Day 43, Nickerson, KS 56 miles, (1896 total)

We took advantage of the 11 am check out time at the motel to hopefully wait out the last of the steady showers. We took to the road under gloomy conditions, but with our secret weapon: our deluxe Walmart shopping bag shoe covers. As soon as we got to the other side of Newton, the skies opened up and the only thing that kept our spirits up was the thought of a hot cup of joe and supposedly the best donuts west of the Mississippi in Hesston (we had actually "skimped" on breakfast because of this recommended stop). Our hearts sank when we saw the closed "Daylite Donuts", and we had to settle for Subway. While there we almost developed hypothermia (being somewhat damp). Doesn't matter what the temperature is outside at most eating establishments, they just keep that AC cranked at the "Valley Forge" setting, got to keep those electric generating plants at max CO2 emission rate. We actually used the hand-dryers in the bathrooms to shoot hot air up our raincoat sleeves to keep from shivering. Once we got back out into the warm rain we were fine- minus our failed experimental rain booties.

Soon the rain stopped, and a nice but short-lived tailwind sailed us down a very flat road, past our first view of sunflower fields and some VERY swollen creeks. It has rained 5 inches here in the past 48 hrs, and lots of corn and soybeans fields are underwater.

Shortly before entering Buhler, glorious blue sky and the sun appeared, and we stripped off our raingear in front of a herd of beefers swimming in a soybean field. Then an unexpected detour took us off-route 6 miles, including a highway with a schrapnel-loaded shoulder, resulting in our second flat tire. As the tread was getting worn, I replaced it with our spare.

We arrived in Nickerson and proceeded to the IGA to pick up a few things for dinner. There "Cooper" found us, a very nice young man from Minnesota also riding west. He had been reading our entries at hostel guestbooks and was anxious to finally meet and talk to us. We had a very nice chat, which could have gone on for hours, but he needed to do some shopping himself before the store closed and we needed to check into the Hedrick Exotic Animal Farm B & B. Unfortunately, Cooper's average daily mileage surpasses ours, and he will most likely get well ahead of us in a few days.

Our accommodations here at Hedrick's are great! Sort of reminds us of "Frontier Town" back in it's heyday in the Adirondacks. Besides the wild west theme, they have all sorts of exotic animals: camels, zebras, kangaroos, llamas, peacocks, etc. It would be a great place for our little grandson Elijah to visit as soon as he learns how to ride a bike to get here.