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Saturday, August 9, 2008, Zion Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, Kansas
Well, today we rode to Nickerson. The wind was against us again. The locals tell us that the prevailing winds are usually from the south/southwest but because of the hurricane in the gulf, it is affecting the wind direction here. We made it 60 miles, but it was hard. The sky was overcast, which helped. When we got to Nickerson, we looked for a place to put our bikes for the night because we were supposed to spend the night at the in Hutchinson, but it was too far out of the way so we were going to drive there instead and come back for our bikes the next day, back to Nickerson. So we called up the church that Nathan, one of the three college cyclists we met a couple of days ago, had told us about that houses cross-country cyclists. We made arrangements with them to spend the night in the church basement. Then I began looking for a place to store the bikes in Nickerson. I asked a man at the store if he knew of a place in town to store the bikes for the night, and he said he could open the fire station since he was the fire chief. That worked out great. So then we drove to the church in Hutchinson and met one of the members who gave us a key and showed us around the church. Part of the church's ministry is helping the cross-country cyclists who pass through. They offered us showers and a place to sleep in the basement. It was great. We signed a guest book with other cyclists' testimonials. After getting situated there, we went to a delicious buffet - Sirloin Stockade. I overdid it. We all ate well before going to bed. 60 miles.