Day 44, Larned, KS 62 miles

A beautiful day to be cruising across the Kansas countryside. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, and an occasional east wind made the miles click by. The scenery was comprised mostly of corn, soybean, wheat, and a few sunflowers fields. Oil wells are getting more numerous too. There were also quite a few beef cattle, in fact a gentleman informed us that we had just missed a 3 mile cattle drive down the paved road we were taking. Reminded us of our own "running of the heifers" every spring down Eagleville Rd. to the west eaton pastureland. Speaking of farming, many years ago when I was a dairy farmer, I was short of winter feed for the cows, and I bought a load of beautiful alfalfa hay from Larned to get me through til spring - small world!

We arrived in Larned mid-afternoon, and after Stephanie had a major gab-fest with the lady at the visitor's center, we made our way to Wendy's to cool our parched throats with milkshakes. That was followed by a stop at the police station to get a permit to camp at the city park (pool included)! The officer there told me the main reason for registering was to get a contact # for a relative in case they have to send your pieces back home in the event of a tornado ripping through town. Comforting thought.

Before leaving our B & B in Nickerson this morning, we were happy to learn of another cyclist checking in late in the evening. We had the pleasure of meeting Derick at breakfast, a very brave and adventurous young man from Ireland. He is traveling alone for the most part, although at times he has connected with a group for a few days. He also puts in long days, and will be a town or two ahead of us before the sun sets today.