Day Twenty-seven (77 miles, 1208.01 total): Sick on The Road Part 2

RING! I roll over onto my phone *ring!* *ring!* Ella is army crawling her way to the screen of the tent. My hand finally reaches the off switch on my phone. I'm sweating again. It's 5:00AM and the sun has barely kissed the sky. I peel myself out of the tent and Ella bounds out like a little antelope. First thing, I desperately need to find a bathroom. After sulking around the park, I finally find an unlocked bathroom door. Back at the pavilion, I force down a power bar and drink another bottle of water. I feel like I'm going to crash before I even get on the bike. A little bit of collected effort, and I manage to pack up the rest of my gear. Ella is pacing around beneath my feet and I lift the little fur ball into her carrier. Staggering onto the bike, I carefully make my way into downtown Buhler.

The streets are empty, not a soul in sight. I roll up in front of the police station to see if I can get a ride to the next city. The door is locked and the lights are off. Town hall and the fire department are also empty. Exhausted, I walk my bike down the main street again. To my surprise, a woman is walking down the main road. I pull up next to her and ask her if she knows anyone going to Larned today. She doesn't know if anyone is going, but she takes me back to the B&B where she is staying. Her name is Connie and she grew up in Buhler but was only back in town for a family reunion.

As fate may have it, this also happened to be her last day in town. Back at the B&B, Connie introduces me to the owners of The Grand Staff Bed and Breakfast, Tracy and Becky Spencer. They are the most kind hearted, generous, absolutely amazing couple I have ever met. They took me in and gave me water, sat me down, promised to get me to Larned and just took care of me. Connie introduced me to her family, who were all great people and fun to be around. 

While I sat and nursed my cup of ice water, Tracy and Becky were making breakfast for everyone in the kitchen and it smelled amazing. I forgot it was Father's Day, so I went outside to call my dad and let him know I was alright. Back inside, jalapeno ham and egg casserole, homemade zucchini bread, yogurt and juice lined the counter top. It was the best meal I had in all of Kansas so far. The zucchini bread was the best I had ever had. It was so delicious and Becky packed a little extra for me when I left. After breakfast, Connie's family and Becky had me play my guitar and sing for them. I was glad to have Connie's family there because just the joyous atmosphere helped me feel a little better.

When Tracy was ready, he helped me load my gear in his car and we drove off. Tracy is an awesome guy to be around. I couldn't have been more grateful for their help. Tracy told me all about his family; he and Becky have four of their own kids and four that they adopted. On top of having 8 children they raised, Tracy and Becky also do a lot of mission work in Africa! They recently raised enough money to build a new orphanage and will be leaving for Africa later this summer. We talked about a lot along the ride and I truly appreciated the company.

The stars must have aligned because I could not have found a more amazing family to take me in. Tracy and I finally arrive in Larned and he helps me unload my bike and gear out of the back of his car. We hugged and said our goodbyes and he went back to celebrate Father's Day with his family. I biked around the town for awhile but couldn't find a single cafe or restaurant to hide from the heat. On Sunday, every town along The Bible Belt is closed.

After trekking about, I went to the grocery store and got a Gatorade and some medicine before heading to a park. The park was nice with a few pavilions and a huge public pool filled with locals. A few hours in the 101 degree heat and I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to get a hotel room. Fortunately, there was a cheap motel along the route where everyone I had been riding with were staying. When I got to my door, I felt like I was just going to keel over and crash right inside on the floor. A shower helped, but I still felt like crap. I went out to get some food and ran into Bill, Joel, and Celia. We all sat and ate then went back to our rooms. Bob showed up a few hours later and jammed his gear into the room. I crashed and went to sleep for a little while. Later we planned on getting up around 5:00AM to beat the heat the next day. With a plan laid out and gear ready to go, I finally was able to sleep for the night. Sick on The Road cont,.