Kansas has been quite the emotional roller coaster. In my opinion, western Kansas is basically the worst place ever. It's flat, featureless, boring, ugly, worthless, and the wind blows constantly from the south from 8am to 8 pm. All you see is wheat, corn, fallow fields, oil pumps, and all that sees you are cows moronically chewing cud as they gaze at you with disinterest. It's basically Mordor, but instead of the tower of the eye, all you see are grain towers that taunt you when they raise up in the distance, and you think you're almost in town, but they just get bigger and bigger until 8 miles later you're at their feet, staring up at them as they tower over you.
My worst day was yesterday - a 20 mile straight south stretch on rolling ground took me three and a half hours, rather than the hour and fifteen it should have. That, and the constant whistling of the wind preventing all rational thought almost broke me. Man was I hoping for someone to talk to, or even just to yell at the wind with me. Some citizens living off that road may have heard "FUCK KANSAS AND FUCK THIS WIND!" and animalistic screams of rage as they were enjoying a beautiful (if windy) Sunday morning.
On the plus side, Kansas has gotten much better since then central Kansas is absolutely gorgeous. It's still mostly flat, but there are lots of rolling hills, trees, and actual greenery, not just corn or wheat. I'm in Newton right now, spending the night at the bike shop with 6 other tourers.
Also, another fun fact, I reached the halfway point in eastern. Colorado. Woo! I'm at about 2400 out of 4000.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, no access to a computer!
It's bedtime now, thanks for reading my rant about Kansas!
Cheers,
Malcolm
FUCK KANSAS!!! I'll scream it with you! Congrats on half point, so proud of you, tu peut le faire!!
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