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Thursday, August 14, 2008, City Park by the lake, Pleasanton, Kansas
We woke up early, about 6 am. It was starting to sprinkle slightly so we wanted to get an early dry start. We rode our bikes to McDonalds for breakfast, but unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to wait around until 10:00 am for the opening of the Russell Stover chocolate factory to get samples or see a tour. The weather was mild, not much wind. We have seen about 5 dead armadillos since we crossed into eastern Kansas. I’ve eaten them before in El Salvador, and of course, I liked them. Vicky’s crank arm on her bike loosened and I didn’t have a socket to fix it, so she had to ride in the car towards the end of the journey. I must mention that it seems like everyone you meet in Kansas is helpful and friendly. We stopped at the police station to ask directions to picnic and he helped us fix Vicky’s bike (temporarily). As we were heading there, we saw a small local museum that got our attention and as soon as we got in, a nice lady gave us a private tour of the displays. We were very hungry during the tour since we had pedaled over 50 miles and hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so when we were finished, we found a grocery store, bought a bunch of stuff, and headed for the park for a picnic, which turned out to be right behind the museum. After eating, I asked the museum lady if she knew of a sheltered place we could put the tent. She made a couple of phone calls and waited for someone to call back. Finally, the same policeman who helped us earlier showed up and took me around the city in his squad car showing me the possible sites we could set up camp around the lake. Really nice. The rest of the family set up the tent while the younger kids and I went fishing. The lake was stocked with different fish and they were fed regularly with feeders placed in the lake. When the feeders went off, we could see the boiling water of fish teeming near the surface. It was frustrating because there were two men who were fishing near one of the feeders who were catching big catfish left and right and we weren’t even getting bites. At dusk before we left, I went over to them to ask them how they were catching them and what they were using. One of the old guys gave me the rest of his jar of Premo- stinky catfish bait- mixed with stew meat. I’m going to use it tomorrow morning. 53 miles.