day 41, Newton, KS 74 miles

Covered a trip-best 74 miles! On our way out of Eureka, bumped into 5 other east-bound cyclists, 2 of which are detouring to Chicago.

We could see bands of rain showers in all directions as we headed west into a stiff crosswind. Luckily, our route turned north after 19 mi and we were flying with a tailwind for the next 17 to Cassoday, the "prairie chicken capital of the world". Our route then took us due west again, for 38 incredibly straight miles. We rode through Mennonite country and recently harvested fields of their Turkey Red wheat, a variety that they brought with them when they immigrated from the Ukraine.

Our luck ran out about 25 mi from Newton, when a steady band of showers finally caught up to us. We donned the rain gear and continued on to our accomodations in Newton, the Econolodge, where we've decided to celebrate the fouth with our first rest day in over 3 weeks.