Day 35

79 miles crossing from Colorado to Kansas – State No 5

A long ride today but it went very well. We left Eads after breakfast dropping  back onto highway 96 East. We knew we had a long way to go but fortunately yesterday’s wind had dropped. The day was grey / black and overcast which was good for us as it made it much cooler the ongoing threat of a soaking hung over us however. 

Just a few miles down the road we rescued our first lovely little turtle. The poor things cross the road not knowing the risk and many don’t make it. We saw 7, 3 dead and 4 that we moved from the roadside to a safe place. They were gorgeous creatures that look like chicks inside their shell. One that we moved was quite unhappy at being rescued, his little legs were spinning around and scratching  at my glove. He even hissed at me, not a happy turtle. 

We had two short breaks but each time we sat down we started to worry about getting caught in a downpour. After the second break and with 21 miles to go I saw lightning in my mirror. This spurred us on and we rode into Leoti doing about 16mph with rain drops just starting to fall. 

A long ride, a new state, no soaking and some great wildlife.