Reporting on: Monday, June 1, 2009

Riding Route: From McPherson, KS to Abilene, KS

Temperature: 60-90 degrees/ Winds: 10-25 mph

Elevation Climb: 1700 feet

Miles Ridden: 62

Today was another great day...however the first humid day hit us! But, the wind was from the south all day. The first 22 miles we rode east - so the wind was on our right side. Then we turned due north on Route 15 and had a 15-25 mph wind at our backs. What a beautiful thing! I probably averaged 20 mph for the full 62 miles...another great "Disneyland" ride! Now if we can keep the wind God working for us our ride to Boston would be a breeze (pun intended)!

We're in Abilene tonight...which is the boyhood home of Dwight Eisenhower who was our 34th President...and home of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. We have a day off tomorrow - and will go visit it - so I'll give you a little history on it tomorrow. This is also the culmination of the Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive - where hundreds of thousands of cattle were driven up from Texas to be shipped back east to feed the beef lovers there.

When I arrived at the hotel a very special friend of mine, Dave Harrison, and his wife Nancy, were sitting on a bench in front of the hotel. (Pictured above with me where we had dinner tonight). I had no idea they were going to be here - other than Dave said he'd see me along the trail somewhere. They drove 895 miles from Birmingham, Alabama to have dinner with Carol and me this evening! Can you even imagine that? David is a very special and unique person - and a real entrepreneur. He owns 5 kitchen and bath stores in AL and TN.

Miss Carol flew into Kansas City today - and drove 2.5 hours to Abilene. She arrived at 4:30 this afternoon after an easy trip! Tomorrow we're going to visit Wendy and Norm (Wendy is Carol's sister) who live in Manhattan, KS...about 35 miles from here. More on that tomorrow too! But you can bet I decided to use some of this 73 year old wisdom and good common sense to see this area from the car window - and not from the seat of a bike!

I'm also losing my good riding buddy, Tom Dunn - who is leaving our group here in Abilene. His wife drove in from Colorado to pick him up and they are off for a week trip to South Dakota to see the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. Have a safe trip you two!