58 km/36 mi
It did end up pretty cold last night. Turns out, it was 17 F last night and I still slept pretty well, so I'm happy about that. I'm really happy with my Re Meow sleeping bag, despite its dumb name. My Drifter tent, too, really keeps in the warmth surprisingly well when completely closed up.
81 km/50 mi
This was pretty much the worst day so far. I'd worried about the hills, but for the most part they were no worse than eastern Kansas. But the wind—I found out later we're talking about 15 to 30 miles per hour—just killed me. I'm sick of wind! I'd like to actually start enjoying these rides, but I've had ridiculous winds EVERY DAY but one. After days of going south into south winds, when I headed north to Black Mesa, it switched for me! How pleasant!
46 km/29 mi
I took a rest day. Woke up late, futzed around, finally headed over to Dewey's. But he was called in to Clayton to work (substitute?). Probably worked out in the end, as I barely had time to hike the Black Mesa.
It's just kilometers, still seems like a milestone
82 km/51 mi
I started the day GRUMPY. I stayed up too late last night watching TV (TV sucks without someone to watch it with), and so I slept in. I didn't want to sleep in. I wanted to head out bright and early, get to Black Mesa in time to do a hike before camping. Instead I was looking at another day of fighting with time.
11 am. Elkhart main street
86 km/53 mi
I stopped in at Elkhart after sliding around on more dirt roads. My recently failed pad was foremost on my mind: I wasn't that worried about comfort, but on cold nights the pad really kept in the warmth. I was considering heading the direction opposite the way I had planned for a day to stop in Guymon, where they have big box stores. I thought I might find some sort of temporary solution there. But in Elkhart I found some memory foam padding, and I'm hoping that will do the job until I can get to a big city.