"Yea, I got expensive things!"

7/18
Today I think takes the cake for the mosr interesting day yet.
To begin we woke up at 3am and were greeted by June offering to make breakfast. Lil foot and I tried to insure her that we had food, but she wouldn't take no for an answer, so pancakes, eggs and fruit it was! After saying our goodbyes and thank yous, we were on our bike by 4am and it was only 78 degrees out! We finally got the super early start we hoped for.
No sun beating down on us to start our day gave us hope for another 100+ ride. The downside of riding without the sun is the darkness, lil foot and I missed our turn putting us a mile further, but we noticed the missed turn and quickly were back on track. There was a cross wind with a slight tail wind which made our morning a very proactive one. As the sun began to rise we were able to see a bunch of deer running all over to find some cover, what a beautiful sight. It was 60 miles roughly til we planned on breaking for lunch. it was about 10am when we arrived in Larned, we did a little protien bar shopping then hit the subway for a bite to eat. while we sat and ate Chris, one of the English guys, arrived covered in sweat and salt. He shocked to see how refreshed and dry the two of us looked, so we ended up having a bit of fun with his look. Then Gary caught up as well, he had the latest start of all of us but since he has legs like a horse his 60 mile ride was like a walk in the park. We all joked about passing a few people going the opposite way and not stoping to talk. Normally we would chat with other cyclists but today was all about pushing as hard as possible to beat the heat and get out of the sun.

After about two hours at Subway lil foot and I were back at it, 33 miles until the next town with a place to stop. The sun was getting stronger, so we made it a plan to put the pedal to the metal and go as hard as possible. we booked it there in a little over two hours! At this town there was only one business open, a car repair/gas station. I asked if it would be ok to hide out from the strongest part of the sun and the woman working the counter said of course! while we sat there we dealt with a few stupid comments and questions which seem to have become the theme of this Kansas heat. "Hey girls, a bit hot for a bike ride isn't it?" "Going to be a hot one today." "You must be really hot from riding." I wish I could walk around witha sign on that says, "WE KNOW ITS HOT, THANKS!"
When all the weather questions and comments passed then it was onto questions about our actual riding, where do you sleep, where are you going, coming from and so on. There was an older man sitting in the shop as well, he began to volunteer different workers' homes for us to stay the night, but we said we were fine with just camping out at the rest stop. Then one of the workers, Dennis, said it would actually be fine with him if we stayed at his house and he happened to live right accross from the rest area we had planned on camping anyway. We accepted and headed out to finish the last 13 miles of our ride, then he would come by after he was finished with work to let us know where to go. DEAL!

Lil foot and I arrived at the rest area, a Men's and Women's bathroom with two water fountain between them inside an air conditioned building. We sat there waiting for Dennis to come get us, but after about two hours of sitting there we figured he had bailed on us. The plan now was to wash us with wet wipes and get some sleep on the floor by the water fountains. As I pulled out the first wipe lil foot came into the bathroom and said he's here! Thank goodness cause I could really use a shower after the 107 miles we had riden.

Across the train tracks there was a two story house that look pretty beat up, with a bunch of rusted old things on the lawn, ah home for the night. Dennis originally made it sound like he lived in a beautiful house with nice funiture, three bedrooms, two living rooms, surround sound in three rooms and more. From the sound of things we were in for a treat but from the looks of things, it was going to be a rough night. HAHA We walked in the front door and lil foot asked for the grand tour. BIG MISTAKE. We went from room to room hearing about the prices of every piece for furniture and electronic in each room, the history of how he came to own most things and stories from his past. Ugh, if we had known the 5 minute tour would actually be an hour we would have just asked where's the shower only. As we went on the histories of objects became more ridiculous, and it was easy to see that Dennis never has visitors or friends of any kind over.
Finally it was shower time, I went first. Before starting up, Dennis demonstrated how he had fallen out of the shower once, this demonstration caused his ass crack to become exposed and it remained that way for the rest of our stay. Lucky us. I was sure to be quick and not leave lil foot alone too long with him, but unfortunately this guy could talk a mile a minute. In the 10 minutes I was gone, lil foot learned about his 6 year marriage and divorce and some other family problems. Then it was my turn to learn about the crazy man. I was shown an atlas of where his mom lives in Denver (luck her for getting away from him), where she works, where we were, where he's lived and traveled. Oh man, was the pain ever going to end. Lil foot was finished and came back just in time. We sat in the living room where he went into more detail about how expensive some of his stuff is and he acted like we were impressed with the price tags, "Yea, I got expensive things!"
Now the convo was turned to drinking and how much he could drink, which isnt actually all to impressive compared to some of the drinking lil foot and I have done in the pass. Haha. Then he wanted to show us how his car speakers can shake his shed, seriously? It was like going to show and tell for 5 year olds, except its adorable when a 5 year old shows you things he/she is proud of, not so much from a 29 year old guy. We were able to get back into the house where he continued to talk, it was 10:30pm at this point and we needed to be up in 5 hours, lil foot faked falling asleep midconvo - not cool. I was left alone, thats when he wanted to show me his favorite part of a movie. I hummored him, but once he began asking my age and if 29 was too old for me, I faked a yawn and hit the couch with lil foot.
He went to bed and lil foot and I agreed no matter how tired we were at 4am we had to leave and get out of there. He didn't seem dangerous, just had the social skills of a rock, infact a rock would be more of a good time!

7/19
Our alarms went off this morning and we didn't move too quick but luckily Dennis was awake and came in at 4am to wake us. This morning was easily the quickest we had ever gotten our shit together. We took off and didn't look back. Thanks Dennis, not so much for the house to sleep in, but more for the laughs I and lil foot will be having with our friends at your expense.

Sasq

More about today (7/19) to come tonight...

Oh and I can't forget to mention the map that Dennis drew us to a place to eat in Dighton. It is literally 6 quares (buildings) and one says Hornet's Nest (the place he was directing us). UNREAL.