Thursday June 12--Manhattan, Kansas

Last night the Kongenial Route was serenaded by thunder storms and showers. The Bashful Route was instructed by the Fire Chief in Bennington to bring all the tenters into the gym for the evening. The Affectionate Route hasn't checked in today so I don't know what happened to them last night. They are OK because I saw many of them passing through Manhattan on their way to Wamego this morning.

The ride length today must have been too short because I saw riders in Wamego at 10:34 this morning. The Affectionate riders came from Abilene through Junction City past the infamous Ryder Truck Rental place, then on to Fort Riley and Manhattan before coming to Wamego for this evening. The Bashful riders left Bennington (after some extra effort in cleaning the tracks from last night) to Junction City, Fort Riley and then the scenic route into Manhattan for there evening. The Kongenial riders has a very short day so they had plenty of time to enjoy and explore the historical points in Marysville which has a Pony Express station that you can visit.

My day was mostly spent checking reported route problems, tomorrow we will change the routing from Wamego to Holton. That change will allow the riders to have a very pleasant ride through the countryside which was formed by glaciers many years ago. There is a distinct difference in the form of the land and there are rocks laying on the topsoil that are not native to this area. The Bashful route will climb a few feet tomorrow as they come out of the Kansas River Valley to join the other two routes in Holton. The Kongenial route will experience the only bonified "Hill" for this year tomorrow on their way to join the other two routes.

It seems that the health problems experienced earlier have finally gone away and the riders spirits are very high. The final two days are upon them and they have finally realized that they will make this adventure come true for themselves.