Learning To Like EBBATTs - Powered by the Pedals - CycleBlaze

August 10, 2022

Learning To Like EBBATTs

What a beautiful day is was for a bicycle ride!  The sky was slightly overcast, the large deciduous trees shaded the road nicely, there was a light cool breeze coming from the west to help push me along, the humidity was very low, and the temperature rarely rose above the mid to high sixties.  

Only kidding. Today was a tough ride in that everything in that first paragraph was pretty much 180 degrees from the truth. And then on top of that, I did a poor job managing my caloric intake (partially my fault and partially due to the lack of resources on the route. 

Actually today’s ride was two rides. The first 80 miles got me to Ness City. Was planning on stopping there and camping but the town park facilities were under repair and I really wanted a shower. So I went to the one motel in town. That place (which shall remain nameless) was pretty close to a pay by the hour motel. Tried a few Bed and Breakfasts, but no luck. So my last ditch effort was to call David (he was listed in the map as sometimes allowing camping on his property in Bazine).  Fortunately I was able to reach him and he invited me to camp there and have dinner with his family (more on them late). So no need to stay at the brothel. One small detail, I had to get back on the pea soup green machine and ride another almost 13 miles…well worth it!

Best part about the day was Mrs G got to drive the route and see what I’ve been doing for the last almost 40 days. And having Mrs G around also improved the scenery by way more than 100%!   My only complaint is that she forgot the cowbell, again 🙁. Today is the last time I’ll see Mrs G until I’m done riding.  Thanks Mic for driving out to Kansas and for all you did for me. 

So David and Krista are amazing people , and not because they invited me into their home, let me shower, fed me, etc.  They are amazing because they have adopted a large number of children from the Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., and I think other places too. They have a cool story in that they moved from Durham NC to get away from the crowds and bought a decommissioned high school that was built in 1926. They’re renovating the school and hope to have it done for its 100 year anniversary. I’ve included a picture of the family and the school. I’m so very thankful to them and I so enjoyed meeting and engaging with the kids. 

If you really need scenery pictures, look at yesterday’s blog…nothing has changed.  Ok fine I’ll include some new pictures. 

Do have a barn that I photographed coming into Ness City. And I have a sign of the day too. 

Tomorrow is a shorter ride because I did 12-13 of tomorrow’s miles today. Hopefully it won’t hit 100 degrees like it did today.  Maybe I should just start earlier. 

Wait, one last thing. Have you figured out what EBBATTs are?  East Bound Big Ass Tractor Trailers. When they whoosh by, they break the wind for just a minute and that’s a good thing. 

Bye for now 

Ian

Sign(s) of the day. Love the bike route 76 sign and I’ve been following East 96 forever.
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Proof that me and the pea soup green machine are a package deal.
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One of many Kansas grain elevators all along the route.
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Change in scenery! Wind turbines.
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There are 55 of these active oil pumps  or “pumpjacks” in Kansas (per Mrs G)
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Barn of the day. It seems to be part old and part new. Different for sure.
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These are rock posts. They are all over. Essentially they were cut from limestone and served as fence posts since this area had no trees from which fence posts could be made.
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Krista, David, Victoria, Jeremy, Owen, Issak, Lukas! What a great family!
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The school house campsite.
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Julie MeyerYour tent and bike look so “small” in front of the school. That is really cool they bought that school. What the heck are they going to do with all the classrooms?
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1 year ago

Today's ride: 93 miles (150 km)
Total: 2,159 miles (3,475 km)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 8
Comment on this entry Comment 2
Michele GordonOmg you are a beast Ian 😉
93 miles and some of it during the hottest time of the day …..reached 100 🥵🥵🥵…..I’m so glad we found David and Krista because each town we passed through was worse than depressing 😧……closed down stores ….limited hours …..even the one coffee shop / cafe owner in Ness city told us to move on 😕.
17 children from around the world over 27 years ……now that’s a whole lotta loving ❤️ I wonder if little Lucas slept in the tent with ya 😂😂
Sleep well love and remember
Sunscreen and eat whenever there is any sort of food near by 😉
Love you 😘😘
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1 year ago
Shelby ScovelLove the school house campsite! You are getting quite the tour of our lovely country.
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1 year ago