This picture reminded me of the Jawas in Star Wars standing next to their transporter while bartering with Luke and his Uncle Owen for R2D2 and C3PO.
Somewhere in Eastern Kansas - nearly to the Missouri line - I met up with Dan, and got a new appreciation for the caliber of goal-setting some people achieve. Dan was headed West after getting started in Washington, DC. He then rode South to Atlanta before starting his trip Westward. Ultimately he's headed to Vancouver, British Columbia . . . except he's not stopping there. After getting a hop to Vietnam, he's going to continue his round-the-world adventure.
Oh, yeah . . . and Dan has a prosthetic right-lower leg. You can check out a website chronicling Dan's adventure at AbilityTrek.org.
Our day got started with a bit of a downer. When we were hooking the camper back up to the truck we found the locking pin for the ball hitch had been removed.
These things don't fall out on their own.
Failure to notice this would have been semi-catastrophic as it would have meant the only thing hanging the trailer on the truck would have been the safety chains. Criminal hooliganism in my opinion - too bad because I'd otherwise really given Kansas the nod.
|
Meet BIG BRUTUS. Big Brutus is the 2nd largest mover of earth in the world. It was used in strip-mining operations in SE
Kansas . . . not to remove coal but to remove the "overburden" or sediment above the coal seams
This picture reminded me of the Jawas in Star Wars standing next to their transporter while bartering with Luke and his Uncle Owen for R2D2 and C3PO. |
|
Last town in Kansas was Pittsburg - a pretty big town near the Kansas / Missouri border. I stopped in at Tailwind Cyclists bike shop to pick up a new water bottle cage. I'd broken mine and had been cruising along with a duct-taped fix since I'd hit one particularly bone-crushing crack in the road in Colorado. The owner of the shop, Roger, said that his credit card swiping gizmo was on the fritz so it was going to have to be cash. After scraping together all of my soda-machine spending money I was still a dollar or so shy. Roger still gave the deal the OK and even offered to hand a buck back so I wouldn't be penniless! (I refused)
Hey Scott - Roger had a signed jersey in his shop from Danny Chew (more like it was printed very carefully). It turns out that Roger was the crew chief for Danny Chew during his Race Across America bids!! I told him about you and how you used to ride with him in PA. Small world! "Pain and Suffering . . . YOU!"
| Now entering Missouri - State #6!! |
|
We're ensconced now in a cool little city park in Golden City, Missouri, a small town of about 800. Whenever we park our camper in one of these parks (realize that these parks are not really RV parks in any way - they just permit people to camp here when they're passing thru) we do tend to get the once-over (with a wave) from the locals.
PREVIOUS - TRIP INDEX - NEXT