25km to Colorado. Already entered Mountain Time Zone yesterday.
But first a breakfast!
DidI mention I love american style breakfast? Always miss that back in Germany. It's big-time calories, exactly what a skinny guy like me needs before doing a long bike ride.
I've gradually been climbing for about a week, starting at elev. 290m in Chanute. Now I'm on the high plains at 1100m above see level.
Entering the high plains meant a noticeable transition in landscape. East of the 100th meridian the climate is dominated by moist warm air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in several times more precipitation than on the high plains west of it. The first thing I noticed today was the extremely dry air. You sweat but you don't feel it because it evaporates immediately. One easily gets dehydrated out here. The land is barren, the crops of Kansas are replaced by endless cattle grazing grounds. Everything else needs irrigation, making it ineconomic.
The desert-like landscape comes with lack of services.
The only possibility to buy something on the first 58 miles was closed Sundays. I could deal with that, looking forward to a burger at the town of Eads, Colorado. Arrived there at 4pm and of course the only remaining restaurant had closed at 2. There was a gas station with grocery, very limited though. No canned food, so I got a sandwich from the cooler. Had to learn that pretty much everything between there and Pueblo (110 miles) was closed. Damn! At least I could fill up water. Decided to go 35 more kilometers to Haswell, a town of 86 people. Another journal described it as follows:
"Haswell is a small community that is on the verge of being a ghost town. It looks as if during it's heyday there must have been a population of 500 or more, but today there are barely 50 residents. Businesses that were once the center of activity in this town are boarded up and falling down."
That was in 2002, before the big crisis! It's really not a nice place. I'm sure people aren't any bad here, but all the rundown houses, trash... The school has been closed since at least 2002, not enough kids to keep it alive.
The 2002 journal mentioned a firestation being open for bikers. A lady I asked on the street didn't know about it but told me about an old Texaco building I could camp in. Had a look at it, but decided not to stay there. Too much dirt, probably rats. So I went to the "townpark" which is a small shelter and a pit toilet. A shelter with wooden roofing... no protection from the thunder thunder storm coming in. One of the biggest I've ever seen. The sun was setting, making the horizon shining bright orange. Except for that huge black thing in the west. From south to north it was like "Orange - black - orange". Massive! With the storm being far away and the land absolutely flat I had the rare opportunity to observe it in its full size. Lightning struck down in the distance like little sparks, sometimes five in a row brightening up the towering clouds. No thunder though. What an epic theatre!
Too bad it came closer... It got windy, the day after I learned that I had gusts up to 60 km/h. Neither the town park nor the Texaco shack seemed safe so I rode back to the (closed) gas station where I found a protected spot behind behind the vending machines (see pics). The wind blew stronger and stronger, it was dark with the occasional lightning.
The situation was pretty intimidating, facing the power of nature, alone and without an appropriate shelter. I thought about the possibility of a tornado.
Well, some hour later it calmed down and the storm was over. Again I was lucky, it had just passed by without the actual storm hitting me. Went to the park, pitched my tent and finally found sleep at around midnight.
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