Prairie Fatigue

By the time I got to Lindsborg, Kansas, I was done. I wasn't done finding interesting things to see, but my ability to absorb stuff was compromised.

Palate fatigue is what you get when you're, say, judging a large flight of strong beers. They can all get to running together, seeming like more of the same thing.

I guess I had prairie fatigue, starting out in the morning from Wilson Lake, after spending the previous day in Lucas, an overwhelming town itself with Miller Park, the Garden of Eden, the world's biggest toilet, the Grass Roots Arts Center, Deeble House, Brant's meats, and so on.

By the time I rolled into Lindsborg, I'd also been to the Motorcycle Museum in Marquette, to Rock City, Fort Harker, Mushroom Rock State Park, a great diner in Lincoln, Kansas, and even just found cool sculptures sitting by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

But I kept seeing cool shit. By the time the pedal car passed me in Lindsborg, I had given up putting the Nikon in its bag, just drove with it around my neck so I was ready for action.

If I'd had the time, I would have pitched the tent for the night somewhere along here, chilled out and attacked the next day.

I can tell I would be able to spend a day just scoping out Council Grove, the last town I was in while it was still daylight. They had their historic sites numbered for a tour, and I think I saw a 19.

I took the fast roads after Council Grove, there wasn't any point in taking back roads in the dark. I was all set to eat dinner at the Hays House there, but they were closed by the time I arrived.

So I drove off into the sunset scheming up a future bicycle tour. It takes so long to get out of town on a bike, what I'm thinking is to throw the bike on the car and drive out to a place like Wilson or Lucas and do a four or five day tour of the prairie by bike, circling back to the car. That or find someone who's headed to Colorado who can dump me off on the way out.