McPherson Kansas:

Like I said yesterday, the surprises about Kansas just keep on rolling in. The place we are at today McPherson is a really pretty town. It is ranked as the 45th best place to live in America by Progressive Farmer. Don't believe me here is the link: http://www.pfbestplaces.com/default.asp?pageAction=Display&Region=Midwest
Today's 65 miles took us from Liberal to McPherson and it was truly amazing how the country side has changed. Yesterday we saw a lot of wide open country with out a tree or hill. A bunch of tiny slowly dieing towns that are huddled around a large concrete grain elevator. Today the open space has become gently rolling hills with lots of tree boarded fields of grain and corn. Although we only passed though one town, Lyonn before reaching McPherson, they both seemed very much alive. Both are beautiful places. I believe that the description Tom E used "Norman Rockwell". It fits very well.

Early this morning the water pistols were out in full force again. Seems likely there are more of them again. I shot Margret as I passed her on the road this morning. I should feel guilt about shooting her she is so nice. Obliviously it is some sort of character flaw.

There were two terrifying incidents today. One rider in the lead echelon took a tumble when she touched another riders wheel and was only barely missed by a semi. Further back in an unrelated incident two other riders collided and did somersaults over the handlebars. Tom and I had been in that group but decided that we didn't need to be involved in the craziness, and we had dropped back to take pictures. Too many riders, riding too fast, too close together. What for it was only 65 miles? Race down to the next town to sit in the lobby and wait for your hotel room to be ready. Smell the roses! Fortunately everyone is alright save for some nasty scrapes

Jim and I stopped to save a box turtle which had crawled out on the road. My humanitarian task of the day was completed.

So rolled into Town and had a hamburger in Montana Mikes. This unbelievable burger comes. It has one pound of paddies in it. Fortunately Tom H arrived just as the burger did so we cut it in half. Perfect.

The motel has and open court yard with a really nice pool and a nice patch of grass so out came the Frisbee and I enjoyed a good game of catch with Gil and Toni. It was great running and jumping in the sun.

One of the pictures is of the town hall in Lyonn. See what I mean about Norman Rockwell. The second picture is of Ian's bike at SAG. There were no places, to lean your bike in this beautiful little park were the SAG was so Ian put his bike on the garbage bin and we all took pictures and had a huge laugh.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for all the great comments. It is really neat hearing what you have to say.

On the road again!

Terry