Day 36, July 2

Nickerson to Harvey County East Park (8 miles east of Newton)
61 miles

A small lake developed next to my tent overnight. It had rained almost all night.

In the morning it was cloudy but was not raining and the there was no significant wind. Everywhere I looked during my ride there were small ponds. The picture below was taken just before Medora.

I stopped for a snack in Buhler but didn't hang out there long.

The sign below is part of the reason Kansans give cyclists so much room. One of these appears every few miles. California recently passed a similar 3 ft law but almost nobody knows about it, or follows it, since there is no signage.

Below is a picture of a Transamerica Bike Trail sign spotted a bit before Hesston. At this point I don't remember anything about the city of Hesston. I probably blew through it without stopping since Newton, a much larger town, is less than 10 miles past it.

Newton was a nice break from the small towns I have been going through.  It had actual grocery stores, with fresh fruit, instead of just a convenience store or two. The picture below is of a church near the center of town.

In addition to getting some food shopping done, I stopped by the bike shop, which is well known among people following the Transamerica Trail. They allow cyclists to sleep overnight in an area inside the store, provided that they make a reservation ahead of time.  Since I didn't plan to stay there I didn't stay long. Paul, who was at the park in Nickerson last night was staying there and we talked briefly.

My plan to spend the night at Harvey County East Park, about 7 miles east of town, almost got me very wet. As I was leaving Newton I saw large thunderstorms headed in from the south and decided that I better do my best bike racer impersonation if I wanted to get to the park first. The last couple miles there were huge thunder claps within a few miles south of me.  Just as I hit the campground entrance some strong winds hit and I went straight for a site with a covered picnic table rather than registering first.  I started to put my tent up but had to abandon the effort almost immediately since it started pouring.

I was eventually able to get my tent up after about an hour when there was a pause in the rain.  After that it was an all night series of thunderstorms with heavy rains. In the morning there were several new small streams flowing through the park.

Most of my gear held up well. The only issue was one "waterproof" pannier cover which was not waterproof.  Somehow water got in and I ended up with about 3 inches of water in the bottom of one pannier. Luckily the only things at the bottom were my stove, fuel bottle and a jar of peanut butter.