Where were we? Oh right, we're still in the car...
You'll notice that becoming a dominant theme of this trip, if you haven't already.
We spent last night in the city of the silver arch. But we were back on the road first thing in the morning because all either of us could both talk about was how much we both wanted to make it out west. Which makes it all the more strange... and later on ironic... that we spent a entire week... 7 full days... in Kansas.
By the end of it I think Kansas herself was tired of us. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There are tales to tell between now and our exodus from.. errr.. umm.. I mean our exit from the state.
Duncan, how are you enjoying the drive boy? That much huh...
Wanna go for a ride?
He he.. just kidding we have another 100 miles to go. Go back to sleep.
We stopped in Kansas City which is really in Missouri but we figured it counted anyway. After grabbing some food out of the cooler and taking the dog for a walk we found the River Market Cyclery.
Very cool shop. They let me "borrow" their internet for a while so I could find us a place to camp for the night.
I might have explained my trip planning philosophy already but it's worth repeating. It goes like this. Over planning is like a signal that jams your "adventure radar". If you've already decided on everything you want to do your not really open to the possibility of possibilities. You know what I mean?
With a couple of key exceptions, planning for this trip basically consisted of writing down the name, phone # and address of a bike shop or two in each city I thought we might visit. In my experience you can get pretty much everything you need at bike shops... directions to the best trails, where to camp, great places to eat and drink.
Hell, half the time you can even work your way into a one or two night stay riding someones couch in return for buying them a case of Pabst after the ride. I once stayed in a strangers house in Asheville, NC for a whole week and all it cost me was an opened bottle of rum I was going to throw away.
So, as far as I'm concerned, all you really need to know is approximately where you want to ride and the names and phone #'s of some good local shops and odds are you're going to have a kick ass trip.
Some might call that reckless for a trip of this length and duration, but I like to think of it as just more adventurous. My experience (without exception) is that over planning can kill any any trip. No matter how potentially amazing the idea is, too much planning can turn it into a boring, homogeneous and safe affair. Nothing ventured, nothing gained ...
Like a trip to the supermarket, you know exactly where you're going, you know what you're going there for, and you're 99% sure they're going to have it. And if they don't have it someone will probably apologize to you and give you a coupon for the next time you come back.
That's not life, that's preservation... like in formaldehyde.
Nope, not what I'm looking for on a road trip. Especially not this one. I wanted the sort of real experiences that you can't plan. I wanted to interact with life on a primal level. I wanted to achieve travel greatness.
That said, not having plans has its draw backs...
For instance, rolling into Kansas City at 4pm and not knowing where you're going to sleep after having spent between 24-26 hours in the car in the last two days... and it's 95 degrees, sucks.
So I was very happy when one of the shop guys asked what I was "searching the net for". Turns out him and his friends were headed out to Clinton Lake State Park outside Lawrence, KS in just about an hour.
Great trails, even better camping, less than an hour away. Ahhh... bike shop to the rescue again.
Tomorrow we ride...
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