Day Twenty-three (60.8 miles, 964.7 total): It's Raining! It's Pouring!

RING! RING! RING! Ugh. Too early. 6:00AM. Ella is immediately up and bouncing around like she had been drinking a few too many Red Bulls! BOOM! Thunder cracks the early morning silence. I look out the window and its beginning to rain. By the time I get to the back door with the little Energizer Bunny, its pouring and she refuses to go out the door! She runs back to the room and plops down in the corner. I walk up to the lobby for some hotel waffles and fake orange juice. A couple of motorcyclists are sitting in the lobby looking out the window. We start talking, and they are waiting for a break in the weather too. I send Bill a message after I see the storm should pass around 8:00am. He agrees to head out then, and I head back to my room to finish packing up.

By 8:15, we are pushing our bikes out onto the street and heading for Chanute. Its still drizzling and there isn't even a slight peek of sunshine in the sky. A couple of miles down the road, we run into a road block and use someones driveway to go around it. The roads are empty for miles and miles on end. Occasionally, we get passed by a lone car headed down the long stretch to nowhere.

At Girard, we stop at a gas station for a bathroom break. I also happened to get my first flat in the same parking lot. When we pull up, Jesse Carlson pulls up. He is the leader of the TransAm Race and he has about a 200 hundred mile lead on everyone else. We get a picture and then I go back to fixing my flat.

Covered in grease, Bill and I head back down the asphalt straight away. Less than an hour later, I got yet another flat on the same wheel! Bill helps me fix the second flat and load my bike back up. Off we go! Not long after my flat, Randy catches up to us. While we are standing there talking to Randy, Celia catches up with us as well. We all set off in one big happy group.

Long flat roads with gradual hills led the way through the Kansas country side. Corn fields stretching as far as the eye could see only separated by rows of tall green trees of different kinds, lined either side of the highway. Traveling through the rows of green, it began to pour and pour and pour. The rains went on for a few hours completely soaking us as we pedaled along. It was cool and refreshing to be pedaling in the rain. As it rained, the hills became long slow inclines for miles. The hills were met with headwinds, and the challenge began. The speed of the day came to a screeching halt as we dragged on up the hills. The rain finally stops, but the sun never comes out.

Late in the afternoon, our merry band of cyclists finally reach the bustling town of Chanute. The local park is on a low flat plain and there are no showers or running water. Checking the weather, we receive flash flood warnings and make an executive decision to split a hotel room for the evening. This way, we all stay safe from the imminent storm darkening the horizon and we cut down cost on the room.

The hotel lobby is stuffy with the fumes of recently burned incense and the low jingle of Indian music coming from the speakers. Pets cost extra, so we leave Ella in her basket and sneak her in later. Once Bill and I get to the room, we pull the bikes in and release Ella from her basket. The bathroom is really bizarre with some kind of blue shell type shower, reminiscent of the 1950s. We took some pictures of the ridiculous retro shower then headed out to get some food for dinner. Celia, Bill, and I all walked down to the Walmart and headed back to cook food in our rooms.

The delicious smell of food is forcing me to leave my keyboard behind for the evening. I hope you are enjoying our adventures and continue to follow us as we keep on heading west!