Sterling to Larned - 50 miles

Today we arrived in Larned after a 50 miler which involved one long straight road with no services or water stops. Fifty miles felt like a lifetime. The views were very pretty but after you've seen 5 minutes then you've seen it all and for me this is hard because there is nothing to distract you, except the pain in your behind!

Yesterday afternoon's little visit to the town library in Sterling was interesting-we were treated like some minor celebrities and asked if we could speak to some local kids in the library about our trip. It was lovely, Robin sat nodding whilst I entertained the kids with stories from the TransAm! They were so cute and so interested in what we were doing! We had a lovely swim in the local pool, which seems to be routine for us these days for two main reasons; to cool down and to get a shower! In the evening they had a little concert in the park - just to prove we were in small town USA, the post mistress (we had tried to by airmail stamps earlier and she had to look it up in a book - such is the tourist demand) was there selling raffle tickets and the gas station guy was there playing tuba. Turns out the town is famous for turtle racing on 4th July - shame we wont be there.

Except for the local corn silo drier sounding like a jet engine when the world is otherwise quiet, a grain train shunting, and the park sprinkler system drenching us (no joke - Robin managed to stamp/plastic bag one but then got soaked by a pincer movement from another) we got a good night sleep. Waking in the morning, it was a mere 85 degrees - somewhat chilly!

Tonight we are staying in a church and the pastor loaned us his car so that we could avoid the 5 mile extra bike ride to the Museum of the 'Sante Fe Trail'. Five miles doesn't sound a lot when you you're cycling over 4000 but every moment off the saddle helps towards rebuilding the skin and bones around my behind area! Did you know that only Great Plain Indians wore feather headdresses? Tepees were only used after Westerners had traded guns with the Indians and they gave up farming for nomadic buffalo hunting?

Only a couple of days before a rest day and then, Colorado!