Day 17 (9/22/11)

Today dawned in Liberal, Kansas clear and cold. Some time during the night it rained, but I did not hear it, so it could not have been too bad. I hate to even mention it, but my string of clear riding days with no rain, extends back to Day 4. It looks like today will be a carbon copy of bright blue sky and cold temperatures again. I will take the cold anytime compared to hot and humid. My route today was planned to take me to the northeast on US 54 to Witchita,KS and then on the interstate to Kansas City and over to the Saint Louis area. South Western Kansas looks just like the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma in that it is extremely flat from horizon to horizon with nothing but wheat and corn fields. Wheat must be able to grow with less water as the fields are huge and are not irrigated. Corn on the other hand must require more water, so it is grown in what I will call "crop circles". If you look at the satellite pictures of the area on Google Earth, you will see circles of green, depending on when the satellite picture was taken. They use huge moving irrigation booms that rotate around the well head and out to about 800 feet as best I can estimate. I didn't do the math to determine how many acres are in each circle, but it has to be a lot by the looks of them. They dot the horizon in all directions. The grain harvest must have been good this year because the roads are full of trucks hauling it to the grain elevators. By all indications the elevators must be full already, as they are piling it up on the ground in piles about twice the size of football fields and there are one after the other. I assume it eventually gets loaded into railroad cars as the railroad is located right beside most of the elevators. The trucks dump it from the bottom into a low hopper and a conveyor takes it up and onto the pile. Each truck is emptied in a matter of minutes and they are lined up to dump. I wish I had the time to go out to the field and see the combines working and possibly talk myself into a ride, but with 650 miles to cover today, it was not possible. Each pile is about 50 feet high as you can see from the picture. US 54 was a beautiful highway and ran right through Americana, so I decided to stay on it and avoid the interstate. In the beginning the towns were about 40 miles apart and although it is basically a two lane road it is speed limited at 65 and everyone cruised 75. My bike has a sweet spot at 73 and that is where I ran most of the day. As the day grew on, the towns became closer together and going got slower. In the towns, they limit the speed to 35 or 25 and it appears it is enforced strictly. I saw more State Troopers in Kansas than I have seen collectively on the whole trip. They must have a huge police force in this state. I took US 54 all the way up to Jefferson City, MO then took US 50 East to the town of Union, MO. Where I will spend the night. Almost everyone that transits Kansas does so on Interstate 70. I highly recommend getting off the interstate and take some of these old US routes. Last year on my way to Oregon, I rode across the northern part of the state on Rte 36 which traces the old Pony Express route. Although these roads are less traveled, you get a glimpse of what it must have been like to travel across this great country before the days of the Interstates with their fast food chains and truck stops. Here you see small towns, locally owned businesses and real people. I am close to Ellisville and the headquarters of the BMW Motorcycle Owners Association HQ. I plan to stop tomorrow and say hi and pay my dues. Along the way I passed through Lake of the Ozarks, which is a huge tourist area. The lake is lined with beautiful homes and resorts. This appears to be where many of these surrounding city residents from Kansas City and Saint Louis escape the summer heat and head to the water. It looks like a boating wonderland here in the middle of the country. I would like to come back and spend some time in this area. Well, I have access to a washer and dryer tonight, so it is laundry day. My capacity to carry clothing is limited, so thought I would be nice to the people riding behind me and do a load tonight before I go to bed. If you have ever followed along behind one of the hog trucks headed to Hatfield Quality Meats, you will know what I mean. :-) I did not take a lot of pictures today, as I had a lot of miles to cover. As it was, I rode about an hour in the dark. My driving lights worked perfectly and lit the road like daylight. I love them. Enjoy the few pictures I attached.