Day 6: Fairview to the Kansas State Line

Distance: 65.89 miles
Time: 5:05:54 hours
Average: 12.9 MPH
Max: 21.8 MPH

This was our last day on the road. We had made the decision to alter the route, cutting out the Alva stop, so that Dan and Lori could fly back to California on Saturday. Since we did not have ride support we tried to stay together in the event there were any problems along the way. Boy were there. About 12 miles out of Fairview we discovered that a bridge was out on our route. Our choices were to detour 20 miles around the bridge, ride through and take our chances or turn around. We decided to ride through. Dad and I were riding together and relaying information back to Lori and Dan to the best of our ability. On approach to the construction site we encountered a large thunderstorm system. We rode as long as possible into the weather but finally decided to seek cover. We stopped at a farm house about 1/2 mile off our route and asked to take cover in their shed. Thank goodness they said yes. The storm was very strong with rain, wind and hail. The hail was mostly dime sized in diameter but toward the end of the storm we had quarter size hail coming out of the back of the storm. When we walked back to the farm house Dad picked up one hailstone about 1.5 inches in diameter. Any of those would have hurt.

The lady was kind enough to provide detour instructions around the bridge. It required riding through dirt roads that were more like sand dunes. I was able to ride most of the way with my larger tires. Dad had to walk much of the three extra miles. I know this was quite difficult. Fortunately, this was the extent of our unplanned challenges of the day. The route was mostly flat with very little wind. It was good to ride with Dad. We were both grateful to see the Kansas line.