Day 21: Dalton Gang Hideout, Boot Hill Museum, Can Can Show and Gun Fight

Gotta pound this sucker out before I head out for the night. (Mom got out of it; she's already gone.) Everything about today's is rushed; Dad also had his recap squeezed by his time frame (waiting for a shuttle to get dinner) and the fact that there was actually stuff WE had to tell HIM. Imagine that! Dad, I totally forgot to mention that the second plumber finally fixed things; we can now wash dishes and clothes again! This may be the first place he learns that, but I'm happy to not tote my dirty laundry to my friend's tonight. ("I come bearing cupcakes, wine, catch-phrase, and my dirty clothes!") The house really missed Dad; lots of things that were "his department" started breaking all at once.

First: Addendum added to Thursday/Day 20's post right below the original.

They headed out at 7:15 this morning under "very threatening skies." An 83 mile ride today. They had heavy crosswinds for the first 40 miles and a black bank of clouds to their left the entire time. They were able to maintain a 13 mph average for the first 30 miles. Then the road turned and they went into a town called Meade, where the Dalton gang set up their hideout in one of the local houses. Took some video there; "somehow" forgot to take pictures, but stills can be extracted from the video later. I think I may be too young to fully appreciate this paragraph...hmm.

The road turned again at mile 40 and they headed directly into the wind and the black clouds. Rode through that the entire second half of the ride. Got rained on and there was some hail; he emphasized that 10 miles were through VERY cold, heavy rain and hail. (Meanwhile, Gil didn't take his rain jacket; "I somehow figured it wouldn't rain till later." The good news is he picked up a garbage bag at an earlier SAG stop. Classy! So he had some protection, but still got soaking wet - "even the inside of my shoes.") At some point they made it to a little general store, where they stopped and took shelter. Other cyclists were there, and they had a good time once they were inside. Everybody was soaked. Got some pictures out the window of the storm. (Picture above taken in Meade, KS, where the Dalton Gang had their hideout.)

At that point a number of people took the van into Dodge City. Dad rode alone from the general store into Dodge, getting to the hotel at 3 pm (after stopping at the all-important Dairy Queen just down the street to get their biggest sandwich to take to the hotel). "The warm shower never felt so good" after getting out of his wet clothes. (I guess there won't be much hanging of laundry outside the hotels in Kansas...)

He reports that it was a hard day, but it gives him even more confidence that he can do this thing and if necessary ride alone through bad weather under adverse circumstances. Felt strong all day, and his butt did "quite well."

Gil's emailed cliff notes (sent Sat am, posted Sat afternoon)
A challenging day. Off at 7:20 am. Cool and largely overcast. My dawdling has cost me time and other riders are already out on the road head towards Dodge. Catch a few riders after a half hour of pedaling. Dark could bank to the left of the road. At forty mile point reach Mead, KS, the Dalton Gangs hide out. The 45 mile speed limit sign near the Dalton Gang road sigh is shot up. Take video. Soon after leaving Meade the road turns to the left. Not good. Rain and some hail along with strong head winds. 8 miles of hard pedaling in cold rain and some hail before reach a little general store and shelter. Other cyclist already there and holding up. Get coffee and beef sandwich. Only $3.25. Delicious. Take video of wet riders. Much joking and fun. Some decide to catch van for remaining 44 miles to Dodge. Rain lets up and I'm off - alone. Road makes left at route 283N. for remaining 10 miles to Dodge. More head wind and slow speed. Just keep head down, find comfortable gear and pedal. Butt doing great. 5 miles out of Dodge it starts raining again. No hail. But it is a cold and hard rain. I'm soaked and very dirty with road debris. Reach the Dairy Queen next to the Comfort Inn in Dodge and tell the waitress "I'll take the biggest sandwich you have" She just had to ask what the heck I was doing and when I told her she took pity on me and did and extra special job with the sandwich. The hot shower at hotel was just wonderful. So was the triple deck burger with cheese and bacon and everything else.

He's really enjoying having the video camera (shout out to RJ!) Took lots of video today of the weird clouds that they were seeing and of people clowning around. There were some storm chasers staying at their hotel yesterday, and some riders were joking that they were going to go with the chasers. The video's doing a better job than the camera with the storm clouds. Also having a lot of fun capturing "stuff" on video - it's helped to make his trip worthwhile having the video and shooting America. ("Shooting his way across America" shouldn't be taken out of context, given his recent purchase.) Interviewed a couple more people in the general store today.

Attrition news (or dropout news, if you want to be all pessimistic about it): Bob, one of their fellow Pile Drivers (pictured numerous times here, though often/usually un-labeled), is having to leave the tour. He's having some back and neck issues, and flies out tomorrow. Two other people dropped out today, a woman who was "SAGging" (it just sounds rude to say she was "sagging," if you know what I mean) and her boyfriend who was riding. He guesses they just weren't getting enough enjoyment out of it. While the tour is "a great adventure and great fun, it's also a tremendous amount of work. It's something of a grind where you're getting up early each morning and start fresh, but you have to ride a long ways under not-good conditions. Then you complete the day and you have to do all these other things; there's not a lot of time for goofing off and socializing." Apparently "getting across the country is not an easy thing to do." (Really? Riding 3,400 miles over seven weeks, constantly traveling, isn't no big thing? Shocking!) But Dad says it has been rewarding, and he's really pleased that he can feel himself getting stronger. Which may be a total waste if he just returns to mainly running and using different muscle groups as soon as he gets home!

Tomorrow they have an 86 mile ride into Great Bend, Kansas. It apparently has "Santa Fe Trail's historic Pawnee Rock," whatever that means. An old riding/hiking/general adventure buddy, Darren, called the house this morning. From what I remember Mom telling me (which I fuzzily passed along to Dad over the phone tonight), his mother's house is literally RIGHT ON one of the roads they're riding through tomorrow "between the highway and the river." So Daren will be there on the left side of the road sometime looking for him. I wonder what the odds of them catching one another are?