Day 35: Clay Center, Kansas: "Floodgate"

Sleep in Lawrence was maybe the worst I've had on the entire trip. It started off promising, but we hit a big snag at around 1:30 in the morning when Mark opened the hallway door to go use the bathroom, and wound up setting off the high school's alarm system. At first it seemed manageable. Every 5 seconds or so it would briefly beep, and then go perfectly silent. Mark and Sharif were trying to hush it but there wasn't much of a rush.

Then that alarm kicked into a whole new gear, and it sounded like the world was coming to an end. It was actually really funny in hindsight. As it sped up and got louder, I heard the whole team release a collective groan. Fortunately, the teacher who was in charge of hosting us lived right across the street, and was over in no more than 5 minutes. During those five minutes however I was in a dark place. I knew it was gonna be a long ride to Manhattan and this was the last thing I wanted to happen. Life's funny that way though.

So we all grudgingly stirred from sleep bright and early to take on the day. It was difficult to stay angry for too long, though, considering how beautiful the morning was, and the fact that our first day off was waiting for us on the other side of the ride. We worked back onto the state highway and hugged the shoulder all day. In turn we were treated to another gorgeous Kansas summer day. We were promised another dire storm but only rolled under a few gray clouds. Our rain jackets wound up being totally unecessary. After that, they day broke away to reveal a gorgeous day, cruisy flat roads, and a delicious tail wind that let us practically glide to Manhattan.

I don't know if this makes perfect sense but I feel obligated to discuss the Kansas sky. It's enormous, because there aren't any mountains or trees to obscure the view. You can see up and out for miles, which makes for some pretty surreal sights. On one side there might be a thunderstorm raging, which abruptly ends overhead to reveal a stunning, pure blue sky. There was a really cool part of the ride where you could actually see the rain falling like a misty waterfall out of a cloud. The drops were lit up from behind by a blue sky in the distance. It was both bizarre and beautiful, which I think just about sums up Kansas as a whole.

That tailwind and flat allowed us to absolutely fly as well. I averaged a good 20 miles without any serious effort. that's nothing compared to Noah, however, who actually got up to 49.8 mph at one point. On a bike. Can you imagine? Talk about a rush.

So before we knew it we were in Kansas, and we had the next 24 hours ahead of us in which to do whatever the heck we wanted. We joke on BNB that at any given point we are either eating, sleeping, biking, or building. Since we couldn't bike or build, that left us with a lot of eating and sleeping, and people celebrated the day off accordingly.

Manhattan's great. It's the Little Apple! Kansas State University's located there, so it's dripping with Cool College Town goodness. Our first night there we went downtown to explore the bar scene and were left wholly satisfied with the scene at the Last Chance Saloon. The team enjoyed much revelry and stayed out later than any Bike & Builder should, but too many good times were had to peace out early.


I spent the next full day just soaking in the accommodations at our host site, which was the very best one we've had on the entire trip. The best way to describe it is what Laura said at dinner the first night there: it was as if some eccentric billionaire just gave us the keys and unrestricted access to his fabulous mansion. There were enough couches and secluded rooms for everyone to sleep like babies. The youth room, in the basement, was packed wall to wall with awesome stuff, including a ping pong table, a flat screen TV, and Rock Band. I spent the morning excitedly watching the World Cup. It was a smalltime match, Chile vs. Switzerland, and it was on telemundo so I couldn't understand the sportscasters, but it was the fact that I was actually watching a game that got me thrilled. After that Joe, Britt, Andy, Carboni and I traded licks on the church's copy of Rock Band and had some pretty fantastic sets. Emma's vocals for "Man In The Box" by Alice In Chains was easily one of my favorite things ever. Without knowing Emma or the song I guess it's kind of hard to appreciate on the same level, but basically imagine the smallest, spaciest, most adorable girl on the trip singing one of the angriest songs you can imagine, without knowing any of the melody, and making no effort to learn it.

After Rock Band I took a 4 hour nap. I haven't slept that well in at least a month.

We ate with the church members at dinner and enjoyed a feast that is perhaps only paralleled by the feast from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". Hot dogs soaked in beer broth, asian salad, home-made enchiladas, chips, salsa, baked beans, and for desert I had an innappropriately large serving of jello salad. It was pick and fluffy and life-changing. After dinner we worked out our food babies with a stomach-stretching/head-scratching party, which was delightfully peaceful, but we can only go so long without a ruckus being raised on Bike & Build.

Out of no where, from the other room, Jesse Young and Will Green ran in, shirtless, with the biggest ball I've ever seen. It was easily 4 feet in diameter, if not more. Naturally this became the center of attention, and we made a fabulous game out of trying to ride the ball like a bull, and timing how long we could stay on it before it flung us onto the carpet. I did not win. I did reopen the scab on my knee. But hey, I wasn't out to prove anything.

We had another excellent night of sleep and woke up this morning to take on the ride into Clay Center. At 40 miles, it was nothing short of a joke. It was, however, a beautiful joke. The entire team made it here by noon, with enough time to invade the local Wendy's for frosties. I took advantage of the extra time today to catch up on my trip homework. Now that it's out of the way, and now that I'm over-caffeinated because jen made some exquisite coffee, I suppose it makes sense to finish this post, log off, and go have some fun with my pals.

So, overall, with the day off in consideration, mission accomplished. I feel totally recharged on every level from the physical to the spiritual, and I'm ready to push through this state and into the true West.