Transitions

The landscape changed dramatically over the course of my ride yesterday. As I moved west, farmlands disappeared, green vegetation changed to brown, the grasses turned dry and prickly, and the air lost all humidity. Lakes and rivers marked on my map were nothing but dry beds. By the time I reached Eads, Colorado, the land was all dust and patches of dry grass.

Before leaving Scott City, KS, I stopped in the local donut shop and had my first fresh donuts of the trip. Fueled by the raspberry-filled and blueberry cake donuts, I began my trek. Because one sixty-mile stretch ran through tiny towns with no services, I had no choice but to put in a long day.

In Western Kansas I rode through Greely County, named after Horace Greely, a champion of agrarianism in the mid-1800's and the Socialist editor of the New York Tribune.


Though he had no affiliation with the area, the local residents, named their county and two of their towns (Horace and Tribune) after Greely because of his support for the farmer. I've never read Thomas Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" but I wonder if he explains how you get from Greely to G.W.

By 11:00 am I had entered a new time zone and soon thereafter I entered a new state. I wasn't in Colorado more than two minutes when a tumbleweed blew across the street as if on cue. Forty-two miles later and I was in Eads.