Day 110

I slept great! I woke up around 7 and forced myself to get up because I had a long day of walking ahead of me. I packed up and then left everything at Melissa’s as I found it and headed for the trail. Melissa had told me that hwy 56 had really bad hills and she recommended that I take the trail. She said it was well maintained going west. 

The trail would add on 3 miles. I looked up the elevation profile of hwy 56 and she was right. It looked like hell. I took the flatter but longer option. I was glad that I did. Before I even left town a woman saw me and asked if I needed water. I didn’t because I topped off with the garden hose spigot at Melissa’s. The lady asked if I needed ice. Well yes I do!

I went in and filled my Yeti thermos, that I love, with ice water. It’ll last for 2 maybe even 3 days. She also gave me some candy as we talked about the cause. I went on my way and the trail was great! I was loving life. It’s always nice in the mornings. Oh, I had to change a flat but that didn’t take long and didn’t bother me. 

After a couple of hours of walking and listening to the morning show that I’ve followed for a few days I came to an intersection and took a break in the shade. As I was loading up on pop tarts and granola bars, a man in an old truck pulls up and talked to me. He was nice but I think he was a little past his prime. It took him about seven tries to finish a sentence and it was killing me to listen to him struggle. I was being polite of course and would wait for him to get around to it. Sometimes I’d figure out what he was getting at and would finish his words for him and he’d nod his head and move on to the next. He almost killed himself to talk about cows, the gate, the railroad, and his high blood pressure medicine. He seemed happy to share all of this with me so I listened. He finally eeked out a goodbye and got back in his truck and went his way while I went mine. I love crossing paths with people out in the middle of nowhere. 

After that I didn’t see another person for hours. The views from the trail were stunning! I was in the Flint Hills area of Kansas. Absolutely beautiful!  At one point I had about 60 cows all running along side me. I saw a mama and a baby deer. A few other animals as well. It was just hours of being alone with Kansas. 

After 21 miles I came to the town of Council Grove. My plan was to grab dinner here and keep going a little farther. I’m trying to get to the next town tomorrow so that I can pick up some packages from the post office on Saturday morning. They are only opened until 10 am and they’ll be closed after that until Tuesday because of the 4th of July. It’s vital that I make it there tomorrow. From council Grove it’s 25 miles so I figured I’d go a few extra today and make tomorrow a little easier. 

Council Grove was freaking awesome. They had tons of history about the Sante Fe Trail. An old wagon, an old jail, the Madonna of the trail monument, and many other fascinating things lined the street. I walked through and saw a restaurant/museum. I looked it up on my phone and I had to check it out. It’s a man and woman who own it and live in it and when you walk in its like you stepped into a time machine. 

The man was the only one there. His wife was out for supplies. He showed me around and gave story after story about the town and the trail. He served me buffalo roast, sweet potatoes, butter beans and Indian bread. Followed by ice cream. He never stopped telling stories. He was a fascinating individual. I enjoyed this place very much. I highly recommend going if you are near Council Grove. 

I charged my phone and filled up on water while before I left. I headed back for the trail but it was not walkable at all. I guess on this side of town, it got neglected. It was almost overgrown so much that you couldn’t even see where it was. I got on 56 again and looked at my map and it looked like the trail has a road right next to it. I took that. Just an old gravel road that may as well be the trail. No one was on it and the trail was literally 20 feet over. I knew that I could just camp on the trail since no one seemed to care about it. 

That’s what I did. I found a spot a few miles down and set up and now I’m 22 miles from Herington. I should definitely make it tomorrow. Then Saturday I can get my packages and resupply on food before going to the rest of the country…