July 9 - Jeff

Shout out to Kylie Von Handorf for being the most awsomemest life guard at Summit Hills CC.

Shout out to Adam Schmidt who has a bertday tomorrow.  We think he is 20.  He may want to be ready for a big important phone call from a very famous people.

We saw the Arkansas River in Pueblo.  Vibrant river.  Just saw a sign for it yesterday.  Drier than a dog bone.  No walter.  Amazing

Left today about 5:45.  Got about one mile and Jerry proclaimed the worst words a bicyclist can utter, I have a flat tire.  Not a Fat Tire because those are good words.  A little story behind the flat tire.  In Sheridan Lake, the pastor’s wife, Vonnie, warned us about a weed that grows in the area.  It is called Goathead.   She bought some in from the yard and showed it to us.  We had seen it along the road earlier.  She showed us the berry on the weed.  Sharp and strong.  Able to puncture tires.  We took note.  Today, when we were leaving the campground, rather than ride our bikes across the gravel, we lead them through the grass.  Guess what was in the grass in this area too.  So when we looked at Jerry’s, we found a little sharp berry that was the culprit.  After further examination by the three geniuses, we found one on Jack’s tire too.  But it had not yet punctured his yet.  It was Jerry’s first flat of the trip.  I guess he was due.

Got to a city called Cassaday.   Nothing there.  But  it is the Prairie Chicken capital of the world.  Went through Rosalia, nothing there.  Getting low on walter.  We had to stop at a high school (nickname, Mustangs) and interrupted volleyball or cheerleading practice to get walter.  Moved onto Eureka which was a booming metropolis of 2,483.  Got fueled up and headed out for the last leg of the trip to Toronto,  pop 262.  Found a state park around Toronto Lake, huge lake.  Shower and bath are open air. I kind of liked it.  Jerry said he needed to use suntan lotion during his shower.

Ride today had some wind, both good and bad.  Rode about 99 miles. Tomorrow, we ride 75 miles to Girard.  Clair Von Handorf is coming out tomorrow to spend some time with us.  She is bringing us tires and other supplies.

No more grain elevators.  Seeing more water towers as landmarks.

Wildlife report.  Dead wabbit  in  road.  Cows in ponds.  A goat.  And a horse of course.

Tonight, we head to a café here in thepark.  We need to get out of heat for a while.  Café is a little rustic but it has AC.  Let you know how it works out.

Ranger said to not walk around barefoot.  Rattlers.  Four bites a year.  We will walk gingerly.  And the skipper will too.

Jeff, Jerry, Jack, and Sue