The Thin Blue Ride - Part 1 - Day 1

Manhattan, KS to Liberal, KS:  304 miles

Ride Report: None - Travel Day

Today is the day that all the planning, the hopes and dreams, the work to recover from Spot's inadvertent encounter with the mini-van, repair work on The Rig, Susan signing on with the plan (Though there wasn't one at the time - God bless her), all of that stuff.  Today was the day it all came together.  After closing down the house we stopped in the yard for a quick pic, a short prayer and...

WE WERE OFF!

We pulled out of Manhattan at about 1045 on the way West.

Somewhere after Ellsworth and while Susan was driving, I started giggling and slapping my leg.  I know, I know - normally Susan slaps me.  (I'm not saying her doing so is unwarranted, just that its unusual for her to have me do it myself.)  But I digress - it finally struck me - we were on the way!

So, this is how things set up.  I’ll be chronicling The Thin Blue Ride in three parts.  First, the trip from Manhattan, KS to Astoria, OR via the RV - known colloquially as “The Rig”.  I personally find this a bit over the top, but Susan insists.  Second, the trip from Astoria, OR to Yorktown, VA via bike (me) and RV (Susan).  Third, the trip from Yorktown, VA to Manhattan, KS via The Rig.  I proffer this information as a means of informing the reader concerning what to expect by simply checking out the title of each blog.  So - there ya go - you’re all organized now.

Part 1 should be interesting.  We’ve some great stuff planned, a couple of national parks being high on the list.  Higher still, our 40th anniversary.  (An aside - where did the years go?  I may post a wedding day pic in honor of the big occasion.  Good Lord, I look like I was 12.  Susan looks like she was 14.  From this the reader may draw his/her own conclusions.)  I shall say nothing more or I might be in trouble...

Part 2 is pretty straightforward.  Ride.  Ride again.  Ride some more.  Repeat.  Rest day.  How tough can it be?  That said, the first half of the country will be more structured.  We're on a time line.  Our son Keith and his wife Kerrie are flying out to join us for a week in Yellowstone and the Tetons.  Then Kelsy and her husband Parker are gonna do a few days with us starting at Breckenridge.  I know, I know.  Hoosier Pass.  I told em.  Training has been a bit tough for them tho, what with the 13 INCHES of snow they got a couple of days ago.  Ready made excuse?  Time will tell.  However, we have no such constraints for the second (Eastern) half of the country.  We've already decided that our approach may change for the second half or it may stay the same.  We shall see.

Part 3 may get a bit messy as we’ve agreed to avoid planning the post bike ride part of the trip and just let whimsy take us where it may.  (People who know me say my middle name is Whimsy, just ask around.)  Susan has a friend on the East coast we'd like to see.  A former employee and friend from RCPD has taken up residence in Maine and invited us to spend a couple of days.  We may get distracted on the way back if the fall colors are changing as we pass thru.  We'll just make it up as we go along.

So, to get things started...

Theses are cups my sister, Deanna, made for each of us in honor of the trip.  Mine has the ride logo and Susan’s has the Powercat.  They’re really cool.  Somehow she figured out a way to paint them and then coat them in clear epoxy.  They started out as silver Yeti type cups.  Amazing.

We decided we needed one more pic in front of KSU stadium.  This time with The Rig - note the new striping.  Can’t recall if the reader has seen it yet or not,  When we got back from the Texas Test Flight, we had to have a couple of things re-done - to include the logo on the front.  It’s all as envisioned now.

I don't know if you've noticed, but its been raining biblical amounts lately.  From our perspective on the way to Liberal, this is true of pretty much the entire state.  This shot is from around Salina, KS.  But it didn't matter where we were.  There was standing water and full creeks all the way to Liberal. Now understand that Liberal is the province of yucca and sage brush - more commonly seen in dry environments.  Liberal is close to that step on the rainfall chart where cactus and gila monsters exist.  (Google it)  This, no doubt, has engendered many complaints from the local fauna - farmacus complainus alotus.  Farmers feel the same way about rain that cyclists feel about wind.  They've never met one they liked.  (Of the rain...) It fell all at once, it fell so slow that I had to delay my field work,  there was too much, there isn't enough, it was too wet - you get the picture.  OK - I made that last one up.  But I'll issue internet bonus points to any reader with a verified sighting of an actual farmacus complainus alotus saying this.  I'll need video...

There was just a whole lotta this today...

For the uninitiated these are wind powered turbine electrical generators.  Windmills.

These things are HUGE!  I've been on bike rides and had components pass me on the highway.  I don't know how long the blades are, but I'm gonna guess around 150 feet.  That's about half a standard city block.  I wonder what the power company is gonna do with them in 20 years when they start looking worn and rusty.  Be a great set for some post apocalyptic movie.  I can just picture Mel Gibson (If you're under 30 Google him.  If you're under 19 never mind, just imagine a video game.) crashing around in some beat up pickup with horns on the front and a grill made of old railroad rails.

So there you have it.  My ramblings for the day.  Tomorrow is the longest day of our trip.  We plan to make Albuquerque.  Yowza.

Till next time.