' of elevation gain

On we rode on this lovely road with the wind at our back and cruising at about 24 or 25 mph. It was delightful. It was one of those days that you think about when you think about long distance bicycle riding. John took a quick picture of Amy's shadow as she was cruising along. By the way, she's much prettier than her shadow.

Before reaching Abilene we stopped by a grayhound training track which was just outside of town next to the Grayhound Association. While neither of us are fans of the sport and are concerned about the treatment of these beautiful animals we did stop to take a look and saw some of the training. These dogs are fast, really fast.

We rolled into Abilene which we are sure you all know is the home if Dwight D. Eisenhower. We took a detour and visited his boyhood home, museum and Presidential Library. Pretty impressive. You may not know it but Annapolis was his first choice for college, but he was a couple of months too old when he passed the entrance exam. One has to wonder, what would have happened if he had been a sailor rather than an army man? As we wandered thru the museum we were in awe of the decisions that he had to make during World War II. As Amy murmured at one point “can you imagine making the decisions necessary during the War?”. No, we can't.

Tomorrow we head to Topeka, our last full day in KS. God, it's a big state. It will be a long day; another century ride (108 miles).

Say a prayer that the winds have a W in them.

Keep the good vibes rolling.

Amy and John