Day 26: Half-Way Point: 1,702 Miles! 4th Century, Capitol of Kansas

Gil at a SAG stop (White City, Kansas - "very small town") to the right.

Alrighty. Well I have to leave in 5 1/2 hours to have carpal tunnel surgery (didn't talk to Dad until I was about to go out for the evening, then when I got home I was busy sub-qing the kitty, eating while I still could, and showering) and while I have a bunch of notes from my conversation with Dad, I can't really read Mom's from talking to him later. So maybe I'll peck this out with one hand tomorrow (or over the weekend) or maybe she'll write it up. Suffice it to say:

Everybody agreed that today was a very ugly day. Gusts of up to 53 mph, some of which pushed Dad and Tony right across the road. Fortunately they were in a very rural area without much traffic; could have been quite bad. Many of them repeatedly unclipped their shoes from the bike pedals because they feared they were losing control of the situation. Dad rode 75 miles and then decided at the SAG stop that it was just too dangerous to justify finishing out the last 30 miles; he and Tony took the van the rest of the way to Topeka. "Safety is the number one priority on this trip, fun is number two. We weren't doing too well in either department today." A little more than half the group took the van at some point today, and some of the strongest riders who rode through admitted at the hotel that yes, it was dangerous and they probably shouldn't have ridden. One of the women walked her bike for half a mile after the SAG stop Dad and Tony called it quits at due to the danger imposed by the wind. A couple of times the wind shifted and they went from 8 mph to 30+ mph as the wind suddenly became a tailwind; unfortunately that only lasted for a mile or so, resulting in four miles of easy going before they were fighting for control again.

The one upside is that he thinks he captured the wind pretty well with the video camera. He's disappointed that he didn't do the entire 105 miles, but with the danger and an 85 mile ride tomorrow it was "clearly the thing to do." Unfortunately strong winds are predicted again for tomorrow, but they should be in a more favorable direction.

I MAY peck more details out tomorrow (while coming off of twilight IV meds and on vicodin; could be fun reading!), may not do so until the weekend. Expect tomorrow's post (at least) to be from Jane, since I indicated to Dad that she was the one to give notes to. She's much happier about taking over blog duties than she is about possibly having to sub-q the kitty's fluids (a drip from an IV bag, not an injection). Dad's DVDs of pictures (and stills from the video camera from Kansas) arrived today, but not real sure when uploading those will happen either. Maybe over the weekend?