Sunday, July 12th – Blackwell, OK to Liberal, KS

So, who knew dirt roads came in so many different flavors?? Let’s review:

There are good ole “regular” dirt roads. We’ve all been on ’em, they’re nice – everything’s good, high-speed, straight ahead, no problems.

Then there’s gravel roads. They can be a bit dicier – not as much traction, slower around corners, gotta be careful… but it’s OK, just need to be aware. When they’re dry, it’s all good.

Sometimes gravel can be heavier, though, or looser, with larger rocks. This can cause real problems, as things get complicated – you need to be verrrrry careful.

And of course there’s sand – in all it’s varieties. Unpredictable. It can shut you down. Proceed with caution!

But then there’s mud. The one “flavor” that can leave a real bad taste in your mouth.

The night before, an intense storm passed over the Kansas/Oklahoma border, dropping a fair amount of rain, and making things quite soupy. Fifteen minutes into our ride this morning, things went downhill quickly.

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After wrestling with the thickest, stickiest, most unforgiving mud imaginable for many miles, we decided to detour for a bit to see if things would dry out.

They didn’t.

Then, as if things weren’t challenging enough, we encountered a downed tree blocking our path.

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BUT, this particular obstacle would not stop us! Luckily, Dan had his Leatherman Free P4 that Ryan had found at a water crossing in Tennessee the week prior, and he used the saw blade to quickly MacGiver the tree, and clear us a path. Thankee, Dan’l!

The mud, however, was unrelenting.

We finally called it quits with dirt for the day, and found a carwash to rid the bikes of the concrete-like mud that had encrusted them:

The balance of the day was spent on pavement, riding through beautiful Southwest Kansas.

The few towns that we did pass through, like Anthony, KS (above), were surprisingly quiet, with very, very little activity. This was no doubt due to it being a Sunday, and perhaps to a lesser extent the fact that it was 100 degrees out.

We ended the day in Liberal, Kansas (home to Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz) with more than 280 additional miles behind us.

Next up: Colorado!

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