Day 28: Battling the Winds (Alexander to Leoti)

Total mileage: 101

We rose early this morning and quickly broke down camp at the legendary rest area in Alexander. Because of our westerly location in the time zone, the sun hadn't yet risen when we set out. So we got to watch the sunrise during our morning ride to the next little town!

We were pretty tired from getting up so early for several days, so we were excited to find some coffee at our breakfast stop. Unfortunately, the only coffee shop in town was closed Saturdays (this seemed like a strange business plan to us), so we were stuck just eating our breakfast on the tables outside of it.  Actually, the whole town had a rather strange vibe that we couldn't quite put our finger on.

Unfortunately, the wind had picked up significantly by the time we left and we found ourselves battling a brutal crosswind/headwind. We took turns drafting each other, but still felt like we were creeping along at a snail-like pace.

Officially not in the South: iced tea is, by default, unsweet.

What a weird beer selection. Sorghum beer and Budweiser?

The wind kept up for almost all of our 100 mile ride. 80 miles in, we were totally exhausted and incredibly sweaty from riding in the heat of the day. We saw a few interesting sites during the ride--more feed yards, some wind turbines, and... more corn and soybeans and cut wheat fields! Okay, maybe only some of the sites were actually interesting. ;)

Finally, a use for that pesky wind!

Finally, the wind entirely shifted directions! We rode the last 15 miles into Leoti with a cross/tailwind, which was incredibly refreshing after our day-long slog. (We did listen to some interesting podcasts and good music during the wind battling riding. Headphones and rear view mirrors are both fabulous inventions.)

After some difficulty finding the right house, we had a shower and a beer at our Warmshowers host's home. Dinner was ribs, sausages, and hamburgers from the grill, as well as potato salad, baked beans, fried potatoes and onions, and cucumber salad. Yum! We had a fantastic time hearing about our hosts' lives and careers. Braiding manes and tails for English jumping shows is apparently a rather well-paid job! "Feed yard cowboy" is apparently a job, too! These modern-day cowboys patrol cow herds for disease, etc. And they herd cattle into trucks on horseback at night, when industrial cattle shipping takes place. They're shipped at night so as not to clog up all the roadways with slaughter-bound cattle. We also learned more about how someone could slip through school without learning some very important, fundamental skills. Now if only we could figure out how to successfully redesign both public education and industrial agriculture...

We were also delighted to hear new rural accents--it's so fun to listen to new rhythms, tempos, and pronunciations. And, we were interested that our hosts were involved in a major house renovation/transformation (pretty much all of which they were doing themselves!).