Day 41 – We Leave Kansas and Get Pulled Over by the Sheriff

July 31
Tribune, KS to Eads, CO
60 miles

We finally escaped Kansas and entered Colorado, our sixth state!

Potluck in Haswell! The day’s destination was Haswell, a tiny town about 20 miles west of Eads. We were having a most agreeable day, travelling as part of a loose peloton of Saz, Aaron, Chris, and Kyle. It was agreed that we’d all make dinner together and late in the afternoon stopped in Eads to get food. This errand complete, we (K and ML) forged on ahead towards Haswell. Not more than a quarter mile outside of town, the sheriff pulled up next to our bikes, lights flashing. Our hearts pounded. Had he seen us roll through the stop sign on Main Street? Had the clerk at the grocery store reported Kath’s infringement of sitting on the bagged dog food? No, the sheriff had stopped to warn us that there was a severe weather warning and informed us that there was nothing in the way of shelter between Eads and Haswell. Just miles of sagebrush and wildflowers. Having witnessed one of the Midwest’s epic lightshows from the safety of our indoor accommodation the previous night, and experienced various “mild” Midwest storms, this was enough warning for us. We reversed course and headed back into town where there was a hung jury on whether to stay put or proceed. The three gals were all for heeding the sheriff’s advice and eventually the guys reluctantly agreed.

Indeed, within an hour, a storm to make the wicked witch of the west proud swooshed down on us as we set up tents. We fled across the green to the courthouse where we kindly had been offered shelter. From there we watched torrential wind and rain lash branches out of trees and crossed our fingers that our tents wouldn’t end back up in Kansas. After waiting out a power outage, we were able to use a real kitchen and dine in style inside using in the courthouse’s community room. So much better than the outdoor park bench!