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| This is me every evening about 8:00 writing the blog |
I woke up at 3:30 but didn't just hop right out of bed, I took a little while to stretch and wake up. And I started packing things checking weather making sure I was not making any worst mistakes than yesterday.
I was on the road before 4:30. It was 81°, which didn't bode well for how hot the afternoon could be. But I was feeling good and the miles were burning off.
I crossed the Mississippi River in the dark and started to work my way through st Louis. There was a lot of freeway construction going on. It actually turned out to be a little bit terrifying because they kept routing Lanes back and forth, and I couldn't see any of the bumps as we would switch. I tried to slow down but the people around me were not happy when I did so I just had to stay at the same Pace as everyone else.
At one point two semi trucks ahead of me had their trailers bump for a second when the left lane tilted right and the right lane tilted left. It was just their back corners and I doubt if they even noticed , but I sure did.
I was on Interstate 70 and it was absolutely packed with semi trucks. John said that was one reason he did not want to go anywhere near I-70, but I had no choice.
It seemed to take forever to cross through the city but it was only about 30 minutes when the city lights started to fade. I was still hitting construction zones but they weren't so bad and the roads weren't as packed with cars.
I stopped around 6:00 to gas up and get a breakfast sandwich at McDonald's. Then I was right back on the road.
The temperature stayed in the high seventies the whole way across Missouri. I stopped about every hour and a half to stretch my legs and often to gas up. It all kind of blurred together the way most long road trips do.
I hit the outskirts of Kansas City at about 10:00. I have been checking the weather map and there was a large storm over the city, but it was moving northeast and was very close to leaving. I was near downtown when I felt the first drops of rain and pulled off the freeway into a gas station. It wasn't really lunch time but I looked for somewhere to go sit comfortably indoors while the storm passed.
I found a kielbasa place nearby , but it turned out to be someone's house. Then I found a Taqueria and it looked very sketchy and wasn't open yet. Finally I just went to a quick stop gas station grabbed a Gatorade and an apple fritter and leaned up against the bike while it rained. Took about 30 minutes.
I really wasn't ready to eat so I just got on the bike and headed out the freeway some more. Being so late in the day I didn't hit any traffic and made it out of Kansas City pretty easily.
The rain had kept the temperature down but now the sun was starting to peek through the clouds and the humidity was starting to rise. I made it to Topeka about the time temperature hit 90 so I stopped for a sandwich and a break.
Well I was eating my sandwich I was trying to figure out where I could make it for the night. I wasn't sure just how hot it was going to get but I figured 2 to 3 hours was as much more as I could do.
While researching places to stop I spotted Abilene. That's the home of Dwight Eisenhower and where his Presidential Library is. I've got plenty of time to go visit a Presidential Library so that's what I said is my destination.
The library was about an hour and a half away and I was feeling pretty good until I got the yawns. Usually I just start yawning and after about 15 minutes it goes away and I'm fine . But occasionally I get drowsy as well and this was one of those times. I thought it for about 5 minutes then I pulled off the highway and started looking around for a breeze and some shade. I found both and park the bike, took off my helmet jacket gloves and Eyeglasses. Then I just sat on the seat folded my arms that my head relax forward and rested. After about 15 minutes I felt very refreshed and continued the ride.
By the time I arrived at the Presidential Library it was 100° and sweltering.
I previously visited this Library about 10 years ago when I helped move my daughter and her husband to Washington DC . I remember being a little disappointed because it was just a huge Warehouse space with a bunch of simple displays . It wasn't very engaging even though I did find the material interesting.
Boy has the museum been updated. There were Interactive displays, lots of well produced video, just everything looked very modern and inviting.
One of the things I've always been intrigued by was the portable harbors called mulberries that were towed across the English Channel and set up to unload ships. The last time I was here I finally found a small display back in one corner. It looked like at 12th grade diorama. This time the mulberries were covered in great detail and there was a huge 10 ft model of one on display.
I spent almost 2 hours wandering the museum before I figured I'd better get moving. As I walked out the doors from that blessedly cool Museum I was smacked in the face by 90% humidity at 100°. There were some couples walking out behind me that I can't repeat some of the words that were used to describe their experience.
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| Eisenhower Presidential Museum |
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| First 1/3 of museum is about army career and WW II |
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| Huge display about Mulberry Harbors |
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| Hmmmmmm |
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| Several large multimedia viewing areas |
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| Very nice displays |
I got it on the bike and headed to go get some gas before realizing that I hadn't spent the time in that nice air conditioned Museum planning my nightly stop. So if the gas station I went inside to get a bottle of Gatorade, then lingered for about 15 minutes picking out a hotel.
I thought about making it all the way to Hays but any decent hotel there was $150 or more. Instead, I stopped 29 miles short at a small town called at a small town called Russell and found a decent hotel for $70.
I have about 99 miles to go. I probably should have put on the evaporative vest but I didn't. Instead after about 60 miles I pulled into a rest stop and parked the bike in some shade and tried to cool off.
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| Pizza hut next door - why fight it |
I got checked in then ordered a personal pizza and some wings from the Pizza Hut next door . I plan to do the same thing tomorrow that I did this morning , get everything ready before I go to sleep and then get up and on the road as early as I can . I should be home in the early afternoon.
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