Parking outside a quiet church with gusts of wind outside had all the makings for a decent sleep. However, that wasn’t the case for me. It took me until well after midnight to doze off. With an 0600 alarm to look forward to that was far from ideal. I woke up numerous times during the night too. By the time the alarm went off I was far from ready to hit the road. In fact it was 0922 before I started just to the east of Waverly, Kansas.
A late start presents all kinds of problems. Firstly, a few hours of cooler temperatures are missed. Those miles still have to be done and they are harder, hotter miles. Secondly, I generally spend all day with the feeling of a lack of progress. This isn’t good for morale at all.
Turning to a slightly more trivial matter, I often get asked how I know where to start each day. In the past, I’ve generally tied a ribbon to something if there is no obvious landmark. These days, I take a picture of where I finish the night before and use the geotag information to navigate to it the next day. It’s extremely important that I have an unbroken line across the USA.
After the first mile, there was a bend in the road. It was to be all dead straight after that.
I was “chased” (and I use that term very loosely) by a couple of very small dogs early on. I was more concerned about their safety as they ran pretty close to the main road.
The road was aligned with many ranches and farms. Corn and cattle were in abundance pretty much everywhere I looked today.
I met the RV for the first water refill at 4.5 miles. After that, because of the high temperature, 3-4 miles was the standard.
I crossed a fairly busy highway 75 at mile 10.5. Following that road north would take me to my 2011 route and Highway 36. That’s just over 100 miles away.
I met the RV at mile 12.5 for some tuna and pasta. A 25 minute tactical snooze then followed. The RV was in shade and there was a through breeze. It was a decent rest.
Earlier in the day, the support team WhatsApp group talked about the lack of breeze for me last night despite howling winds. It became obvious to me that I have only one window and no natural draft across the RV out of the other side. Alan benefitted from such a breeze last night and Deb said she had done in the past. I have one window and a curtain at the bottom of the bed which I think is preventing a flow of air. There’s also a lot to be said for where the RV is parked overnight and which direction it’s facing. I’ll come on to that later.
I got back out and felt pretty good. The water refills were every 3 to 4 miles and I kept moving forward at a decent pace. It wasn’t as good as yesterday but not far off.
By mile 16, the wind was so strong that it kept blowing me out of the hard shoulder and onto the road. It wasn’t too much of a problem as the road was extremely quiet.
At mile 16.5 I began to feel quite unwell. That’s not the first time it’s happened at this time of the day with the sun beating down. I also noticed that I was going to the “toilet” very frequently (don’t worry the roads were quiet). Apologies for the amount of detail.
Instead of calling the RV back, I decided to press on. The gusts of wind appeared to get stronger and I didn’t feel in control of my legs.
There was a bridge over a train line and I just about managed to keep my footing. I was like a boxer on the ropes at this point.
I managed to get to mile 19.85 where the RV was. It was a relief to get out of the sun. I decided to take a break and get some food. Alan cooked up a feast and I polished the whole lot off. It wasn’t the usual slow process of eating. This was proper ravenous hunger. Which is unusual for me.
It was after 6pm by the time I finished eating. I decided to call it a day and get an early start tomorrow.
At the time of writing the overnight stop is next to a train line. The RV is pointing due east and there’s a nice breeze coming through my window. The RV feels like we could be at 37,000ft with a bit of turbulence. Could this be a much needed good nights sleep? Hopefully it is, but with a man nearby shooting his rifle (hopefully he’s hunting) anything is possible.
TUNE OF THE DAY: Beer never broke my heart - Luke Combs
Continued thanks for the messages of support and donations. The fund for St Benedict's Hospice currently stands at £21,434.
If you could like to donate, or share with a friend/member of family, please visit:
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