Day 25 Atchison to Seneca - Oregon or Bust - CycleBlaze

August 9, 2025

Day 25 Atchison to Seneca

I was apprehensive about today’s ride, being 70 miles long, 4,000 feet of climbing, and through sparsely populated areas including the Kickapoo Indian Reservation. It turned out to be a breeze though, the breeze mostly on my port stern quarter giving a boost throughout the day. It was overcast and not nearly as hot as forecast. The climbs were gentle overall.

A couple of quirky things seen on the ride today:

Fabulous hot rod at a gas station leaving Atchison. The owner has built a couple, but not this one.
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He didn’t seem to care much about me.
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Old water tank turned into a baseball. The sign gives the history, but not “why?”.
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Jesse MitchellI'll try to fill in part of the why.

Joe Tinker, a major league baseball player, was born in tiny Muscotah Kansas in 1880. He and his family moved away when he was young, but he went on to play baseball for the Chicago Orphans, now the Chicago Cubs. The townspeople of Muscotah wanted to erect a monument to their local legend, hence the worlds largest baseball. A decommissioned water tower was used to construct the 20ft diameter baseball, with rebar used for the baseball stitching. The plan was always to place a museum inside of the baseball, but so far this has not come to fruition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Tinker

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-baseball-kansas
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1 day ago

I crossed paths with Flavia and James this afternoon. They started in Astoria and followed the TransAm through the Rockies and jumped off at Ft. Collins to take the Eastern Express route that I’m on. They plan on following my route in reverse to Pennsylvania, then on to the East Coast. Their journal will be useful for me as I travel in the opposite direction up through Idaho and beyond. I hope my journal is likewise useful for them.

Kansas has good winds and many, many turbines.  These are a few of the dozens I saw today.  

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Michael HutchingHow did those escape the notice of Big Daddy? From the way he was talking about the ones in Europe, I was beginning to wonder if in the interests of making America beautiful again, they’d been banned.
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3 days ago
Ken GrossTo Michael HutchingHA! It’s very ironic that the states with the most wind turbines are:
#1 - Texas
#2 - Iowa
#3 - Oklahoma
All very red places. ‘Course that has a lot to do with favorable wind patterns, but still …
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3 days ago

Motel for tonight in Seneca; no camping options. I’m off-route north quite a few miles to position for a straight shot westward to city parks over the next couple of days.

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Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 1,334 miles (2,147 km)

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Comment on this entry Comment 1
Jesse MitchellI'll try to fill in part of the why.

Joe Tinker, a major league baseball player, was born in tiny Muscotah Kansas in 1880. He and his family moved away when he was young, but he went on to play baseball for the Chicago Orphans, now the Chicago Cubs. The townspeople of Muscotah wanted to erect a monument to their local legend, hence the worlds largest baseball. A decommissioned water tower was used to construct the 20ft diameter baseball, with rebar used for the baseball stitching. The plan was always to place a museum inside of the baseball, but so far this has not come to fruition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Tinker

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-baseball-kansas
Reply to this comment
1 day ago