Day 16 - July 1 - Garden City, KS

I got up pretty early to get out of this park. Last night was the coldest it has been since I’ve been out. When I left around 7:30 it was about 65 degrees. The sun was behind a thick blanket of clouds that lasted until 10am, keeping it in the lower 70s. I passed a group of about 10 cyclists going east on 50 as I was getting to dodge city. I don’t know if they were going across country or not, they didn’t have any equipment on them so they might have just been exercising. It’s the first group of cyclists I’ve seen since I left and I hope I meet some touring cyclists soon. I made my 26 miles to a small town called Cimarron. I got a couple donuts and some coffee and sat down. I never know what people are going to say when they see me and I don’t think people know what they’re going to say either. She started off by telling me I was going the wrong way. I told her I was going to California, so I was going west. Then she told me every other cyclist goes east through Kansas. I explained to her that in order to get to California I had to go west, it was a bit of an awkward conversation and I don’t know why people start conversations sometimes. I made really good time going to Garden City, 35 miles in 2.5 hours. 60 miles before 1:30pm is a pretty good day, and puts me at 850 miles so far for my trip. I’m resting right now with relatives and hope to be in Colorado tomorrow. I still don’t know what route I will be taking through the mountains. I have 2 routes planned out in my head. When I get to the point where the road splits, I will decide.