day 34: fruits and roots 🍎

Newton, KS to Macksville, KS — 92.6 mi, 1,120 ft

hello again! after i (sarah) took over tian’s blog about a week and a half ago, she took over mine, so it’s been a second since you’ve heard from me (especially since i’m posting this a few days late…sorry everyone. and you mom, especially). but i’m back, writing from the great plains—specifically, kansas! 

today, we departed from the historic home of the voth’s after our 6th out of 10 learning festivals the day before at the fairly new newton public library. after 4 hours of teaching (both rewarding and EXHAUSTING), i had popped over to a cafe across the street to grab a quick snack with greta and joseph, then came back and read for an hour or so. it was such a nice, peaceful moment: i’m already missing that quaint little library in the middle of nowhere kansas…📚

ANYWAYS, getting back on track! i woke up a little before 7am in the upstairs living room among a pile of air mattresses sleeping my fellow spokies. i had a little bit of last night’s breakfast burrito from the mexican place our hosts had so kindly treated us to for dinner yesterday, did my usual personal and bike preparations (including making my electrolyte water concoctions that i like to call “potions”–today was a mix of watermelon salt and orange gatorade powders 🍉🍊), and departed around 8:30am. i’ve been a fan of the slightly early start: 8 or 9 isn’t SUPER early anyway, and we usually get to our place for the night with a good amount of time left in the evening, and still have plenty of time throughout the day to bike at a moderate pace, and have ample time at rest stops. 

leg 1 was about 18 miles long, so a bit on the longer side. i made my way out of town playing a folk mix off of spotify, which felt appropriate for the quiet morning hours. after catching up to ruth and ramona (a common pairing on the road these days), i also caught up to tian, who proceeded to non-consensually draft me for the next 10 miles!!!  every time i thought i had finally got a bit of space, the shadow of her helmet would appear at my feet…scary 😨 the kwik shop finally appears in the distance, the girls all wait around and snack for a bit, then decide to keep going without waiting for the car—greta was going grocery shopping 🛒

because joseph has (for SOME unknown reason) been trying to be frugal with rest stops, leg 2 was 21 miles long. the fastest way i’ve found to make the time go by on the bike is to talk to people, either with my teammates in-person or over the phone with friends and family from back home/MIT. for this stretch, the terrific trio of ruth, ramona, and sarah returns! we bike along a train carrying whole AIRPLANES ✈️, i send a selfie to my parents after my dad texts and reveals that he’s stalking my location, and we play a few songs from spongebob while rolling into rest stop 2. while joseph gets points for choosing a cafe, he loses more for it being closed. thankfully, a kind stranger invites us into his office right next door for some AC! i eat an UNGODLY variety and quantity of fruit courtesy of greta that included an apple, strawberries, AND raspberries, and our friendly stranger tells us about how he is finishing up grad school soon and hoping to work in south america! we share our socials, give our thanks, and head on our way. if you’re reading this kind stranger, good luck on your future travels! 🌎

leg 3 is once again 21 miles. SERIOUSLY 😐 i set off for a solo segment to grind through some mileage, and while i’m jamming out to some tunes and enjoying the scenery, i get a text in a group chat of some of my high school friends. it’s a screenshot from snapchat maps of my location, with the app claiming that i’m driving, and one of my friends claiming that i’m CHEATING!!! i immediately send picture and video evidence to prove that i am NOT cheating—i’m just. that. fast 😎🔥 this leads to a catch-up call with another one of my high school friends: i tell her about where we stay, what we eat (which has been AMAZING), biking, teaching—everything spokes. one day i will post a blog with an deep, introspective section on people, since we’ve met so many AMAZING ones on our spokes journey. but for now, this blog continues…eventually, i turn around and see everyone minus tian (so, ruth, ramona, charles, AND joseph) right behind me! i slow down for a sec and join them, and after hanging up the phone, we all take on the next 2 miles of VERY loose and slippery dirt—thankfully, we all make it out with no falls, just quite a few close calls…soon after we all catch up to tian, and we have a rare almost full group ride going into rest stop 3! 💗 we all descend upon the seats inside of the oasis convenience store for some food and more scratch offs courtesy of charles. i ultimately decide to buy the ice cream sandwich i had been eyeing (hey, it had EXTRA chocolate chips on the rim), and share with some of the people still around at the store. i try to give my last bite to charles, but drop it on the floor. sorry, i owe you one 😦

slightly shorter at 17 miles, i ended up tag teaming leg 4 with joseph on my side (after drafting him without asking for around 4-5 miles…), and the duo of ruth and ramona in my front (thanks for some wind coverage!) we talked about deciding on our majors, classes we took in high school, and general academic stuff, and before we knew it, the rest stop was just ahead! but before we quite make it, my mom calls asking for updates, so i had to put a pause on joseph and i’s conversation (of all the spokies, he probably understands the “mom calls” the most). after a quick convo, i say my love you’s and goodbyes, apologize to joseph, and we pull into a nice shaded rest area with some informational signs on the local wildlife. i charge my phone in the bathroom, we snack and debate over some questionable…safety posters, and then head off for our last leg.

our final leg for the day was only 14 miles! i love when our last leg is a short “sprint,” so the energy was high as we set off for even more fields (a typical sight these days) and the occasional clump of trees. we resume our formation from the previous leg (now including charles), and we start a group discussion on travel before splitting into side conversations. joseph tells me about colombia—his mom’s side is from there, and he’s been there a few times himself. it’s so mountainous (due to the andes mountain range) that driving anywhere takes FOREVER because you have to take various detours to avoid unclimbable summits, has these very unique ecosystems called “cloud forests” that occur due to a mix of high altitude and intense moisture, and is one of the most biodiverse places in the WORLD! 🏔️☁️🌿

hearing how passionate he was about his roots was very moving, and got me thinking about my own roots…or lack thereof. i’m (guessing) that i’m a mix of various countries in europe (but probably mostly germany). no matter the case, that was generations ago: since then, we’ve just been hopping around the states. that…impermanence (is the best way i can put it) makes me feel like i’m missing out on something sometimes: not having anything “well grounded” to look back on and connect, or celebrate, or share with others. i think if there is something i can look back on with pride, though—if i have any “heritage” or “legacy”—it would be the sacrifices my predecessors near and far made for me to be simply…here. i will probably never know their names, their struggles, their accomplishments…but so much went into my very existence—COUNTLESS generations of triumph and toil—there has to be some dignity in that, even if my ancestry is a bit muddy.

can you tell i’ve had a lot of time to think? anyways 😀

after i took some pictures of the welcome signs, we stroll into the quaint town of macksville—and by stroll, i mean i force the group to wait while i snap my photos and then joseph and i (after some sneaky scheming) proceed to sprint ahead of them to get to the front of the shower queue (i let them have their spots back, don’t worry, i’m not that mean). we are warmly welcomed by our hosts at the macksville christian church with the promise of fajitas for dinner! i shower, and ishaq finally arrives after ditching us the day before (he was visiting his mom in oklahoma city so…valid). to apologize for his absence (i assume), he brings a bag of nigerian snacks and some meat pies in a tin. i enjoy what doesn’t have nuts as an appetizer, and our lovely dinner is served soon after ishaq’s grand entrance. i expressed a desire to watch chicken little, but i accidentally fell asleep for 1-2 hours…i was a little disoriented so i’m not entirely sure, but i slept pretty late into the evening. whoops. i proceeded to devour 2 bowls of sugary cinnamon toast crunch (or as we loving call it, “CTC”) in a late evening burst of hunger, and against ALL odds, slept pretty good that night!

i leave you with my usual ramblings and many additional introspective thoughts. hope you enjoyed, and see you next time for our learning festival in denver, co! ⛰️🧪

with love,

sarah 💗