Day 31 + 32

Happy Kansikah (pernounced Chansukah....or close to Hanukah)

Miles biked: 82
81

Hello fromm 22 inches of rain Iola Kansas! It appears someone has done something very wrong around here, and God dumped 22 inches of rain on the town in three days! I was never a very religous man, but after staying in all these churches I have decided it is def. God's fault I had to smell the stench of stagnate water for most of my 80 miles of biking today. Half of the town we are staying in was forced to leave by the government. Although, I must say.....while I did see plenty of flooded farms.....no floating cows. Maybe they sink.

Today marks the first day of Kaniskah (chan-su-kah). Apparently Kansas sucks so much to bike through our leaders have declared the entire state a holliday......The leaders made everyone pick a name out of hat....and until we leave the state in 7 days....we must buy presents for our person(secret santa style). Today I recieved a key chain from my mystery giver that said "I'm not that girl....yet" It is proudly hanging on my camelbak for everyone to see.

Yesterday was our last day in Mizzilly. I have decided I never ever want to live in Missouri. While deciding 6 months ago on what I should be doing with my life....biking sounded better than "real world". Now I realize it is a great experience to find out exactly where I never want to go again. While everyone was extremely nice.....I just can't picture myself living in a place with town after town with a population under 200 people.

The hills of CT, the appalachians, the rolling hills of PA and WV, the roller coaster of Kentucky and the Ozarks of MO are now behind us. According to all who have ever been through the state of KS.....the hills are truly behind us. Now all that lies ahead is some little tiny bump called the rocky Mts. How hard can it be? The leaders keep down playing the difficulty of the rockies although I'm not sure how you downplay 37 miles of straight climbing in one day. I think I will enjoy Kansas while I can.

In two days we have biked over 160 miles. My legs feel like Jello...and I am told we will have another 80 miles tomorrow. According to the pastor there will be some sort of plane ride tonight. In Camdenton we stayed at a Church camp. I decided to go swimming with Lisa, Ali, and Liana in the pool. We got permission to swim even though campers littered the pool. While I was still doing 360 degree cannonballs off the diving board...a camp director came up to the girls and made them put shirts over their sport bras. The main benefactor of their "indecency" was me.....as he handed me a free T-shirt as well just so I wouldn't be left out. The night was spent sleeping in old cabins with beds before we headed out today!

Today I rode with an array of HBC riders. Apparently up ahead of me as I neared the state border...Sam and Andy decided to bike naked across a river called something along the name of "Dryhard creek". I passed them as they were putting their clothes back on. Moments later a call came to Andy from Emma.....who was standing at the state border ahead with 4-6 state police officers. Half were from Missouri, and half were from Kansas. All were looking for two "naked bikers". Apparently someone called the state police and said they almost "ran off the road" when seeing Sam and Andy. I think I would come to a near crash after being blinded by the whitness of Andy and Sam's Ass myself! In the end no one was arrested, the Kansas State Police just asked Emma to tell the rest of HBC to "Keep it on in Kansas" which I think is a wonderful state motto!

So......after 6 days of straight rain, it is wonderful to have a second straight day of dry biking! It is even more exciting to see that the town of Iola did not float away. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I plan to put as many decorations on my bike as humanly possible! Go see some fireworks! (I bought $25 worth in MO called the Pyro Python)

Happy B-day America!

-Ben