Day 42 Thursday, June 29th through Day 46, Monday, July 3rd

My ride last night on the final leg after charging my batteries at McDonald's was a little spooky. Google Maps sent me through a graveyard which was posted to be closed at sunset, After being detoured once after leaving McDonalds, I pushed through to avoid further delay to complete the final leg of the days trip. Relieved there were no supernatural encounters, I was also glad that I did not have to explain to anyone "I was lost". The ride to the Coratel Inn & Suites in Park City - Wichita North was composed mostly of well packed dirt and gravel roads. Travel was mostly absent of traffic because it was late. After travel on dirt, the roadways became paved, as I approached Park City. There was one roaring sports car that pulled out about a few tenths of a mile ahead of me. To my relief, the maniac driving, distanced quickly away, traveling "my route" on "their road". By the way, my radar videos whatever approaches from behind, but nothing from other directions. This may be helpful one day if more drivers begin to realize that some bicyclists have them on video. This could act as an advisory to heighten safe driving practices for some. It still falls on the cyclist to be on guard. My experience in Kansas, with drivers driving with caution, has been good overall. There was one trucker that communicated by blasting his extremely loud horn when he sighted me. He was traveling in the opposite direction too. My guess it was an opinion the road was not safe for cyclists. My position on the road was good at the time and I was about to turn off anyway and take to the county dirt, sand, and gravel roads - harder to travel, requiring some mountain bike riding experience, and risky due to some terrain, yet much safer, when considering there are no truckers expressing potential startling, accident provoking outcomes. Maybe something to be discussed in police academy classes about some realities of the road... One take away for me, is a reminder to stay well rested and energized, and to maintain focus on road, traffic, weather, and you name it, conditions.

So this post starts with the morning of Thursday, June 29th, day 42. The plan was to land in Park City (which is about 10 to 15 miles north of downtown Wichita) and visit a Trek bike dealership in Wichita while enroute to my destination for the day, being Kingman, Kansas. I have to stop now and get well rested for a 54 mile trip to Liberal, Kansas. It is currently bedtime of day 46, Monday, July 3rd. I have successfully traveled a remote part of Kansas from Wichita to where I am now in Meade, Kansas. I am staying at the Moon Mist Motel which is a nice place - older construction, well managed, and very comfortable. I will circle back to this post and pickup where I left off once I land in Liberal. Liberal, Kansas is on the north western border of Oklahoma. The plan is to travel southwest across Oklahoma and down into the Panhandle of Texas. In the summer of 1981, I completed my bike trip from San Diego to my home town of Greenwich, Connecticut. The following year I returned to San Diego and raised money for the building of a church annex in La Mesa, CA. The church had a fund raiser supported by some members who pledge donations for each mile I walked from San Diego. I intended to walk to my home in Connecticut but got tired and terminated the trip in Dalhart, TX - a small town at the time in the Panhandle of Texas, not far north of Amarillo, TX. Getting to Liberal, KS has been an important leg of the trip traveling from Wichita. It has been a test of the range the Trek eBike can travel in a given day. Unlike traveling during the first half of the trip from Connecticut to Marion, KS, there are no daily midway points to stop at McDonald's for battery charging. The little towns following Wichita, KS tend not to have fast food places like McDonald's and Starbucks to power up. Charging of the bike is slated for end of day motel stops. There are organizations like Warmshowers.org and Couchsurfing.com which I have as yet to explore further, however thus far availability of places to stay have not been feasible with the timetable and preferred route imagined. Dalhart is a special memory for me and I am especially familiar with the lay of the land from there to San Diego. Plans could change when I look at the logistics, yet I am going with this route in mind unless not feasible. The Trek Dual Sport 2+ is the model eBike I have. It has 250 watts of internal battery power. I have extended the overall battery wattage to 1,580 watts. Camping may become a requirement to some extent to make it through the Southwest. I still have some calculations to make. I have backup plans in mind too. I plan to discuss this more as I progress. Right now it's time to sleep. Posting of photographs and capturing some segments of the days from day 42 to today, day 46 has to come later. I may have to stay an extra day in Liberal, KS to do more planning and will if called for. But now, it's time to sleep and be 100% tomorrow. Thank you for visiting. Your participation is appreciated!