Saturday, February 13, 2010

I'm not in Kansas anymore September 12th, 2009


Wait, yes I am.
Howdy from Columbus, Kansas, home of Big Brutus, the 2nd biggest excavator in the country (I will see it tomorrow). 
The dealership finished my bike at 3PM in Amarillo, and I didn't really like sticking around all afternoon.  I headed west briefly to check out Cadillac Ranch.  It is 10 old Cadillacs that have been planted nose-down in the ground in the middle of a field.  People are encourage to spray-paint graffiti on them and they are well preserved with decades of paint.
I then turned aorund and headed East towards Oklahoma.  I-40 follows a lot of the original Route 66, and it surprised me how much emotion that little stretch of old two-lane blacktop stirred in me.  I was pretty cavalier about it when I had crossed it earlier in my trip, but seeing such long stretches of it parallel to the relatively giant interstate really got me.  Elk City, Oklahoma was where I ended that night.  Met three guys riding out of Maryland and had a beer and chatted with them a while.
This morning I set out for Kansas, with a vague notion of making Missouri if I get through Kansas in time.  Turns out that some scattered rain storms and some neat road-side stores kept me longer than I planned and I only made it to Eastern Kansas.  Columbus was surprsingly fun, though.  Not for any inherent reasons, though.  I met some guys at the one hotel in town from Mobile, AL.  They are here on a 3-week contruction gig.  I had some beers with them and then grabbed some dinner.  After dinner I stopped at the VFW for a beer and to see what was going on.  Turns out that Columbus high was playing their rival in football tonight and won for  the first time since 1973.  I also played a few dollars in what might be the best country/western juke box I've ever played. 
Getting back to the hotel I saw my friends from Mobile were playing cards for spare change, so I bought in a few hands and played until my three dollars was lost.  I figured it was fair since I drank a bunch of their beer for free.  Better than Reno!  We also heard a mighty racket and got to watch as all four town police cars and three fire trucks escorted the football team back into town after their big win.  The parade was followed by nearly every citizen of town, except for the few I had met at the VFW.  I've only seen stuff like that in cheesy sports movies. 
Here is a snapshot of what I have accomplished so far, and a rough guide to my route for the last few weeks of the trip:
trip status
Tomorrow I will make the Western tip of Kentucky, and head to Memphis the next day.  That's about it for now, other than I assume you noticed all of my pictures are gone again.  I will no longer be adding new pictures.  For picture updates, please visit my facebook gallery.

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