Day 22: Reality Check In The High Plains

Today we woke extra early in an attempt to get a ahead start on not only the heat but the 150 miles that lay between us and Hesston Kansas.  We had planned to be on the road by 5:30 but were delayed by flats in both Jody and Steve's tires.  After leaving the brick covered streets of Ness City we began our slow journey into a light southern wind that made travel very difficult.  Each town that we entered followed a similar pattern, grain bins at the entrance, a main street with its few stores and some kind of railroad tracks were the trains could load up the grain.  We were again surprised to continue to see Oil Wells as we rode through the Kansas landscape.  For a moment the most exciting thing that we saw were some stone fence posts which Steve was particularly fascinated by.  As the wind continued to grow stronger our resolve and perseverance began to be tested to a greater degree as several times we had to stop and discuss the likely hood of us making it to Hesston today or making in back in time for Dietrich's wedding,  As we neared the 60 mile mark of our day the wind got even stronger, as we crawled into Great Bend Kansas we decided that we were going to stop for lunch well short of our original plans for our lunch time break.  We knew we had a place to stay in Hesston, because Jody's former pastor Jim and his wife faith had moved to Hesston and offered to put us up. With this in mind we had begun plans of hitchhiking to escape the brutal wind.  While dining on another amazing Pizza Hut Buffet we were approached by a man named Dwight who  we happily shared our journey with.  Later Lyle asked if he was headed to Lyons, but he didn't have his truck and we wouldn't be able to fit.  After leaving Pizza Hut temporarily he returned to tell us he was going to go home get his truck and give us a ride.  We set out from Pizza Hut into the blazing 90 plus degree heat where we headed down the road looking forward to even a short ride to cut down the days mileage. Sure enough Dwight showed up in his red Dodge Dakota and after loading up we took off down route 96.  Dwight was a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association and we enjoyed learning about his adventures in the club as well as his work as a federal agent.  Well he never stopped driving and we kept talking and soon enough he had driven us 80 miles all the way to Hesston! Suddenly our day go a lot shorter as we practically were at the door step of Jody's friends.  It was great to see Jody share memories from  church as well as eat the amazing meal that was cooked by Faith.  After examining maps and calculating numbers we finally realized that making it to the wedding was going to be a long shot as well as ten days of long hard miles that would leave us tired and unable to enjoy the trip. So tonight we go to bed with hopes of easier days to come and more time to meet the amazing people in our path.

150 miles, strong winds, 90 degrees