Day 3
Ottawa, KS + 10 miles to Emporia, KS
53 miles
Got an earlier start this morning. Left at 7:50 a.m. Flat tire at 7:51 a.m. Clay quickly changed the tire and we were off again a little after 8 a.m. We were thinking it would be nice if our support vehicles were like the ones on the Tour de France where they had extra wheels ready so we could just pop the wheel off and put a new one on.
This has been another HOT day, even though it was a little "less hot". We are having trouble with cooling off. There are not very many shade trees along the highways, so even when we pull off to rest we can't cool off! Tom hasn't been feeling well so today really took a toll on him. We gave him one of the cooling neckerchiefs to see if that would help. You can see how he decided to wear it. Thanks to Derek and Malinda Bishop for giving them to us! Tom and Susan decided that they needed to let Tom rest the remainder of the day so after lunch they rode in one of the support vehicles.
Tom and Susan in one of the few places we found with shade.
We have come to the conclusion that in this heat we are going to have to break our days up instead of riding straight through. We rode 37 miles and then had to stop. We checked into the hotel and rested several hours and then in the evening we got back out and rode the rest. It is just too hot during the middle of the day. We stopped midday at the small town of Reading, KS. They had a tornado go through there last year the day before the big Joplin, MO tornado. They are just now getting back to normal there.
Today is Abby's 20th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY! What a way to spend her birthday, driving hot and sweaty bicyclist around.
Good grief - I'm getting sweaty just reading about your trip! It's so incredible that you are able to keep going. I promise never again to complain about walking from my air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store! Hang in there. We're all so proud of you!
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