Ulysses, KS

Thanks WFD for feeding me for 2 days and letting me on run the Engine and Squad with you. Thanks again for your generous donation to this fundraiser, and also to you Raymond from Lebanon. I started the day off with an alarm that turned out to be nothing. I had my usual breakfast: glass of water, 3 cups of coffee (sugar and milk), bowl of oatmeal w/ brown sugar (no raisins today), 6 egg whites (cooked), 2 bananas (peeled). I finished my laundry and worked out for a while.

After taking a long shower (I really miss my Braun razor, the Mach 3 can't hold a candle) I hit the road around 9:30. I added some extra miles to my trip today because highway 54 is still shut down at Greensburg. I saw what the same tornado did a little north of there on hwy 56. I have never seen anything like tornado damage. Trees were freakin' everywhere, signs flipped over, trees snapped like toothpicks, and irrigation equipment twisted up. Pretty trippy.

I can't send pics today because I don't have any cell service, hopefully tomorrow. Today, I rode on the longest, straightest, most desolate roads I've ever been on. I would think a vehicle was approaching soon on the horizon and wait to pass, but they were like a mile away. During the last 30 miles of my trip today I saw only 3 cars, either direction, until I got here to Ulysses. I went a total of 255 miles today. I passed a cattle processing facility (check out the book "Fast Food Nation") in Dodge City (which has a Ford dealership) today. Picture and smell 100,000 head of cattle in the hot sun with a tailwind. YO, absolutely disgusting. But to some I guess that's the smell of money. I also saw a HUGE wind farm and lots of vegetables growing. Well, I didn't exactly observe them growing although I'm sure they were. They really just looked like they were still. I'm finding out the wind is always blowing in KS, about 15-20 mph out of the SW, all the time. Feels like a hair dryer in the afternoon sun.

Ulysses is a town like Germantown but much newer, settled around 1890 (my house was 76 yrs old at that time and my grandfather was 4), 5k people and a separate fire and EMS division. They are the only FD in the whole county of 10k people, which covers 575 square miles. Things are a little different here in KS. I just got back from the grocery store and everyone knew I was not from Ulysses, did the Hemp Chuck Taylors give it away??? The record definitely skipped when I walked in. People in KS are VERY VERY nice and super conversational.

Well, were having a BBQ tonight at the EMS station where I'm staying, the FD doesn't have a bunk room. I'm off to Trinidad, CO tomorrow and feel like wetting my whistle - maybe they'll have a local ale or porter on tap, yum! I'm told I'll wish I were on the roads I rode on today after I head west. Local lore has it that eastern CO is a moonscape with less scenery.

To the owner of the Harley - I'm taking good care of her and have not passed gas on your seat. Now that's respect! Although, I can't say what I did to the tailpipe. Thanks again Scott.

-Mike