Day 32: Life is a Highway 🎶

Emporia, KS -> Newton, KS – 76.3 miles, 1,602 ft

My day began like most of my other days on Spokes — smashing the snooze button on my phone alarm and cursing previous-night Charles. This time, the offense was a 7-player Smash Bros session in the church basement the night before. I can probably count on two hands the number of times I’ve played Smash Bros in my life, but Ishaq was literally playing by himself against the CPU and it was honestly getting sad to watch. “One game I promise” morphed into “last game” turned into “last game, swear, for real” (not in fact the last game). However, Greta was (un)characteristically the voice of reason and shooed us to bed since she was sleeping on the couch in front of the TV, so all in all, it was a fun and not terribly regrettable 20 minute delay of our bedtimes. Once I cleared the cobwebs and hazy memories of spamming Ness’ PK Fire attack from my addled early morning brain, I began my morning routine and we all got out the door by 8am SST¹.

Today was the first of many days from now on that we will be biking along US route 50. Despite a few shortcomings (the occasional stinky manure smell; no shade to protect us from the sun; random gusts of wind from passing semitrucks; the neverending, flat, and often repetitive scenery), the pros (spacious shoulders; smooth, paved asphalt; no climbs) make the riding physically fast and painless, leaving only the mental fight against boredom. Over the course of the past month, I’ve been developing my personal arsenal of defenses against the lack of external stimulation on my rides.

I busted out my first boredom defense by biking and chatting with Ramona on our way to the first rest stop. We talked about extreme physical endurance feats and Ramona sung high praises about one of her favorite topics in the whole world — mountain bike orienteering. For the uncultured, that’s orienteering (a sport where you navigate using only map and compass to find waypoints, usually in some sort of natural setting like a forest) on a mountain bike. Before we knew it, we pulled into Phillips 66, almost 20 miles in.

Greta had snapped her rear derailleur cable on the ride over. Conveniently, Joseph, the driver for the day, rocks the same frame size as Greta (despite being a very differently sized human; Greta has freakishly long legs apparently). The plan was for Greta to use Joseph’s bike for the rest of the day. After adjusting Joseph’s entire bike fit and preparing to leave, Greta’s nose starts bleeding. Profusely. So, with two signs from the big man upstairs, she finally takes a hint and realizes perhaps biking is not in the cards for her today. Ishaq cries PR sabotage.

Also, Ruth whips out a tub of left over ice cream and we eat some. Great job, Ruth.

Back on the road, Ramona calls her family, who are in Latvia and taking a road trip (“so they have no excuse not to pick up”). I try out my second trick and ring my family as well. Coincidentally, they are also on a road trip. I roll in to rest stop 2 feeling adequately entertained and ready to eat lunch. Greta and Joseph arrive at the rest stop a little late (a lot late for a few of the other bikers who were 20 minutes ahead of me) after checking out a local nature preserve a kind stranger had recommended at the last rest stop. I eat my sandwiches and invest (read: scratch lotto tickets).

The rest stop is in a kind of ghost town. Halfway through our time in Cedar Point, a guy (who actually lives there!) pulls up in a pickup truck, and we ask questions about the town. It’s not quite a ghost town actually, but mostly deserted. The entire county is 20 miles square but only has 3,000 residents — they have more cattle than people. Most of the buildings in the town closed down after the school shuttered about 25 years ago. The bank is technically still operational, but only by appointment. We also learned that the town used to be the first location of Heckendorn Mowers, a company that developed tricycle mowers with small turn radii to mow grass in cemeteries.

I called my family some more after this rest stop, but their connection ended up being the problematic one, so we gave up. For the third time in the day, I tried a different time-passing technique — listening to music, the tried and true method. I’ve been absolutely jamming out to and falling down the rabbit hole that is the genre of “white girl hardstyle” the past few days. Tuning in each time is a complete game changer, +2 mph boost at least.

I switched over to a normal hardstyle mix at some point and listened to possibly the worst song I’ve ever heard. After this abomination graced my earbuds, I switched back to white girl hardstyle and finished the ride boppingly.

In Newton, we arrived at the home of our hosts, Janet and Orvin. We met Enzo, their adorable, uncoordinated, and slightly clueless dog. We also meet Bill, another biker they are hosting for the night, who is on a self-supported trip across the country. Dinner featured angel hair pasta, marinara sauce (w/ meat for the meat eaters), and Texas toast. Janet and Orvin asked us each to share why we decided to do Spokes. Though we kept getting distracted by side tangents, we all answered, alternating between contemplative reflection and laughter, in true Spokes fashion.

We concluded dinner with Janet’s mulberry pie. Bill asked Orvin to share any stories of the pie’s fame. Turns out it is quite famous — it fetches $500 bids at a bake sale benefit auction Janet and Orvin do every year! I felt slightly guilty and most definitely spoiled whilst scarfing down my ~$50 slice with a healthy heaping of vanilla ice cream, but I think I did the dessert justice. Licked my lips and the plate clean. Absolutely heavenly.

Janet and Orvin had a guest book they asked us each to sign with a page describing ourselves and leaving any contact info we’re comfortable sharing. It was great leafing through the book and reading about everyone else who has passed through their house on a similarly long ride as us. Spokes `24’s entries were in the book as well. Ruth asked me to read them all and just tell her the best one since she was being lazy. I decided the best entry was from no they were all great (except for seven of them :P).

Days like these make me feel so blessed to be assisted by so many kind souls on our trip. From calling my family and friends, to conversations with fellow Spokies, to meeting helpful strangers at rest stops, to our wonderful hosts each night who open their homes and churches to us, it’s been great to experience travel not just as the sights I see, but the people I meet. And on the flip side, Janet and Orvin said something quite poetic about being WarmShowers hosts that will stick with me for quite some time — “traveling is wonderful because you go see the world, but when you host, the world comes to you.”

¹SST aka Spokes Standard Time: 30 minutes to an hour later than the given departure time