kansas, improving?

talk to me earlier today and i would have cursed kansas again, however, after finishing the ride, i must say that kansas is improving. the first few miles into it i was feeling great thinking the rain was not affecting me. about ten minutes later when my socks, shirt, hat, gloves, and chamois were soaking wet, all i wanted to do was pull over, dry off, and call it a day. the rain continued enough to cause a three person wreck about 15 miles into it (which i somehow dodged), then the next 25 miles had to be called due to lightning.

the day was looking terrible until we drove into the wonderful town of lindsborg. we went there because we heard it had charm, great coffee and great desserts - and the fact that it was thunderstorming meant that we had very few other options. found the town, were treated very well by people we didn't know at the covenant church and waited for the weather to clear. it did (kinda) and we went on to have a great ride finishing with about 69 miles after it was all said and done. the terrain switched from boring flat emptiness to lush, rolling hills with cows all over the place (we play a game called "hey cow" where, while biking, you yell "hey cow!" as loud as possible and see how many cows turn and look - we are on the bike for hours so little games like this really pep us up). the rain eventually slowed then stopped and the sun came out for a little while. had an incredible rest stop where water bottles were magically filled and i had the opportunity to make a delicious peanut butter and oreo sandwich with peanuts and have a juicy tangerine.

i want to say that today was one of those days you remember because it was looking so horrible to start and turned into a beautiful ride. started out in lyons, KS and finished in herington. we came home in time to have a sit down dinner thanks to jen who cooked us enchiladas and quesodillas and kem who made his famous, "life-altering" homemade spicy mango salsa. happy cinco dey mayo!

tomorrow stephanie and i will be giving a group of middle schoolers a lecture on how to become a doctor which should be fun for all.


the swedish themed town of lindsborg. this town was a gem in otherwise, flat, empty kansas (no offense kansas peeps). had this horse theme that i was too lazy to read the significance.

team warming up after a cold, wet day. the people at lindsborg covenant church let us warm up, dry up and fed us hot cocoa and coffee. from left: chris, van, katie, stephanie, kel, bobby and samara sip, sip, sippin on some cocoa.

photo of lion after eating shark. this lion is actually stuffed, but he died of natural causes.

my best lion pose. i am nothing compared to the king of all animals (including land and water).