We have been enjoying some fantastic weather in Topeka Kansas. We have ridden our bicycle over fifty miles in three days exploring Topeka. We are camped at beautiful Shawnee Lake. It boasts a complete loop bicycle/hiking trail just over seven miles long. There are other bicycle trails in town also and we have ridden most of them. We did get onto one trail that is not yet complete. It is a rail to trail conversion and we walked Path across a trestle that is still an open lattice of railroad ties. We also came across a homeless camp, so we returned to the streets for the rest of our ride to the Kansas Capitol Building.
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Something New:
We survived the cold snap. The weather warmed up again but then tonight we are expecting another cold one. This one is expected to be short lived.
We are now in Abilene. No not Texas, but Kansas. It is about 80 miles west of Topeka. It is famous for one of its sons, President Dwight Eisenhower. We will be exploring his Library tomorrow and probably a couple other museums also. We have learned the Kansas can be windy. Arcturus was a real handful with gusty north winds blowing across I-70 today. Continue reading Something New:
Hunkered Down:
We got as far as western Kansas and ran headlong into their first winter storm of the season. When we pulled into Colby, Kansas on Tuesday the weather was fair and warm. We had a nice bicycle ride around town to see the sights. We heard about a high wind advisory and intentionally chose a park over a Wal-Mart parking lot. About 9 p.m. the first gusts shook the coach like a rat terrier shaking a rag doll. We quickly retracted the two sliders and hunkered down for the blow.
Living High:
As in living at high altitude. Friday night we were in Leadville Colorado, 10,200 feet above sea level. That is close to two miles high. We walked the town from second street to ninth street and just a short flight of steps leaves you puffin and blowing. It is an interesting town because many of the buildings in the historic downtown were built in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The city was a boom town with 15,185 inhabitants in the 1880 census. So many of those 19th century buildings are preserved and functioning as businesses to this day. Leadville’s mines produced 136 million of dollars in silver over a ten year period. After silver it relied on tin, lead and other minerals.
Red Rock
We have to brag about our National Parks. They are spectacular! In southern Utah there are some real gems. We have just finished exploring Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. I know you have seen photos of Landscape Arch, (Our version is below) You hike up the real thing; you must contemplate how unlikely it is for such a structure to develop, and yet there it is; spanning over three hundred feet and barely six foot thick at the apex. We hiked four miles round trip to see it. Along the way we were watched over by huge monoliths towering several hundred feet above us on both sides. It is easy to feel small and insignificant.