We started the ride of the day in Haswell, CO. Haswell is a town that has seen better times. Quite sad to see the abandoned houses and the vacant elementary school where we stayed. Made us feel poverty wasn’t far away. We stayed on Rt 96 the entire day. We had previously ridden on “the loneliest highway in the country.” Rt 96 must be in the top five in the loneliest category and if it weren’t wheat harvest time it would probably be in the top two. We rode for a quite a long time in a stretch of the road that featured a deep rut every thirty feet. The steady pounding made most of the route ache on some of us senior riders. A lot of vitamin I (ibuprofen) was needed during the ride and later in the day.

Today was different than yesterday when the sweet music (road hum from our front tire) was the sign of a tailwind even to the mostly deaf biker’s ears. Unfortunately with the big trucks and the howling downhills in the mountains, I think my hearing has deteriorated even more. I know my wife won’t be happy to hear that bit of news.

Pat and I rode together again and took turns drafting each other to lesson some of the effects of the headwind. Our first rest stop was in Eads, CO. At the restaurant I ordered a huge sweet roll with maple frosting and lots of raisins in it. It was delicious. At our next rest stop, I was still not too hungry and only ate some fruit. That turned out to be a mistake. The next twenty miles to our third rest stop was quite difficult because of the wind and lack of fuel. When we finally arrived at the rest stop, I ate and drank Gatorade for a solid half hour. Pat and I were about the last riders and Mary Wright patiently waited for me to refuel while the flies were eating her alive. Pretty typical of the way she and Lee Anne have aided and cared for us the past month. They have been great dealing with all our aches and complaints. They have really worked at making this a remarkable ride and mission.

The wheat fields looked good but we rode with our down into the wind. It was hard to enjoy the beauty of the harvest. Brian reached the Kansas state line and then turned around and rode back the cross the state line with Lyle who was born and raised in Kansas. Mary took a picture of five us at the welcome sign and then we crossed into Kansas with Lyle and Kay. I felt pretty comfortable being with Lyle because he is such a fine fellow that no sheriff in the state would be looking for him. I told Lyle that all those folks giving us the farmers’ wave actually recognized him.

After about 2000 miles we start meeting people who are amazed at what we have done and are doing. I remember mentioning that to a fellow rider one day and he said it was just another example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. That is actually what the Catholic Campaign for Human Development does. It enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

After eighty miles, we arrive in Tribune, KS and I immediately called my grandson Ian to wish him a happy 12th birthday. The phone service is spotty as best.

We stayed in the Blue Gym and met Mick who arranged for our stay. He drove me around town looking for someone to cut my hair. The only place that was open was doing perms and I decided that no hair cut was better than a perm. He proudly took me out to their golf course and showed me around. He is a good guy - a former teacher and principal. Thankfully, we stayed in the gym because while we were at Mass at St. Joseph’s it began raining and rained and blew most of the night (so they say). John woke me at 4:30 and we began preparing for our day’s ride of 71 miles. The potluck in Tribune was again excellent. We appreciated St Joseph’s hospitality. We even had some leftovers for breakfast.

We have now ridden enough that when we have a 70-mile day, we feel it will be easy. I’ve had to caution some to be easy. I’ve had to caution some folks that you never consider a ride easy until you have finished it.

Do look forward to tomorrow’s ride and boy is Kansas flat!

Ken Klein

Special thanks to St. Joseph’s parish in Tribune for their tremendous hospitality (and tornado scare)!