kansas city, mo → warrensburg, mo
sometimes, on this trip, i worry about whether or not we’re able to have fun. after all, as joel wrote, we’re heroes getting ready to slay dragons—and heroes-in-training don’t get a ton of time off (from my, more limited, experience reading fantasy).
there are even some days on this trip where i’ve been so head-down focused on getting to the next rest stop that i couldn’t tell you about the scenery during the ride — but that style of riding… sucks! it just doesn’t seem worth it.
lots of people ride bikes at stanford, so my friends are usually a bit surprised when i tell them that i walk instead. i often explain that campus is so much prettier when you’re walking (even though walking to class can taking up to five times longer than biking). and, walking, i constantly discover new things: a fruit tree i didn’t know existed, a path to a park amidst faculty houses, a beautiful vantage point to see the sunset.
basically, i’m a fan of slow travel because i find that i learn more about a place when i’m moving through it slowly. so, it makes me sad when i miss the journey, for the destination. and, it makes me even sadder when our nightly stops are merely waypoints to the next stop — so transient that i feel like i could miss it if i blinked.
my guess is that this will continue to be a challenge for me (which is understandable, given the extreme conditions of this trip) but the last 24 hours have given me a lot of reassurance that, perhaps, we do know how to take a break, when it matters.
as katherine mentioned, timothy, aja, and i went roller skating last night, which was incredibly fun. i was most excited because the employees were our age, they seemed to have a lot of control over what they played, and they skated with us!! while they were working!! (potential future career??)
a carefully-coordinated pose, with our feet and hands crossed so that we look super cool
at the end, once were completely off the roller rink, aja slipped off the bench (the one we’re sitting on above) and, in a ridiculously underwhelming fashion, bruised their tailbone, landing them in the car today.
mark following behind joel
this morning, our host mark thanked us for visiting, saying that his home has “never been as full of life” as it had been over those days. that made me smile. i love the idea that—as a previous host put it—we get a place to sleep, and our hosts get to see the world through our eyes. it’s really special to share that connection with someone.
mark even decided to join us for our first leg!
he complimented our riding style (which was pretty fast, compared to most city rides he does) and shared stories from his own rest stops — including one where some employees confused chamois butter and real butter and put a bunch of it on sandwiches that several riders ate…
he also briefly commented how nice watermelon is at rest stops, which i think primed joel to notice a watermelon stand at the next rest stop and get one!
in the next leg, we passed by a sign next to a house that said “chicken and duck eggs, $3, call [phone number]” and joel and sophia simply had to call, in hopes of acquiring some duck eggs.
nobody picked up the phone, so i suggested that we just walk up to the house and knock on the door. they answered! and, though they didn’t have duck eggs, they sold us a dozen chicken eggs and refilled my water bottles. they even offered us gatorade! (which we politely declined)
waiting for eggs
eggs!
walking our bikes up a steep grade
the next leg was our last, and it was also the hardest for me. we were trying to avoid highway 50 by biking on side roads, which included some pretty steep grades on gravel. we had to walk our bike up a few hills.
towards the end, we passed a sign that said: “farm fresh butt nuggets sold here.”
yep, we were confused too.
so, take a guess: what do you think a butt nugget is?
if it helps, the sign had a chicken on it.
my incorrect guess was that it referred to chicken nuggets made from butt meat. joel looked on urban dictionary, which was entirely nsfw and ultimately not helpful. sophia found the correct answer: it’s an egg!
high on the excitement from the last egg stop, we doubled back for some butt nuggets. but, the folks didn’t answer the door, so we left nugget-less.
after dinner, we decided to go to culver’s for frozen custard, a midwestern tradition that many on the team had never experienced.
we loved it so much that we're establishing a new tradition: frozen custard every day. the mit spokes get ice cream after they teach. we resolve to get frozen custard after we bike. and probably when we don’t bike too.
we just like custard.
79.53mi, 6:20:25 moving time
—parth
one more thing: we just left kansas, and biking through the state, i was inundated by the upcoming vote on august 2nd, which is the first post-Roe vote on abortion rights. voters will decide whether the kansas constitution protects abortion — a “yes” vote says it doesn’t (pro-life) and a “no” vote says it does (pro-choice).
the tactics of the pro-life camp have been duplicitous at best. they moved the vote to august 2nd — the date of a primary — in a state where democrats are unaccustomed to voting in primaries. the language of the proposed amendment itself has been criticized as confusing. in my opinion, it’s sneaky and disingenuous.
i have the privilege of living in california, where abortion is protected under state law. but, i worry about my friends and loved ones who may have to seek abortion care in a post-Roe kansas. or, even folks who might seek care for a miscarriage there.
as kansas teeters on the edge of dystopian, i’m keeping all of the lovely people we met there in my thoughts.
and, if you live in kansas: vote no on august 2nd. enter your address here to get more personalized information!