Good morning, reasonably cool, flat road and a gentle wind.
Within the first 10 miles we noticed a plane seemingly spraying crops. It passed well over us a couple of times and we laughed about getting strafed. Moments later we looked to our right and it was coming low right at us. We both waved as it passed about 40 feet above us. It was like a scene out of North by Northwest.
As we rode through Newton, Kansas we met a rider heading west. His bike was fully loaded. We asked where he was headed and he said San Francisco. We proudly told him that was where we had started. Then we asked when he had started. "Two years ago", he responded. And then he listed all the places in the MidEast and Europe that he had ridden through. As we rode off we felt rather insignificant.
As the day continued Pat several times attempted to achieve one his goals. This achievement is to pet a cow. We had just
got water from the van when Pat spotted some cows near the road behind a fence. Pat was off the bike and headed for the fence. I continued down the road a bit and waited, watched and rolled my eyes. Suddenly he got the attention of a bull that started toward the fence. We're not sure if he knows the difference, we've tried to give him some clues.
We we're all pretty excited for him. But the bull had better things to do then get petted and turned away.
Later, he saw another cow near a fence, dismounted and started to the fence. Two steps toward the fence and the cow bolted. When we get home I'm taking him to a petting zoo.
A few miles out of our destination the sky turned black and we saw several bolts of lightening. We stopped and waited for the van. Nobody jumped out to help us pack up. Sal and Rod had their cameras pointed to the approaching storm and barely acknowledged us. All they cared about was getting pictures of lightening. Once more we felt rather insignificant.
Our wonderful support team turned into storm trackers.
Safe and dry in Eureka.