Post 15, Saturday 25 June, from Eureka, KS

Evening sky in Pittsburg, Kansas

Riding again yesterday, after a good rest day in Pittsburg on Thursday, was one of those dream cycling days. Instead of the wind being dead ahead, it was due east and as I was riding due west it was almost like having another rest day! And it was sunny, but neither too hot nor too humid. It was mostly flat, and a lot of the time I was cruising with minimal effort at 18-20mph. On days like that cycling is easy and you feel like Lance Armstrong....

Today, for the 60 or so miles from Chanute the wind has been from the south, so reasonably helpful. But I left under a rainbow, and the sky was quite stormy behind me. Then it clouded over completely, and looked like an English sky. But the rain I expected never came.

Rain on Chanute as I leave

There seem to be a number of railroad lines hereabouts. Twice today I have heard trains, and I just love the whistle of the engines. The sound carries for miles over these plains, and seems so much more romantic than the two-note diesel sound on Britain's railways.

I keep saying that cycling the TransAm isn't a heroic physical challenge. And it isn't.

But here's one that would certainly be heroic..... As I was leaving my motel in Pittsburg yesterday a guy stopped me to chat and told me of two English fellows he had met several years ago who WALKED across America. It took them two years, in two separate stages. They broke the journey in Kansas, and started again a year later from the same spot. Now, there's a real challenge - any takers out there? PJ?

Part of Main Street, Chanute, KS, (Luigi's in the middle)

Here's a first. In a rather nice Italian restaurant, Luigi's, on Main St in Chanute, KS, yesterday, I went to the restroom (if you'll forgive the personal detail). And in the one cubicle were two pedestals side by side. Now, the only time I have seen that before has been in ancient Roman sites, like Ephesus..... But this was indeed an Italian restaurant, perhaps hankering for historical authenticity.... (I didn't extend my research to the ladies.)

More reflections in the Italian restaurant. It seems to me that American couples and families don't use the occasion of eating out to converse as much as we do in Britain. As I noted this, at the four tables I could see, there was silence at three. Perhaps eating out is more to do with replenishment, and less of a social occasion. The time spent by an individual couple or group at a table strikes me as short...... I don't know if these are valid observations, but it's not the first time I have noted this apparent cultural difference.

With fewer residential neighbourhoods to cycle through on this part of my trip I am seeing fewer names that make me chuckle. But very close to here is a small town called "Climax" (population 64). Wow! - enough said.

Me and my shadow, early Kansas sun on my back

With best wishes and thanks for all your support, Ken