Day 3 - Salina, KS to Colorado Springs, CO

420 Miles
Happy Labor Day!

For a relatively short ride, Day 2 was punishing.  I had computer work to do in the morning so we did not get on the road until 1400 (2PM).  By then, it was already 97 degrees.  By 50 miles up the interstate it was 100, and by the time we were halfway between Limon, CO and Colorado Springs it was 64.  Welcome back to Colorado; where I once hit every season between Denver and the Colorado/Kansas border.

Anywho, Denise and I started out in suntan lotion and short sleeves.  We stopped at the first rest area after Salina and put long sleeves on to get the sun off our arms.  It was really draining us.  The scenery was good.  Like I said yesterday, I like observing farmland and Kansas is wealthy in productive farmland.  We just couldn't enjoy it with the heat and nothing between us and the sun.  After we dressed up a bit, yeah, it was still blistering hot but not nearly as draining.

We saw some pretty sites.  First, there was the alligator.

Oh wait, that was at Lake Waccamaw two weekends ago.  (Do we ever empty this camera?!)

First, there were the windmills.  Kansas is well know for its wind,  Something about a girl and her dog, a lion, a straw man and a cowardly lion.  But I digress.  There are now quite a few windmills dotting the Kansas landscape and you can always tell the way the wind is blowing by their all-aligned directions.

It's kind of like watching the fields of sunflower track the movement of the sun.  If one is pointing toward the sun, they all are.

Then there are the huge fields of milo.  Still not as popular as corn, it takes a third less water to irrigate and is a growing crop.  I'd never heard of it until Alan, Mike and I came out here pheasant hunting back in the mid-90's and found the hunting best in the harvested milo fields.  This is what it looks like at 75MPH.

The other issue we had were strong headwinds all the way across.  Normally I'm looking for gas by ~190 miles with a fill-up by 210 (with fuel to spare), but today I barely made it the 180 miles to the first refill in Oakley with only half a gallon remaining (~15 miles).  The second tank went a bit farther because the wind shifted to hitting us in the side, but we were still not great mileage.

When we finally got into Colorado and (still 100 degrees), that's when Denise got one last photo on the interstate of the "Welcome To" sign.

I did mention the wind shifted to hitting us in the side.  From about that point on it was hold onto your helmet so the wind doesn't pull your head off time.  You think I'm joking, but Denise had to hold onto her helmet most of the Colorado I-70 stretch.  The winds were initially coming out of the southwest (hence a major factor in the heat), then it starting coming out of the north.  Then, in parts, the skies turned dark.

I still cannot complain about the weather.  As we labored along against the head and side-winds, we seemed to literally thread the needle and weave our way between what we could see nearby were very heavy downpours....immediately under the scattered clouds.  As we neared Limon the temperatures plummeted as a rain and wind out of the north was blowing the cold air directly at us.  Yet, we still missed it.  I'm sure we'll pay for that later in the ride.

From Limon over to "the Springs", temps remained steady between 64 and 66, for a 36 degree drop from the day's high only ~2.5 hours earlier.

As we rode the final couple miles into Colorado Springs, the sun was setting behind the mountains and prairie fence.  Here's what the sunlight looks like in its waning moment playing across the back of clouds.

Finally, we met up with Denise's brother Dean and his friend Tom.  They had ridden over from McPherson to a bike event up in the mountains.  Then we suffered through a meal at The Tilted Kilt.  The Shepard Pie was great and speaking of scenery.....

After all this we eventually made it to Chris's house and got big hugs from our Colorado grandchildren.  An excellent way to end a day, if I must say so myself.  So, it's almost midnight, I've still got to clean up and Dean, Tom and I have a ride starting at 0900 tomorrow.  Do I have to sleep?!