Move your mouse over the map above - you should see an open hand. Place the hand anywhere on the map and double click the left mouse button. You will zoom in and center on that point. You can do this again and again. An alternative is to use the "plus", "minus", and "arrows" in the upper left of the map.
Day 34: {just east of "C" on the map}
JULY 8: Scott City, Kans. to Tribune, Kans., 49 miles via Kansas Route 96. Average speed today, 12.8 mph. Total trip mileage to date, 2,095. Average daily mileage since June 1, 55.1.
We started out from tiny Scott City under threatening, dark skies and TV predictions of storms for most of the day. We were prepared to get soaked, but got lucky again. The sky stayed dark, but the rain moved to the southeast and we felt only a few drops on our short trip to Tribune.
Not only that, but the prevailing winds reversed, and for much of the trip we were aided by a rare tail wind.
Continued to meet more bikers doing Adventure Cycling’s Transam route. The most interesting: A Salinas couple with, believe it or not, their Jack Russell terrier in tow. The small pooch watched the countryside from the comfort of a two-wheel Burley trailer built for this very purpose. Water and dog-doo stops notwithstanding, they were having a ball.
Continue to hear rumors of a near celebrity rider ahead of us: A guy who reportedly lost 300 pounds during the “Biggest Loser” TV show was reported riding cross-country in our direction at a svelte 190 pounds. Ben and I may catch him, because he is reportedly laden with gear and moves slow.
Arrived in Tribune, our first community in the Mountain Time Zone, at noon. Had lunch at the locally famous Chatterbox Café, where we signed a register that already included the names of scores of cross-country cyclists that had stopped in.
One guy who signed was a coast-to-coast walker. “Pedalers are wimps,” he wrote.
He’s probably right, and hats off to Sonoran Matt Mattingly, who walked the length back on the 1990s. Only now do we appreciate how awesome his feat (feet?) was.
After lunch we had the whole afternoon ahead of us. “I almost feel guilty about riding so little,” said Ben.
Ended up going to Tribune’s tiny Greeley County Hospital to take care of some minor but nagging ailments. Ben got anitbiotics for an infected ingrown toenail and I had a wart cauterized off the bottom of my right foot.
So, yeah, that’s our story – warts and all.
A word about Greeley County: The staff couldn’t have been nicer. We were even offered coffee or tea during our short wait for attention.
Then we got milkshakes at the Tribune drug store, washed our clothes and bike gear at the local truck stop, ate dinner at a combination café and antique store and retired at the seedy-on-the-outside, passable on the inside Trail’s End Motel.
But our trail has miles to go, and we set the alarm early.
