September 24, 2022
Day Thirteen: Grandview Plaza, Kansas to Lincoln, Kansas
I woke up very early and checked the weather forecast on my phone, as I always do first thing. It showed that there was a dense fog advisory that would last until 9:00 or 10:00. My plans for an early start foiled, I went back to sleep for a while.
Eventually I was up and getting things ready. I walked outside to verify that it was, indeed, foggy. Poppy the maintenance man was already up, making his morning rounds in his official-looking reflective vest. "Good morning, friend", he greeted me. So I was wrong, and Poppy did speak some English after all.
I went back inside and watched the local TV news for a while, mostly for the periodic weather updates. I listened about ten times as the woman on the TV informed me that it would be hot today, but then cool down the next several days.
I heard a woman's shrill laughter from the room next to mine. The guy who lived there, and who I'd nodded to a few times yesterday as he smoked, and I washed my bike outside our respective rooms, had a female visitor.
Eventually I noticed that the laughter had changed to other sounds. The sounds of vigorous sex, easily audible through the thin walls.
I took that as my cue to leave, and rode out.
The fog had burned off by now. I crossed the river into the much larger town of Junction City, and rode on quiet back streets.
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I exited Junction City on a wide bike path, an then onto a lightly-traveled state highway, Kansas-18.
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I passed the massive high school, and then the scenery became almost entirely farm fields and pasture for the next forty miles.
Miles later I passed an elementary school, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
Kansas 18 was supposed to be very empty, so I was surprised by about ten minutes of pretty heavy traffic, almost all in my direction. What was the deal?!
I learned the answer when I approached a church and saw dozens of cars.
I stopped and asked a woman what was going on. It was a memorial service for a recently deceased man.
The morning had started off chilly, so I'd put on my long sleeve wool undershirt. But now it was hot. I pulled off the side of the road and walked behind a little building that was apparently related to some sort of telecommunications operation. Nobody was around. I took both my jersey and the undershirt off, just as I noticed that bees had infiltrated a small crack in the brick of the building and had made a nest there. The one and only time I was shirtless outside on this tour, it was six feet from a bee's nest. I hurriedly put my bike jersey back on and rode out of there.
A while later I saw a sign directing me to visit Talmage, a town so small I hadn't even noticed it on my map this morning.
I took a left off the highway and rode into Talmage. There was a museum (not open), an unattended 24-hour fuel station, a senior citizens center, a post office, and a pop machine, which unfortunately required quarters that I was not carrying with me.
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Back on the highway. I was getting hungry. It felt like I'd been climbing most of the day. There wasn't a lot to see along Kansas-18.
Finally I arrived in Bennington, population 748. Not only were there a few open businesses - a couple of cafe's bars - but the place was surprisingly lively.
I walked into a combination grocery store and diner which was so busy I got the last available booth. I ordered french fries and a grilled cheese sandwich. The lady taking my order was momentarily nonplussed by request for the grilled cheese - "It's not on the menu... Oh, we'll just make it anyway."
It was nice to sit down and eat real food instead of stuffing my face with snacks from my handlebar bag as I straddled the bike on the side of the road.
A man sitting with his family at the next table over asked me the Usual Questions about my trip. He told me that occasionally rode a bike, but, glancing at my cyclist outfit, mentioned, a little pointedly I thought, that he himself wore jeans while biking.
Back on the road, it was hotter now, and there was a little more traffic, although it was well behaved. I was weary of the rolling hills, and wanted to be done for the day.
I arrived at my destination, the town of Lincoln, population 1,171, before 5:00. I have no idea why this piece of folk art was attached to a fencepost as I entered town:
My motel, another old mom-and-pop operation, but a nice, well-maintained one, was owned by a refugee couple from Bhutan. Amazingly, they also operated an adjoining Himalayan restaurant, where I had one of the best meals I've ever had on a bicycle tour. That was a very pleasant surprise in a small Kansas town.
While I ate, the motel/restaurant owner sat and told me about how he'd left Bhutan, while a steady stream of customers came in to pick up their carry-out orders.
After that I walked to a Dollar General store and purchased replacements for the underwear and cotton t-shirt that I wear while sleeping, and which I had left behind in a couple of different motel rooms on this tour days ago.
I looked at the map for a while, but was tired now, and decided I'd worry about my next destination tomorrow.
Today's ride: 80 miles (129 km)
Total: 893 miles (1,437 km)
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