Hiawatha to White Cloud
30 miles
7:00am-9:41pm
11.2mph Average

I can’t believe it’s actually over. This morning at 9:41am (really, it was 9:41am, purely coincidental. I looked at my watch as we were walking away from the river and decided there was no way I was rounding this time to the nearest 5 minutes like the rest of the days!), I dipped the wheels of my bike (and my shoes too, just to be sure!) in the Missouri River. I have now accomplished everything I set out to do: I biked all the way across Kansas, never walked my bike up a hill, never SAGed in, rode a century, and am still alive to talk about it.

The ride this morning was still difficult even though it was relatively short. The hills were quite brutal again, but there wasn’t a headwind, so they were manageable. We missed the second turn we were supposed to make and ended up going about 10 miles out of our way, but probably avoided some of the nastier hills because we took a road (Highway 7) that followed the river, so it was almost completely flat. It also decided to rain starting about halfway through the trip. I’m tired of riding in rain. I have discovered that one of the things I hate most in the world is soggy shoes. And I got them again this morning. Bleh. Unfortunately this made the grand finale less of a joyous celebration and more of a quick rush to get the picture taken and get to somewhere warm and dry. Oh well, I made it and that’s what matters.

I’m still looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, in a climate controlled house, and not having to constantly take ibuprofen just to keep going (took 1 whole gram yesterday morning!). Surprisingly, I haven’t really missed computers this week, and purposefully avoided them even when they were available on the trip. What I did miss was being in contact with my friends. Not so sure I want to go back to being a full time computer monkey right away…

Speaking of being in contact with friends, much thanks to Courtney, MrPilot, my mom, Ludwhig, and Fargo for sending me emails on the trip. It really meant a lot to hear from y’all.

Will I ever do it again? I dunno, it’s too early to say, but I’d lean towards not. It’s just too much time and constant extreme physical effort. But hey, maybe I’ll change my mind come January when it’s time to register again (and maybe I’ll pull some of you along with me…).

573.5 miles
55.35 hours on the road
10.2mph overall average speed
2 Bikes
1 State
1 Fjord

Done.

Day 8 in pictures.

Best Community: Spearville
Best Accommodations: Sublette High School
Best Breakfast: Chris Cakes Pancake Breakfast in Hiawatha
Best Lunch Stop: Baked potato bar in Hugoton
Best Dinner: Cattleman’s Cafe in Sublette