Day 2: Carthage, MO to Garden City, KS
Today we got a little later start, 8:30 local time. This was due to the first day of picking up our camp site and packing it back up. We are hoping that we will get a little better as the days go by. By the time we got started it was already 90 degrees. Oh, yeah, did I mention it is HOT!
We have about 410 miles ahead of us today and which will take us through Missouri and into Kansas. We headed to McDonald's for a quick bite to eat and some coffee. Turns out that when we get there, someone immediately comes over to ask questions about Mike's BMW. Mike rides a 2004 BMW 1200 CL. He gets a lot of comments on it, because it is different looking. In McDonald's, I asked some locals about how to get into OK, since we were so close and I couldn't pass on getting another state on my map. So we rode down 44 until we hit OK, and headed west on US400. Turns out that Kansas is a pretty flat state :). There are Miles and Miles of fields. Seemed like the roads never ended in some places.
Since the previous day my Road Star had some squeaking noise, I asked if we could get it looked at. As we pulled in for gas, the noise was back and I called the Star Touring and Riding office to find a Yamaha shop in Wichita, KS. Barb gave me the number to Advance Motorsports. I talked to Kerrey who was EXTREMELY helpful, he said yeah, come on in. His directions where a little off, but we got there.
By the time we stopped in Wichita, the temperature was 111 degrees. That is not a typo, we thought yesterday was hot, this was hotter! So they took my Roadie apart, checked out all the bearings in the rear wheel and said they all looked good. They also checked the Pushdrive and cleaned it up a little. Based on the symptoms, they figured that the rubber bushings in the push drive are swelling and causing the squeak. They lubed everything up and put it back together. I felt much better about the bike after that, and we where back on the road, well kinda, we stopped for lunch. Although since it was SO hot, we ate light and drank a lot of water.
West of Wichita the terrain is even more flat. It seemed like we would never get out of the Extreme heat. We had to make a few extra stops for fluids. Those combined with the stop at the shop we were a little behind schedule.
Traveling west we passed countless cattle trucks, I think they were all empty. We hit Dodge City about 7:00pm Local, and boy was that an experience, more cows than I have ever seen, and all in one place. Then the "Cow Processing Plants" they were a disgusting mixed smell of grilled burgers and death. I don't really know how to explain it, but it wasn't too pleasant.
We finally got some relief from the sun about 20 miles before Garden City when the sun went behind some nice clouds. The temp dropped probably 15-20 degrees and the ride was so much more comfortable. We finally arrived at the campground at about 8pm. Again, showers and food was in order.
We had some semi-strong winds overnight and a little light rain, but when I got up at 5:30 this morning everything was dry. The humidity is down here, so things are drying quickly. We will gain another hour when we hit Colorado so we are taking our time again.
This has turned out to be a great trip so far, even with the heat. Seeing the great expanse of land, it makes you a bit more aware of how big this country is. I can't wait to see the rest of our trip.
If you have questions or want more details, send me an email webmaster@MetricCruisers.com. Don't know when the next update will be, but stay tuned the trips is just getting started. Oh, and I will be getting some photos around too.
till next time,
-matt-
07/20/2006
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