Trish & Phill's Tandem TransAmerican

Tour 2003 

Jun 16 Larnard - Ness City (67mi)

Americans like to call their towns Cities. Ness City sounds like a big town but has a population of 197 or so in it.  A lot of the towns in these parts are showing signs of desertion.

Farming communities are slowly dying, young folks are walking away from the country life style. A lot of building are just left as they were and walked away from. Such a place was Alexander - a town we passed through today. The two story brick build high School was abandoned, It is sad to see all this. The same thing is also happening in Australia country too by the way.

This whole area is very similar to Western Australia's Wheat Belt. Kansas has experienced more rain than usual and the daily temperature have been considerably lower than normal so we are seeing Kansas differently to most people in previous years.  The paddocks are starting to be harvested, some paddocks are still growing wheat but many have been harvested and ploughed. A few days ago we saw the last of the fields growing corn and long grasses that are used to raise beef.

Most towns have a grain silo as the main feature or dominant feature in the town. You basically leave one town and start looking for the next silo in the distance to show the towns location - usually about 10 miles or so away.

We have see so many snakes on this ride (mostly dead) and today was no exception - a rattle snake -run over. Trish sees them from about two miles away I think and we have to steer the bike to the other side of the road (just in case the two week old corpse comes to life again!

Today's ride was one of the best we have had. We set off early to beat the heat the forecast temperature was 90'F It never got there more like 80-85 or so. we got the 67 miles done by lunchtime! A swim at the local pool was in order then a large Pizza for a late lunch .... Ahh what a life ! .

Page owned & maintained by Trish Collins email to  trishphill@aapt.net.au.  Last Updated 28/07/2003