Day 19 (6/10/09)

You know its not going to be a good day when Jere shows up at your hotel door at 6:00 a.m. with a Cheshire cat grin and holding rain fenders for your bike. (At least it was our hotel door and not our tent flap.) Fortunately, by the time we ate breakfast, the early morning rain had passed and the morning breeze had dried most of the water from the streets. Yet the day remained overcast and gloomy. I wore my amber glasses for the first time. Today's target destination was Larned, Ks., about 2/5ths of the way through Ks. and 120 miles from breakfast. The support team was later than usual meeting us for our first refueling. They typically find us about 2 hours after our start. Today, they were about a half hour late. They first had to deal with a medical emergency at Subway and wait for the ambulance. It was our support team that offered medical assistance until the ambulance arrived. (A diabetic lady passed out and cracked her head on the floor). Behind the power curve, the support team tried to make up time, but unfortunately the local law enforcement (who are allowed to use radar, unlike in Pa.) landed a couple of young fellas wearing Pink Floyd and Metallica T-Shirts. Fortunately, the copper believed their story about supporting a couple of old guys and didn't search the van packed with duffel bags. (Did you know pot is often packaged with sweaty Spandex to throw off the drug dogs?) Because the offender is presumed innocent, I will not divulge his identity, but you got a 50 -50 shot of guessing who. As we passed through Alexander, Ks., nothing more than a grain silo, we marked the half-way point in miles between San Francisco and Yorktown, Va. Looking at the map, we figured we would be in Kentucky by now, if the route through the mountains was as straight as the course we are on now. Ultimately, God saw fit that we should actually use the fenders Jere made us put on our bikes in the morning, by making it rain. It rained for at least the last 30 miles into Larned. If the rain didn't make it miserable enough, the road spray from the trucks made it worse. Despite having tail and headlights, we were all stressed from worrying about our visibility to traffic approaching us from behind. We made it in one piece, soaked through and through. Jere started stripping out of his wet gear outside his hotel door and Tim and I quickly emulated the veteran. After warm showers and food, we were no worse for the wear. Tomorrow morning, if I hear a knock on my door and I see Jere with a grin from ear to ear through the peep hole, I'm not answering, nothing good could come of it.