Day 3 we woke up to warm temperatures but the wind was back and unlike day 1 it was going to be in our faces all day. But before we set off toward Americus we stopped by the bank in Dwight and said hello to Amy and took a look around and the old equipment and pictures from the banks early days.
The winds never stopped blowing and the hills never stopped coming on the early day section of the route, I guess this was pay back for the tailwind the first day and no wind on the second day.
We hit Council Grove at about the halfway point and made a brief stop for lunch before jumping on the Flint Hills Nature Trail, an old railroad track converted to trail. The wind block from the trees was nice but it seemed like the trial pointed up the entire time we were on it. Take the good with the bad I suppose.
Shortly after leaving Council Grove we came upon three monuments to the Kaw (Kanza) people that used to inhabit the lands before the white settlers and the Union Pacific Railroad pushed them on to reservations in Oklahoma. The top picture is a limestone tower erected in 1925 and it was built as a tribute to the Kanza people who once lived in the area, it's know as the monument of the unknown Kanza warrior because during the construction of the monument they unearthed the remains of the warrior and the belongings he was buried with. His remains and posessions are now entombed at the base of the monument. The circular monument depicts a bead pattern common in Kanza belts, the outer rim contains the names of the 16 Kanza camp names that once occupied the land. The now stabilized stone building is the remains of the Agency Building where Native Americans and the US government would conduct business, it is also the sight where Kanza chief Allegawaho made a protest to the government when the Kanza were told they would be relocated to Oklahoma.
"Great father, you whites treat us Kaws like a flock of turkeys. You chase us to one stream, then you chase us to another stream. Soon you will chase us over the mountains and into the ocean, and we will have no place to live."
All of this in the middle of a field, along a dirt road in nowhere Kansas. I've said it before and I'll say it again, traveling by bicycle has to be the single best way to really see and discover the world we live in. It's fast enough to get you places in a reasonable time period but your IN the world and not removed from it by a layer of rubber, steel and glass. I am quite certain if I hadn't traveled this section of Kansas on a bike I never would have seen these monuments and would have never known they existed.
A few more miles up the trail and we turned south and the last 10 miles of the day. The closer we got to Americus the more you could tell we were in the right place, it was the first time since leaving Marysville that we had seen other people riding bicycles also. We had found our people once again!
Literally we had found our people, several of them were already at the check-in/expo and had posted up at tables. Since they arrived by car instead of bike they looked much more refreshed than we did and I sort of feel like they cheated a little bit but it was great to see them non-the-less. Pizza was had, beer was drank and conversations were had before putting our bikes in the back of the truck and hitching a ride back to Dwight for the night. Yes we drove back to Dwight, the time for riding on that day was over but there was more to come the next day at the Flint Hills Gravel Ride and Run. That ends day 3 of the adventure, I had hoped to get all four days knocked out this week but the time it takes to write blogs and edit video surpassed the time I had available while still maintaining a life. The fourth blog and video are on their way it just might be next week before they are done... in the business that's what we call a cliff hanger. Ha, look at me sounding all self important!
A few more miles up the trail and we turned south and the last 10 miles of the day. The closer we got to Americus the more you could tell we were in the right place, it was the first time since leaving Marysville that we had seen other people riding bicycles also. We had found our people once again!
Literally we had found our people, several of them were already at the check-in/expo and had posted up at tables. Since they arrived by car instead of bike they looked much more refreshed than we did and I sort of feel like they cheated a little bit but it was great to see them non-the-less. Pizza was had, beer was drank and conversations were had before putting our bikes in the back of the truck and hitching a ride back to Dwight for the night. Yes we drove back to Dwight, the time for riding on that day was over but there was more to come the next day at the Flint Hills Gravel Ride and Run. That ends day 3 of the adventure, I had hoped to get all four days knocked out this week but the time it takes to write blogs and edit video surpassed the time I had available while still maintaining a life. The fourth blog and video are on their way it just might be next week before they are done... in the business that's what we call a cliff hanger. Ha, look at me sounding all self important!
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