Day Ten: Harrisonville, Missouri to Ottawa, Kansas

September 21, 2022

I slept later than I intended, but was still up and ready to go at dawn. Before riding out, though, I walked across the road to the truck stop and bought, then chugged, an ice cold Diet Pepsi.

There's a Walmart distribution center behind the truck stop and I heard a steady stream of tractor trailers moving in and out of the place all night long. But after just a few hundred feet of riding on the busy road, I passed the turn into the distribution center, and was on this, the first of a very empty network of gravel roads:

I'd worked out the route last night, and couldn't determine just how much of it would be gravel. It turned out that the first forty miles today was gravel. Scenery was nice.

The gravel turned to smooth chip seal for a while. I encountered a road crew, and after a quick investigation to determine that they weren't applying fresh oil, continued riding.

It was hillier than I'd expected; some of the hills were steep, and my rear tire spun on the loose gravel sometimes as I climbed.

I didn't expect to see a "Welcome to Kansas" state line sign on a remote gravel road like this one, so this will have to do:

I entered Kansas on a gravel road, so this is the closest I could get to a state line photo with the bike.

There was a small farm supply business at the site of my "state line" photo, so I walked up and talked to the man there for a while. I was hoping there was a pop machine at the small store, but there wasn't. I got some water from the faucet there instead.

Several miles later, still on gravel, I saw a sign for a winery, and rode into the driveway. A shirtless man emerged and told me that they were only open on weekends for events. He was a friendly guy, and after ascertaining what I wanted - a cold soda pop - he went inside and then emerged with an ice cold can of Diet Coke.

A cold soda pop is nice when you can walk a few feet from your office to the refrigerator to retrieve one; it's an order of magnitude better on a hot, sunny day after riding many miles on hilly gravel in the middle of nowhere in Kansas.

That's what I have determined, anyway.

I talked to the winery owner for a while, then got back on the road, continuing my meandering route to the town of Osawatomie.

I finally arrived. It was very hot now - almost as hot as the day before, but I needed to ride more miles than yesterday.

I passed a diner, then turned around and stopped. I don't think I'd had the luxury of a sit-down midday restaurant meal yet on this trip, and I decided I deserved one after all the hilly gravel I'd ridden today.

I ate a leisurely lunch. The people in the diner were very friendly. The nice lady who owned the place insisted on filling my bottles with ice water when I left.

I rode a mile or so on city streets. Not a lot of interest, except this, sitting in someone's front yard:

I rode onto the "Flint Hills Nature Trail." It's a rail trail, similar to the Katy Trail, but much less developed and polished.

The sky became cloudy, and the temperature dropped. I stopped at a little community called Rantoul, then got back on the trail for the final miles to the bigger college town of Ottawa.

I arrived in Ottawa, population 12,625. I didn't have a place to stay for the day yet, so I quickly looked at my map and determined that all the motels were in the "motel zone" a couple of miles away by the highway. I didn't want to deal with all that traffic, though, so was happy to find a relatively affordable B&B a half mile down the street from where I'd parked the bike.

Dinner was a couple of burritos from a food truck. I looked at the weather forecast, which called for rain and high temperatures in the low 60s, and decided to worry about that tomorrow, and went to bed at my usual early hour.

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Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 695 miles (1,118 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	3

John EganI am relieved to hear that you started the day with a healthful Diet Pepsi rather than a horrible Diet Coke.
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1 year ago

Kathleen ClassenI didn’t know there was an Ottawa in Kansas!
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1 year ago

Mike AylingHave a look at RideWithGPS for mapping.
It differentiates between gravel and made roads.
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1 year ago